ok and eat my victuals. But I did not dare to trust to this
plan during the three hours of rest that I allowed myself at night, as
the wind might have shifted, in which case I should have been blown far
out of my course ere I awoke. I was, therefore, in the habit of
heaving-to during those three hours--that is, fixing the rudder and the
sails in such a position as that, by acting against each other, they
would keep the ship stationary. After my night's rest, therefore, I had
only to make allowance for the leeway she had made, and so resume my
course.

Of course I was, to some extent, anxious lest another squall should
come; but I made the best provision I could in the circumstances, and
concluded that by letting go the weather-braces of the topsails and the
topsail halyards at the same time, I should thereby render these sails
almost powerless. Besides this, I proposed to myself to keep a sharp
lookout on the barometer in the cabin; and if I observed at any time a
sudden fall in it, I resolved that I would instantly set about my
multiform appliances for reducing sail, so as to avoid being taken
unawares. Thus I sailed prosperously for two weeks, with a fair wind,
so that I calculated I must be drawing near to the Coral Island, at the
thought of which my heart bounded with joyful expectation.

The only book I found on board, after a careful search, was a volume of
Captain Cook's voyages. This, I suppose, the pirate captain had brought
with him in order to guide him, and to furnish him with information
regarding the islands of these seas. I found this a most delightful
book indeed; and I not only obtained much interesting knowledge about
the sea in which I was sailing, but I had many of my own opinions,
derived from experience, corroborated, and not a few of them corrected.
Besides the reading of this charming book, and the daily routine of
occupations, nothing of particular note happened to me during this
voyage--except once, when on rising one night, after my three hours'
nap, while it was yet dark, I was amazed and a little alarmed to find
myself floating in what appeared to be a sea of blue fire! I had often
noticed the beautiful appearance of phosphorescent light, but this far
exceeded anything of the sort I ever saw before. The whole sea appeared
somewhat like milk, and was remarkably luminous.

I rose in haste, and letting down a bucket into the sea, brought some of
the water on board and took it down to