astern. All that night we ran plunging on. In the morning watch the
wind began to fall. I asked Yool, who was in the same watch with me,
what he thought was going to happen.

"Why, Master Harry, that the gale is tired of blowing, and that we shall
before long have a calm, or only just a light, pleasant breeze," he
answered. So it proved; after this the wind rapidly decreased, and by
sunrise all hands were aloft bending new sails, and busily employed in
repairing the damages received in the gale. Just as the captain came on
deck, one of the mates hailed from aloft that he saw a whale, or a rock,
or some large black object, just rising out of the water--he could not
make out what.

We had been on the point of hauling our wind to stand back for Callao,
but the captain ordered the ship to be kept on, to ascertain what the
object could be. I with others had gone aloft to look out also, when,
as the sun arose, I saw before me what I at first took to be a cloud,
but gradually it grew more and more distinct, till I was certain that it
was a lofty mountain. The rest of the crew were so busily employed
about the rigging, and in looking out for the whale or whatever it was,
that I was the first to see it;--of this I was very proud.

"Land ahead!" I sung out.

"Ay, ay; all right, Harry," he answered, knowing of course what land it
must be. I soon after went down on deck, where I met Jerry, looking
rather pale and ill after his bath.

"Do you know what that land is?" I asked, pointing to it; for with the
increasing light it was now seen clearly from the deck.

"Why, it's no other than Robinson Crusoe's island--Juan Fernandes; and
my father says he intends to run in there, as it will be more convenient
to repair damages at anchor; and he thinks that very likely the gale may
come back again on us. Won't it be jolly to go on shore and to see the
very cave he lived in, and the sand where he first saw Friday's
foot-mark, and the descendants of the goats he had, and various other
animals? I am certain I could find out every spot of ground he talks
about. There's no place I would rather see than this."

"So would I," I observed. "But you forget, Jerry, there was no such
person as Robinson Crusoe. We may be disappointed when we get there."

"I won't believe it!" he answered, indignantly. "There was, and there
must have been, and there shall have been a Robinson Crusoe! How could
he have written his life if he had no