the direction we proposed, we agreed to run before the wind till we
could fall in with some island on which we could land. For four anxious
days we ran on, till some palm-trees appeared ahead rising out of the
water, and we knew that we we approaching a coral island. The wind had
happily fallen, but the surf ahead showed us our danger in time, and
putting down our helm we stood to the southward till we came to the end
of the island; keeping away again we found a passage through the reef,
by which we safely entered the lagoon.

"Here, for the present, we were safe from the dangers of the sea; the
island was uninhabited, and we found a spring of water, but provisions
were not likely to be plentiful. There were cocoa-nuts for one part of
the year, and turtle and their eggs occasionally, and roots and
shell-fish; and after a time it occurred to King that we might be able
to catch some fish. Having walked round and round the island, or
rather, almost round and back again, and considered how we should
procure food, our next care was to build a hut to shelter ourselves from
the sun by day, and the dews by night.

"And now commenced a solitary life, the end of which we could not see.
Years might go by before a vessel might pass that way, and if one should
pass, what little chance was there of our being seen! Still, I do not
think a day went by without our talking on the subject, and looking out
for a sail. King, poor fellow, was not much of a companion, as we had
few ideas in common; but we never grew tired of talking of the
probability of our getting away. He had a wife and family in England
whom he longed to see, as much as I did my friends. How many months or
years went by while he was with me I could not tell, for our life was a
very monotonous one.

"We had kept our boat in as good repair as possible, not with the hope
of making our escape in her, for she was too small for that, but for the
purpose of putting off to get on board any ship which might appear. We
were, therefore, chary of using her, but occasionally we went out
fishing in her, when the supply we could get in the lagoon or from the
shore ran short. One day I was ill, and King said that he would go out
by himself. I warned him not to go, for from the appearance of the sky
I thought bad weather was coming on. He laughed at my fears, said that
he would bring me back a good dinner, and rowed round to the eastward of
the island.

"He had not been go