minutes more, Helen Rolleston pointed it out again; and then Hazel
did see a vertical line, more like a ship's mast than anything else one
could expect to see there.

Their eyes were now strained to make it out, and, as the boat advanced,
it became more and more palpable, though it was hard to say exactly what
it was.

Five minutes before the sun set, the air being clearer than ever, it
stood out clean against the-sky. A tree--a lofty, solitary tree; with a
tall stem, like a column, and branches only at the top.

A palm-tree--in the middle of the Pacific.

CHAPTER XXIV.

AND but for the land-bird which rested on their mast, and for their own
mercy in sparing it, they would have passed to the eastward, and never
seen that giant palm-tree in mid-ocean.

"Oh, let us put out all our sails, and fly to it!" cried Helen.

Welch smiled and said, "No, miss, ye mustn't. Lord love ye; what! run on
to a land ye don't know, happy go lucky, in the dark, like that? Lay her
head for the tree, and welcome, but you must lower the mainsel and
treble-reef the foresel; and so creep on a couple of knots an hour, and,
by daybreak, you'll find the island close under your lee. Then you can
look out for a safe landing-place."

"The island, Mr. Welch!" said Helen.

"There is no island, or I should have seen it."

"Oh, the island was hull down. Why, you don't think as palm-trees grow in
the water? You do as I say, or you'll get wrecked on some thundering reef
or other."

Upon this Mr. Hazel and Miss Rolleston set to work, and, with
considerable difficulty lowered the mainsail, and treblereefed the
foresail.

"That is right," said Welch. "To-morrow you'll land in safety, and bury
my messmate and me."

"Oh, no!" cried Helen Rolleston. "We must bury him, but we mean to cure
you." They obeyed Welch's instructions, and so crept on all night; and,
so well had this able seaman calculated distance and rate of sailing,
that, when the sun rose, sure enough there was an island under their lee,
distant about a league, though it looked much less. But the palm-tree was
more than twice that distance. Owing to wind and current they had made
lee-way all night, and that tree stood on the most westerly point of the
island.

Hazel and Miss Rolleston stood up and hurrahed for joy; then fell on
their knees in silent gratitude. Welch only smiled.

The breeze had freshened, and, though there were no great waves at sea,
yet breakers, formidable to