ast forty miles. What it might measure from
east to west was not to be easily determined, but the summits of the
most distant range of hills appeared to be nearly or quite twenty miles
distant; and how much land lay beyond them it was of course impossible
to guess. The description of the island which Billy had given me,
several days earlier, was quite a good one. There was the far-
stretching ribbon of white beach, bordered on its inshore margin by
innumerable cocoa-nut palms, beyond which the land rose gently, in
irregular folds, to the hills in the rear, every inch of soil,
apparently, being clothed with vegetation of some sort, chiefly trees,
many of which seemed--as seen through the ship's telescope--to be
smothered in blossoms of varied and most beautiful hues. I subjected
every foot of the land in sight to a most rigorous scrutiny through the
lenses of the telescope, in search of some indication of inhabitants,
but could find nothing; no cleared and cultivated land, no smoke,
suggestive of dwellings, no canoes on the beach, no moving figures; to
all appearances, indeed, the gulls, pelicans, and other aquatic birds
that wheeled and screamed over the lagoon and dived into its waters
might be the only life on the island.

"Well, Mr Blackburn, what do you think of it?" demanded Billy, when at
length I lowered the telescope from my eye.

"It is wonderful," I declared. "I am amazed. I simply cannot
understand it. That island is quite a big place. There is nothing in
the least like it shown on the chart anywhere near the spot which it
actually occupies, yet how it has so far escaped the notice of the
hydrographers is a puzzle to me. The matter, however, which most
concerns us is that, viewed from here at least, it appears to be a
sufficiently desirable place, on which we ought, without difficulty, to
find ample means of subsistence. How does the idea of living ashore
there for a time appeal to you?"

"Oh, I say!" exclaimed Billy, "that will be splendid! Just think of the
jolly times we shall be able to have, huntin' wild beasts, fightin' the
savages, and havin' all sorts of splendid adventures."

"Well," I said, "some of those things may possibly come our way, but we
really want no excitements of that sort, Billy boy. Of course, we are
all right where we are, so long as the wreck holds together and remains
habitable; but the trouble is that we don't know how long that may be.
Another such gale as placed u