“And which of us shall go to explore?” asked Mrs. Weldon, after a moment’s reflection.

“That is yet to be decided,” replied Dick Sand.  “At all events, I think that you, Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Mr. Benedict, and Nan, ought not to quit this grotto.  Bat, Hercules, Acteon, and Austin should remain near you, while Tom and I should go forward.  Negoro, doubtless, will prefer to remain here?” added Dick Sand, looking at the head-cook.

“Probably,” replied Negoro, who was not a man to commit himself any more than that.

“We should take Dingo with us,” continued the novice.  “He would be useful to us during our exploration.”

Dingo, hearing his name pronounced, reappeared at the entrance of the grotto, and seemed to approve of Dick Sand’s projects by a little bark.

Since the novice had made this proposition, Mrs. Weldon remained pensive.  Her repugnance to the idea of a separation, even short, was very serious.  Might it not happen that the shipwreck of the “Pilgrim” would soon be known to the Indian tribes who frequented the sea-shore, either to the north or to the south, and in case some plunderers of the wrecks thrown on the shore should present themselves, was it not better for all to be united to repulse them?

That objection, made to the novice’s proposition, truly merited a discussion.

It fell, however, before Dick Sand’s arguments, who observed that the Indians ought not to be confounded with the savages of Africa or Polynesia, and any aggression on their part was probably not to be feared.  But to entangle themselves in this country without even knowing to what province of South America it belonged, nor at what distance the nearest town of that province was situated, was to expose themselves to many fatigues.  Doubtless separation might have its inconveniences, but far less than marching blindly into the midst of a forest which appeared to stretch as far as the base of the mountains.

“Besides,” repeated Dick Sand, persistently, “I cannot admit that this separation will be of long duration, and I even affirm that it will not be so.  After two days, at the most, if Tom and I have come across neither habitation nor inhabitant, we shall return to the grotto.  But that is too improbable, and we shall not have advanced twenty miles into the interior of the country before we shall evidently be satisfied about its geographical situation.  I may be mistaken in my calculation, after all, because the means of fixing it astronomically have failed me, and it is not impossible for us to be in a higher or lower latitude.”

“Yes—­you are certainly right, my child,” replied Mrs. Weldon, in great anxiety.

“And you, Mr. Benedict,” asked Dick Sand, “what do you think of this project?”

“I?” replied Cousin Benedict.

“Yes; what is your advice?”

“I have no advice,” replied Cousin Benedict.  “I find everything proposed, good, and I shall do everything that you wish.  Do you wish to remain here one day or two? that suits me, and I shall employ my time in studying this shore from a purely entomological point of view.”