gone, inside a reef over which she
must have been driven. The mates had both gone aloft. The one agreed
that the man was right, the other, who looked as the first had done,
through a telescope, declaring that "although very like the shattered
hull of a ship, it was only a rock of a peculiar shape." As the safety
of the "Iris" depended upon her clawing off the shore, it had been
impossible to make any further examination, and he had been inclined to
think that those who fancied they had seen a wreck were mistaken. At
all events, if any of her crew had escaped on shore, he was not in a
position to render them any assistance. I watched Uncle Jack's
countenance as Captain Bingley was speaking. I guessed what was passing
in his mind, though he said nothing then.

"I wouldn't have passed a spot where I thought our countrymen were in
slavery without trying to help them," he remarked to me shortly
afterwards. "We must go there, Harry, if Captain Bingley refuses to
come; our captain will I am sure do his best to visit the spot. I don't
blame Captain Bingley, with his wife and daughter on board, for not
making the attempt to ascertain if that was really a wreck, though he
might have got a safe offing and then sent in a boat."

When Captain Bingley heard of the possibility of the wreck being the
"Amphion," he at once agreed to accompany the "Lily" to the
neighbourhood of the spot, and to make every effort to try and rescue
any of the crew who might be found on shore.

I rather suspect Grace and Mrs Bingley being present greatly influenced
him. Not to run the risk of remaining at anchor in so dangerous a place
another night, we returned on board the "Lily," when both the brig and
ship made sail to the north-east, a course which would carry us close to
where the wreck had been seen.

According to the charts, not far off was a bay which had been visited by
ships, where abundance of good water could be found. It was agreed,
should we discover a harbour, where it was said one existed, that we
would anchor within it and send the boats along the coast to the
neighbourhood of the wreck.

On the morning of the fourth day after the "Iris" had been got afloat,
land was sighted on the starboard bow, as also right ahead, extending
from the east a considerable distance to the west, forming apparently a
point running out from New Guinea.

Captain Bingley made a signal that the wreck was somewhere abreast of
us, but he advised th