in the
night, but still we were sailing on as it were into space.

The water now was bright golden again, and the air felt delicious; but I
began to wish that we were at our journey's end, and pointing ahead I
tried to learn from our steersman how much farther he was going to take
us.

His reply was to point straight ahead, and we were still speeding on,
when, after five or six hours' sleep, my uncle jumped up into
wakefulness, ready to partake of the waiting meal of cold fish,
biscuits, and fruit; the coffee, which in a case like this I made by
means of a spirit-lamp, being kept in abeyance for a time.

"Well, Nat," he said, "is our wild-goose chase nearly at an end? Is
land in sight?"

"No, uncle," I said, after gazing carefully ahead. Just then Ebo
pointed to the telescope, and made signs to my uncle to use it.

"Look through?" he said to the black. "All right, my friend, I will;"
and placing it to his eye as he stood up in the boat he cried to me as I
eagerly watched him, "Land ahead, Nat, and apparently a wooded shore!"

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

AN UNKNOWN ISLAND.

By the time we had made a hearty meal Ebo pointed with triumph to the
faint hazy speck in the distance, now growing minute by minute plainer
to our eyes.

Ebo watched our countenances very intently, and then suddenly broke out
with:

"Bird--shoot--bird."

"He seems to have brought us here under the impression that it is a good
place, Nat, and I trust it will prove so," said my uncle. "I hope there
will be no unpleasant savages to hinder our work."

As we drew nearer the glass was frequently brought to bear, but neither
my uncle nor I could detect any sign of habitation, not even when we
were within a quarter of a mile of the shore; but, to Uncle Dick's great
delight, the place proved to be densely wooded in some parts, while the
lofty hills looked green and park-like, with the large trees dotted here
and there.

The beach was a soft white sand, upon which the waves curled gently
over; and not twenty yards from the highest marks made by the tide, the
tall palms, loaded with fruit, drooped their great feathery leaves.

As far as we could see the island was not large, but the interior was
very mountainous, the green hills running up to a great height, for the
most part well-clothed with wood; and to our great delight, as we ran
the boat cautiously upon the sand, we could hear the screams of parrots
and the whistling and twittering of