the southward,
or rather to the eastward of Cape Palmas. The wind fell soon
afterwards, and slowly they drifted in toward the shore. Their glasses
as they approached were directed at it, and they could see a number of
blacks collected on the beach and evidently watching them. The part of
the coast they were now off is called the Ivory Coast. As far as the
eye could reach it was flat and monotonous, but along its whole extent
appeared rich groves of cocoa-nut trees, extending a considerable
distance inland. Here and there, embosomed by the cocoa-nut groves,
they could see small villages and separate buildings, the cottages with
high conical roofs, thatched with palmetto leaves. To the east appeared
a long thin spit of sand, separated from the main beach by a lagoon,
into which several rivers and streams appeared to fall. As they
approached the shore a terrific surf was seen rolling in towards it, and
breaking with a loud roar on the sand.

"What will become of our little craft if we get in among those
breakers?" said Adair. "She will have hard work to swim, I suspect."

"I doubt if she will ever float through them," answered Murray. "If she
does, and we are stranded, which is the best fate we can then hope to
happen to us, I fear that those black gentry on the shore will not give
us a very friendly reception. They are flourishing their spears as if
they would like to dig them into us."

"We shall be completely in their power, and, what is the worst, we have
not the means of showing fight," said Adair, watching the people on the
shore through his glass. "They have some big canoes hauled up on the
beach, and they seem disposed to launch them, and come in chase of us,
should the rollers not send us to them."

"I wish that there was a chance of that," exclaimed Murray; "I should
have very little fear of them if they came to attack us. Ah! there's a
puff of wind off the shore. Our blacks have discovered it. They are
wetting their fingers and holding up their hands. We may yet be able to
stand off the land."

The minutes passed slowly by. They were full of the most anxious
suspense. Now the promised breeze died away, and the little vessel
floated helplessly in towards the dreaded surf. Now it came on again,
and she was able to get a little farther off, again to be left to drift
back towards the land. Then, just as her case seemed hopeless, another
puff would come, and once more her sails would fill, and