thus, although in the
midst of abundance, we might perish of thirst, or by the hands of the
savages.

"We must manage to land somewhere," cried Dick. "Perhaps if we were to
pull in to the shore towards evening, we might escape detection, and
have time to cook our fish and find water before the natives are down
upon us."

"Although there may be some risk, I do not see what else we can do,"
said Charlie. "We must, however, keep a strict watch while we are
cooking our food, and not attempt to sleep on shore. We shall probably
be able to obtain some cocoanuts in addition to the water, so that we
may keep at sea, without the necessity of landing again, for several
days."

As this plan seemed feasible, we determined to adopt it.

"The island out there, for which we are steering, is of considerable
size, and there must surely be some parts uninhabited," observed
Charlie.

"I hope so," I said. "As there are a good many missionaries scattered
about, we may drop upon some island where one is established; and, if
so, we shall be better off than we should if we landed at an uninhabited
part; besides which, we may possibly gain tidings of the schooner."

The breeze was light, but yet sufficient to enable us to run on under
sail. We had miscalculated the distance to the island, for, the hills
being high, it appeared nearer than it really was. We were still some
way off the shore when the sun set; the wind also fell, and we had to
lower the sail and take to our oars. This, however, was the best thing
we could do, as we had less chance of being seen, should there be any
people on the shore. The moon rose as we neared the land, and gave us
sufficient light to distinguish objects, so that we might pick out a
place into which we could run the boat. Seeing no fires or lights, we
began to hope that we should not meet with natives; we therefore pulled
in, placing Tubb ahead to look out for rocks. The part we first made
appeared too rugged to allow us to venture on; we therefore rowed along
the shore for some way, till a small sandy bay, just suited to our
purpose, appeared. We accordingly steered in for it, keeping, as
before, a careful look-out ahead. The ground rose abruptly almost
immediately beyond the beach, on which no surf was breaking; but I
fancied that I heard a rushing sound of water falling probably over the
cliffs close at hand, though a thick grove of tall trees concealed it
from our sight.

"We could not