nd; and since
any considerable spring or stream must find its way to the sea, we
should also be more likely to discover water, than by pursuing the other
course. Along the southern shore, the land was lower and less uneven
than in the opposite direction, and held forth a slighter prospect of
springs or streams. The difficulty of holding a straight course through
the forest, where we should be without any means of ascertaining the
points of the compass, was a consideration of great weight, and Morton's
plan was at last adopted, as being upon the whole the best.

The sun was not more than half an hour high, when we pushed off from the
shore of the islet, and rowed over towards the mainland. The morning
was fine and clear, and either the fresh, bracing sea-air, or the stir
and excitement of setting out upon our expedition, had an exhilarating
influence, for we gradually became quite cheerful, and even animated;
and the faces of my companions began to brighten up with more of the old
familiar expression, than I had seen there for many a day.

The merest breath of a breeze just stirred the crisp leaves of the palms
upon the neighbouring shore; the tiny wavelets rippled softly upon the
snowy, shell-spangled beach, or, out in the lagoon, danced and sparkled
in the sunlight; still further out and just beyond the barrier that
fenced in this quiet and secluded scene from the open ocean, we could
see the huge blue rollers with their foaming crests surging high into
the air; and the heavy booming of the surf, as it thundered upon the
reef, might be heard for miles around, amid the prevailing silence.
Beyond this again, stretched away to the horizon, the blue, swelling
arch of the ocean--a clear, deep, intense blue, contrasting beautifully
with the paler blue of the sky, against which it was relieved, and with
the emerald expanse of the lagoon.

Browne gazed about him with more interest than I had yet seen him
manifest in any thing since we had reached the island. He inhaled the
fresh morning air with the appearance of actual relish and enjoyment and
at last, to my surprise, (for Max had accused him, not without some
reason, of having been the most lugubrious of our party), he began to
sing to a brisk and cheerful tune--

"O, happy days of hope and rest
Shall dawn on sorrow's dreary night,
Though grief may be an evening guest,
Yet joy shall come with morning light!
The light of smiles shall beam again,
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