k and
frowning was, as by the touch of magic, suddenly illuminated, and became
bright and gorgeous, throwing out its emerald hues, or perhaps a virgin
white, that filled the beholder with delight, even amid the terrors and
dangers by which, in very truth, he was surrounded. The glorious Alps
themselves, those wonders of the earth, could scarcely compete in scenery
with the views that nature lavished, in that remote sea, on a seeming
void. But the might and honour of God were there, as well as beneath the
equator.

For one whole hour did Roswell Gardiner remain in the cross-trees, having
hailed the deck, and caused the schooner's head to be turned to the
south-east, pressing her through the openings as near the wind as she
could go. The atmosphere was never without fog, though the vapour drifted
about, leaving large vacancies that were totally clear. One spot, in
particular, seemed to be a favourite resting-place for these low clouds,
which just there appeared to light upon the face of the ocean itself. A
wide field of ice, or, it were better to say, a broad belt of bergs, lay
between this stationary cloud and the schooner, though the existence of
the vapour early caught Roswell's attention; and during the hour he was
aloft, conning the craft through a very intricate and ticklish channel,
not a minute passed that the young man did not turn a look towards that
veiled spot. He was in the act of placing a foot on the ratlin below him,
to descend to the deck, when he half-unconsciously turned to take a last
glance at this distant and seemingly immovable object. Just then, the
vapour, which had kept rolling and moving, like a fluid in ebullition,
while it still clung together, suddenly opened, and the bald head of a
real mountain, a thousand feet high, came unexpectedly into the view!
There could be no mistake; all was too plain to admit of a doubt. There,
beyond all question, was land; and it was doubtless the most western of
the islands described by the dying seaman. Everything corroborated this
conclusion. The latitude and longitude were right, or nearly so, and the
other circumstances went to confirm the conjecture, or conclusion. Daggett
had said that one island, high, mountainous, ragged and bleak, but of some
size, lay the most westerly in the group, while several others were within
a few miles of it. The last were lower, much smaller, and little more than
naked rocks. One of these last, however, he insisted on it, was