valley. It was a lovely night, as light as day, the
full moon riding high overhead in an unclouded sky, and so flooding the
heavens with her silvery light that only a few stars of the first
magnitude were visible. There was very little wind, and a heavy dew was
falling; but that, after the hardship of exposure in an open boat, was a
trifle so insignificant that it attracted no one's attention.

The walk was a most enjoyable one to all, but it was especially
delightful to three couples who early paired off together, and in a
quiet unostentatious fashion dropped into the rear. Captain and Mrs
Staunton had naturally much to say to each other upon matters
interesting only to themselves; while as for Violet and Rex, Blanche and
Lance, this was their first opportunity for an exchange of these sweet
nothings in which lovers delight since the eventful evening on which
they had been driven out by the flames from the unfortunate _Galatea_.
Tempted by the beauty of the night they strayed a long distance; and
when at length they returned to the hut, weary with the unaccustomed
exercise, but happier than they had been for a long time, the settlement
was wrapped in the silence of repose.

On the following morning, immediately after breakfast, Johnson presented
himself, with the request that Lance, Captain Staunton, and the
carpenter would accompany him on a visit to the prizes, for the purpose
of deciding which of them should be broken up to build the new schooner.
Two of these vessels were barques, and one a full-rigged ship. The
ship was teak-built, and an unmistakable East-Indiaman; while of the
barques, one was oak-built and copper-fastened, and the other a soft-
wood vessel put together with iron. The oak-built ship was nearly new,
the copper which covered her bottom up to the bends had not a wrinkle on
its entire surface, and her deck-planking showed no signs of wear; but
she was modelled for carrying, rather than for speed; it was therefore
decided without much hesitation that she should be the one to be broken
up.

The next point to be settled was the position of the building-yard.

Lance had given this matter a great deal of quiet consideration, and had
come to the conclusion that for many reasons it would be better to have
the yard as far away as possible from the rest of the settlement, one
consideration which greatly weighed with him being the possibility that
their best chance of escape might be in launching the