I dare say that if the Count d’Artigas could guess how certain things have suddenly become clear to me, he would not hesitate to have me thrown overboard.

Prudence therefore commands me to be more circumspect than ever.

Without giving rise to any suspicion—­even in the mind of Engineer Serko—­I have succeeded in raising a corner of the mysterious veil, and I begin to see ahead a bit.

As the Ebba draws nearer, the island, or rather islet, towards which she is speeding shows more sharply against the blue background of the sky.  The sun which has passed the zenith, shines full upon the western side.  The islet is isolated, or at any rate I cannot see any others of the group to which it belongs, either to north or south.

This islet, of curious contexture, resembles as near as possible a cup turned upside down, from which a fuliginous vapor arises.  Its summit—­the bottom of the cup, if you like—­is about three hundred feet above the level of the sea, and its flanks, which are steep and regular, are as bare as the sea-washed rocks at its base.

There is another peculiarity about it which must render the islet easily recognizable by mariners approaching it from the west, and this is a rock which forms a natural arch at the base of the mountain—­the handle of the cup, so to speak—­and through which the waves wash as freely as the sunshine passes.  Seen this way the islet fully justifies the name of Back Cup given to it.

Well, I know and recognize this islet!  It is situated at the extremity of the archipelago of the Bermudas.  It is the “reversed cup” that I had occasion to visit a few years ago—­No, I am not mistaken.  I then climbed over the calcareous and crooked rocks at its base on the east side.  Yes, it is Back Cup, sure enough!

Had I been less self-possessed I might have uttered an exclamation of surprise—­and satisfaction—­which, with good reason, would have excited the attention and suspicion of the Count d’Artigas.

These are the circumstances under which I came to explore Back Cup while on a visit to Bermuda.

This archipelago, which is situated about seven hundred and fifty miles from North Carolina is composed of several hundred islands or islets.  Its centre is crossed by the sixty-fourth meridian and the thirty-second parallel.  Since the Englishman Lomer was shipwrecked and cast up there in 1609, the Bermudas have belonged to the United Kingdom, and in consequence the colonial population has increased to ten thousand inhabitants.  It was not for its productions of cotton, coffee, indigo, and arrowroot that England annexed the group—­seized it, one might say; but because it formed a splendid maritime station in that part of the Ocean, and in proximity to the United States of America.  Possession was taken of it without any protest on the part of other powers, and Bermuda is now administered by a British governor with the addition of a council and a General Assembly.