nd that before long he would reach it. This prospect
excited in his mind the utmost hope, and all his attention was now
directed towards that place. The time passed slowly, but it did
pass; and at length, about three hours after he had first tried to
turn the boat, he found himself so close to the island that he
could step ashore.

It was now about ten o'clock. The place where David landed was a
pebbled beach, bordered by rocks, above which grew trees. As he
approached the island he saw houses and people. The houses were
plain and small, and the people seemed laboring in the fields.
David's habit of considering all Italian peasants as brigands now
excited in his mind a fear which brought fresh anxieties. On this
lonely island the whole population might be brigands, who would
treat him as lawful prey, and from whom he could hope to fare no
better than those early shipwrecked mariners in these seas about
whom he had read and studied so much. He congratulated himself that
his boat had borne him to a sequestered spot like this, where he
might be secure from observation, and have time to look forth and
see what manner of men these island brigands might be.

And so, full of anxiety, David drew his boat cautiously upon the
beach as far as he could, and secured it; after which he stole up
to the shelter of the trees and rocks, so as to reconnoitre. The
trees grew along the edge of the rocks, which rose above the beach,
to a height of about twenty feet, and formed a grove, which was
sufficiently dense for David to feel secure from observation. The
grove ran along the edge of the bank for some distance, bat was of
no great depth; and David, as he peered through the trees, could
see an opening beyond, and the glimpse of white buildings. Here,
then, David found himself close to the dreaded neighborhood of the
brigands of the island, and it was with a feeling of great trepidation
that he recognized the frailty of his present shelter, the
insufficiency of his place of concealment, and the necessity that
there was of leaving it before long.

To quit it and communicate with the inhabitants of the place, he
plainly saw, could not long be avoided. He had as yet eaten nothing,
and already he began to feel the cravings of hunger. He would also
have to take measures to effect his return to his friends. His
hunger and his desire to get back to his friends alike made him
desperate; and so, after a few minutes of concealment and fearful
i