However, Pencroft, accustomed with his sailor eyes to piece through the gloom, was almost certain that he could clearly distinguish in the west confused masses which indicated an elevated coast.

But they could not in the dark determine whether it was a single island, or connected with others.

They could not leave it either, as the sea surrounded them; they must therefore put off till the next day their search for the engineer, from whom, alas! not a single cry had reached them to show that he was still in existence.
"The silence of our friend proves nothing," said the reporter.

"Perhaps he has fainted or is wounded, and unable to reply directly, so we will not despair." The reporter then proposed to light a fire on a point of the islet, which would serve as a signal to the engineer.

But they searched in vain for wood or dry brambles; nothing but sand and stones were to be found.
The grief of Neb and his companions, who were all strongly attached to the intrepid Harding, can be better pictured than described.