rous as satin, was of a delicate pearly grey, except the long
middle-feathers of the tail, which were of a pale red, and projected
full a foot and a half beyond the rest. He manifested not the slightest
fear, even when Johnny stooped and stroked his glossy coat. Just as we
left the spot, the partner of this exemplary bird arrived, and hastened
to relieve him from duty, giving him notice to quit, by two or three
quick, impatient chirps, and a playful peck upon the head, whereupon he
resigned his place, into which the other immediately settled, with a
soft, complacent, cooing note, as expressive of perfect content as the
purring of a well-fed tabby, stretched cosily upon the earth-rug before
a cheerful winter evening fire. This transfer was effected so quickly,
that Johnny was baffled in an ill-bred attempt which he made to pry into
the domestic concerns of the affectionate pair, and he could not get
even a transient glimpse of the contents of the nest.

Without permitting ourselves to be tempted into any further deviation or
delay, we kept steadily along the beach, until we arrived, a little
before sunset, at the spot where the yawl lay, drawn up on the sand,
opposite the islet.

Max declared that after our long march, we ought to have a supper
consisting of something more substantial than cocoa-nuts, and proposed
that we should pull over to the reef, and procure some shell-fish, which
proposition meeting with general approval, we got the boat into the
water, and in five minutes reached the inside of the ledge, and landed
upon it at a point about a quarter of a mile from the opening, through
which we had first entered the lagoon. In this place, it was some
fifteen or twenty yards in width, and consisted of a seamed and broken
flat of dead coral, elevated but slightly above the level of the sea.
Though there was no wind, and had been none during the day, the mighty
billows of the open ocean came rolling in upon the outer edge of the
reef with their accustomed violence. The action of the trade-winds is
upon the whole so steady and uniform, that when it does cease for short
periods, its effects continue, and upon the windward side of these
coral-belted islands, there are breakers that never cease to rage, even
in the calmest weather. No sight could be more grand and imposing, than
that of these enormous waves encountering the reef. One of them would
sometimes extend along it a mile, or a mile and a half, in an unbrok