ould reach--east, north,
and south, there was nothing save white sand. To the west nothing but
the blue water. No eye could be upon them, save that of the Creator. Of
His creatures, tame or wild, savage or civilized, there seemed not one
within a circuit of miles: for within that circuit there was nothing
visible that could afford subsistence either to man or animal, bird or
beast. In the white substratum of sand, gently shelving far under the
sea, there was not a sufficiency of organic matter to have afforded food
for fish--even for the lower organisms of _mollusca_. Undoubtedly were
these castaways alone; as much so, as if their locality had been the
centre of the Atlantic, instead of its coast!

We are privileged to approach them near enough to comprehend their
character, and learn the cause that has thus isolated them so far from
the regions of animated life.

There are four of them, astride a spar; which also carries a sail,
partially reefed around it, and partially permitted to drag loosely
through the water.

At a glance a sailor could have told that the spar on which they are
supported is a topsail-yard, which has been detached from its masts in
such a violent manner as to unloose some of the reefs that had held the
sail, thus partially releasing the canvas. But it needed not a sailor to
tell why this had been done. A ship has foundered somewhere near the
coast. There has been a gale two days before. The spar in question, with
those supported upon it, is but a fragment of the wreck. There might
have been other fragments,--others of the crew escaped, or escaping in
like manner,--but there are no others in sight. The castaways slowly
drifting towards the sand-spit are alone. They have no companions on the
ocean,--no spectators on its shore.

As already stated, there are four of them. Three are strangely
alike,--at least, in the particulars of size, shape, and costume. In
age, too, there is no great difference. All three are boys: the oldest
not over eighteen, the youngest certainly not a year his junior.

In the physiognomy of the three there is similitude enough to declare
them of one nation,--though dissimilarity sufficient to prove a distinct
provinciality both in countenance and character. Their dresses of dark
blue cloth, cut pea-jacket shape, and besprinkled with buttons of
burnished yellow,--their cloth caps, of like color, encircled by bands
of gold lace,--their collars, embroidered with the crown and