as under way again, heading for the sombre cloud to
the westward under which Roka said the land lay.

And he was right. For as the dawn broke there came to the listening ears
in the boat the low hum of the surf upon the coral reef; and then,
as the rain-cloud dissolved and vanished to leeward, a long line of
coco-palms stood up from the sea three miles away, and the bright golden
rays of the rising sun shone upon a beach of snow-white sand, between
which and the curling breakers that fell upon the barrier reef there lay
a belt of pale green water as smooth as a mountain lake.

"Up with the sail, boys," cried Harvey, with sparkling eyes, turning to
Atkins as he spoke; "the passage into the lagoon is on the south side,
just round that high mound of coral, and the native village is on the
first islet on this side of the passage. Keep her going, my lads; we
shall be drinking young coconuts and stretching our legs in another half
an hour."

The sail was hoisted, and, with five oars assisting, the boat was kept
away two or three points, till the entrance to the lagoon was opened
out, and the weary voyagers saw before them a scene of quiet beauty
and repose that filled their hearts with thankfulness. Nestling under
a grove of coco-palms was a village of not more than a dozen thatched
houses, whose people had but just awakened to another day of easy
labour--labour that was never a task. As Harvey steered the boat in
between the coral walls of the narrow passage, two or three thin columns
of pale blue smoke ascended from the palm grove, and presently some
women and children, clad only in their thick girdles of grass, came out
from the houses and walked towards the beach for their morning bathe.
Then the _click-clack_ of the oars in the rowlocks made them look
seaward, to utter a scream of astonishment at the strange sight of the
crowded boat so suddenly appearing before them. In another ten seconds
every man, woman, and child in the village--about fifty people all
told--were clustered together on the beach, shouting and gesticulating
in the most frantic excitement, some of the men rushing into the water,
and calling out to the white men to steer clear of several submerged
coral boulders which lay directly in the boat's track.

But their astonishment was intensified when Harvey answered them in
their own tongue.

"I thank ye, friends, but I have been to this land of thine many times.
Have ye all forgotten me so soon?"

Tha