oes anybody live here?"

"No."

"Did any one ever live here?"

"Yes, once, some one tried it, I believe, but gave it up."

"Does it belong to anybody, or is it public property?"

"O, I dare say it belongs to somebody, if you could only get him to
claim it."

"I say, captain," said Bruce, "how much longer are we going to drift?"

"O, not much longer. The tide's about on the turn, and we'll have a
leetle change."

"What! will we drift back again?"

"O, I shouldn't wonder if we had a leetle wind afore long."

"But if we don't, will we drift back again into the Basin of Minas?"

"O, dear, no. We can anchor hereabouts somewhar."

"You won't anchor by this island,--will you?"

"O, dear, no. We'll have a leetle driftin first." As the captain
spoke, he looked earnestly out upon the water.

"Thar she comes," he cried at last, pointing over the water. The boys
looked, and saw the surface of the bay all rippled over. They knew the
signs of wind, and waited for the result. Soon a faint puff came up
the bay, which filled the languid sails, and another puff came up more
strongly, and yet another, until at length a moderate breeze was
blowing. The tide no longer dragged them on. It was on the turn; and
as the vessel caught the wind, it yielded to the impetus, and moved
through the water, heading across the bay towards the New Brunswick
shore, in such a line as to pass near to that cape which has already
been spoken of.

"If the wind holds out," said Captain Corbet, "so as to carry us past
Cape d'Or, we can drift up with this tide."

"Where's Cape d'Or?"

"That there," said Captain Corbet, pointing to the long cape which
stretched between them and the New Brunswick shore. "An if it goes
down, an we can't get by the cape, we'll be able, at any rate, to drop
anchor there, an hold on till the next tide."

The returning tide, and the fresh breeze that blew now, bore them
onward rapidly, and they soon approached Cape d'Or. They saw that it
terminated in a rocky cliff, with rocky edges jutting forth, and that
all the country adjoining was wild and rugged. But the wind, having
done this much for them, now began to seem tired of favoring them, and
once more fell off.

"I don't like this," said Captain Corbet, looking around.

"What?"

"All this here," said he, pointing to the shore.

It was about a mile away, and the schooner, borne along now by the
tide, was slowly drifting on to an unpleasant proximity