fore their very eyes; for while they still watched, powerless to
save, a terrific explosion occurred, followed by a rain of blazing
pieces of timber and, gruesome sight! of portions of human bodies which
had been whirled aloft, and now came hurtling down on the decks of the
flag-ship. The fire had reached the _Salvador's_ magazine!

This awful spectacle cast a deep gloom over the entire ship's company.

Shortly afterwards, none of the other vessels being in sight, and the
sea having moderated somewhat, Cavendish ordered the ship's course to be
altered, and they again bore up for the rendezvous.

On the tenth day after the storm they reached, without further
adventure, the agreed latitude and longitude, and hove-to, waiting for
the remainder of the squadron to make its appearance.

Two days later, the first of the other vessels, the _Elizabeth_, made
her appearance, and on the same evening, by the light of the tropic
stars, the other two joined them.

All four remained hove-to until daybreak. Early on the following
morning they all got under weigh again, and headed for the land, which
now could not be many miles distant.

Shortly after noon came the ever-welcome cry from the masthead: "Land
ho!"

"Where away?" demanded the officer of the watch.

"Dead ahead," answered the lookout.

"Keep her as she goes," ordered Cavendish; and with an ever-lessening
wind they glided toward the land that climbed higher and higher above
the horizon by imperceptible degrees.

By the end of the first dog-watch on that same evening they were close
enough to make out the formation of the land; and at length, sighting a
bay that looked promising for their purpose, they bore up for it,
sounding all the way as they went.

As the land opened up, the bay toward which they were heading appeared
to offer increasingly advantageous facilities for careening and
repairing; and they presently passed in between two low headlands
covered with palms, and dropped anchor in the calm inlet in six fathoms
of water, at which depth they could clearly see the bottom of sand
thickly dotted with shells and broken pieces of coral.

At last, after many weary and fateful days, they had reached a haven on
the other side of the Atlantic; a haven in one of the islands of those
fabled Indies where, if legend was to be believed, gold was to be found
more plentifully than iron in England!

All hands gazed longingly at the shore; but leave could not be grante