narrow
stretch of unbroken water was the sure indication of a break in the
continuity of the reef, it was just possible that there might be a
detached rock or two in the fairway, lying deep enough to allow the
swell to roll over it unbroken, yet not quite deep enough to permit a
ship of the size of the _Mercury_ to pass over it.

But a prolonged inspection with the aid of the glass failed to reveal
any such danger, and in the course of the next half-hour we had drawn so
close in, that I could see as much in that direction with the unaided
eye as with the telescope. I therefore diverted my attention for a few
minutes to the more distant beach, and the still more distant open
grassy spaces of the island, in search of possible indications of life
and movement. But here, too, my quest was vain, for nowhere could I
detect the slightest signs of life, except that of birds, a few gulls
and pelicans being visible, busily engaged in seeking a breakfast on the
waters of the lagoon, while it was also possible to detect the
occasional flash of wings among the trees that so thickly clustered on
the slopes of the island.

At length the moment arrived when it became necessary for me to give my
undivided attention to the passage through the reef, which the ship had
now approached, to within a distance of a couple of cable-lengths, while
the air was vibrant with the deep, hoarse, thunderous roar of the surf
that eternally flung itself in foam and fury upon those ten miles of
submerged coral wall which I have spoken of as the reef. This wall, or
reef, I could now see, was of a tolerably uniform width of about one-
third of a mile throughout its length, and its top was so nearly level
with the surface of the ocean that it constituted a very perfect
breakwater, excluding from the lagoon which it enclosed all surface
disturbance except the trifling amount caused by the incessant beat of
the surf upon it, and revealed itself in the form of some eight or ten
lines of miniature swell, sweeping inward from the reef and losing
itself in the smooth, sparkling surface of the lagoon within a distance
of half a mile.

Thus far I had failed to discover any submerged dangers in the passage
through the reef, and we were now so close in that I must have seen them
through the clear, transparent water, had such existed. I therefore
directed the helmsman how to steer, so as to take the ship through the
middle of the channel, which now revealed itse