ry good bed."

Thus far, we had passed every night upon the islet, to which we had now
become familiarised and accustomed. Its small extent, and separation
from the mainland, gave it an air of security, which made us feel more
at our ease there at night, than we could among the sombre and
unexplored forests of the larger island, about which we as yet knew so
little. Johnny's timidity was not therefore unnatural. Indeed, unless
I am mistaken, none of us was, on this first night of our exploration,
entirely free from a vague spirit of insecurity, and of liability to
some unknown danger.

"That will hardly do, Johnny," said Browne, in answer to his suggestion
about taking up our quarters for the night upon the shore, "a heap of
dry pandanus leaves will make a much more comfortable bed than the hard
sand. Thus I propose to arrange it--we will go up to the top of the
hill where we rested to-day, and lodge there; our beds of leaves shall
be all in a circle, and Johnny's shall be in the middle; and then he
won't feel lonesome or afraid, for all the uncanny noises of the wind
and the trees; knowing that he has good friends and true all around him,
and particularly one stout John Browne, who is worth all the rest
together, being a fair match for any thing in this part of the
South-Seas!" and by way of raising Johnny's spirits, and inspiring him
with the greater confidence in the prowess of his protector, he
flourished his cutlass, and went scientifically through the broad-sword
exercise, slashing and carving away at his imaginary antagonist, with a
fierceness and vigour wonderful to behold, having lopped off an
indefinite quantity of airy heads and limbs, be finished, by reciting
with a bold and warlike air--

"Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled!
Scots wham Bruce has aften led!" etcetera.

This demonstration seemed to produce the desired effect and Johnny soon
became reassured, and quite reconciled to "camping out" in the woods.

The evening was so fine, and the gentle breeze setting in from the ocean
was so cool and grateful, after the excessive heat of the day, that we
continued for some time loitering along the shore. The sea was highly
phosphorescent; that is, during the earlier part of the evening, and
before the mist or haze before spoken of cleared up. The tiny wavelets,
as they rippled upon the beach in rapid succession, sparkled with
phosphoric fire, and out in the lagoon, wherever a coral patch rose to
the