Evidently the sea, passing over the islet, had been carried right up to the foot of the enormous curtain of granite.

The soil in front of the cave had been torn away by the violence of the waves.

A horrid presentiment flashed across Pencroft's mind.

He rushed into the passage, but returned almost immediately, and stood motionless, staring at his companions....

The fire was out; the drowned cinders were nothing but mud; the burnt linen, which was to have served as tinder, had disappeared! The sea had penetrated to the end of the passages, and everything was overthrown and destroyed in the interior of the Chimneys!.