He wished to penetrate the mystery of that submarine combat, and to ascertain what monster could have given the dugong so strange a wound.

He remained at the edge of the lake, looking, observing; but nothing appeared under the tranquil waters, which sparkled in the first rays of the rising sun.
At the beach, on which lay the body of the dugong, the water was tolerably shallow, but from this point the bottom of the lake sloped gradually, and it was probable that the depth was considerable in the center.

The lake might be considered as a large center basin, which was filled by the water from the Red Creek.
"Well, Cyrus," said the reporter, "there seems to be nothing suspicious in this water." "No, my dear Spilett," replied the engineer, "and I really do not know how to account for the incident of yesterday." "I acknowledge," returned Spilett, "that the wound given this creature is, at least, very strange, and I cannot explain either how Top was so vigorously cast up out of the water.

One could have thought that a powerful arm hurled him up, and that the same arm with a dagger killed the dugong!" "Yes," replied the engineer, who had become thoughtful; "there is something there that I cannot understand.

But do you better understand either, my dear Spilett, in what way I was saved myself--how I was drawn from the waves, and carried to the downs?
No! Is it not true?
Now, I feel sure that there is some mystery there, which, doubtless, we shall discover some day.