ly.
They made a hearty meal of bananas and cocoa-nut milk, and then all lay
down in the canoe and dozed for some hours. The two lads were roused by
Wilcox saying:

"I think, gentlemen, we can paddle on quietly now; the sun will be setting
in less than an hour."

Resuming their seats, they paddled gently on until the sun disappeared,
then quickened their pace, and in another hour reached the shore. They had
no difficulty in landing, for the side on which the wreck was lying was
sheltered by the island itself from the rollers, and it was a sandy beach.

"I don't think that we are far from the spot," Wilcox said, "for we made
straight for that crack on the hill, and kept it open all the while. I
reckon we can't be more than half a mile from where the wreck was lying.

"I don't suppose we shall see anything of that, the cyclone must have
finished it. However, we will walk along the shore till we get to the
spot. We cannot mistake that. We will keep a bit back from the sea. We may
light upon something as we go, but it will be sure to be well inland; you
know we saw how far the sea washed things up beside the wreck."

The night was too dark, however, for them to distinguish objects ten yards
away, and they soon came down to the water's edge again, following it
until the character of the shore changed and rocks took the place of the
sand.

"That is all right," the sailor said; "now I think we had better go back
to the boat again till we get daylight. It would never do to walk across
these rocks in the dark with naked feet. It was bad enough when it was
light, but we should cut our feet to pieces if we tried it now. There is
no hurry about it, as we are within half a mile of the wreck. We know that
everything is pretty well smashed up that went ashore there, so that we
are far more likely to find something on the sands, and we shall see the
_Tiger_ just as well from where the canoe is as from the wreck. The first
thing to look for is water. I don't say that the cocoa-nuts would not
supply us for another week; but if we are going to stay here long--and for
my part I don't see anything better to do--we must either find another
cocoa-nut grove or water."

"I don't think we are likely to find another cocoa-nut grove," Stephen
said.

"Why not, sir? They have them mostly on all these islands."

"That is true," Stephen agreed; "but I should say it is just because there
are none here that there are no villages anywhere about.