great fig-tree, among whose small, ripe
fruits a flock of brilliant little scarlet and green lories were
feeding; and here, seated about on the great, projecting roots, the
party partook of a delicious meal, feasting their eyes at the same time
upon the prospect around. For, from the elevation at which they now
were, they were able to look right over the low land that had been swept
by the vast wave, to where there was another slight elevation clothed
with trees.

As far as they could see, the low ground was spread with scattered
blocks of coral and lava, while here and there, little bright patches
told of shells that had been ground and polished thin by the action of
the waves, and now showed their glistening, pearly material.

Another look to the left across blocks of white coral, and over pools
slowly evaporating in the hot sunshine, showed the course the ship had
taken from where the sea beat against the reef-girdled shore. It was
all plain enough; that was the edge of the land, with a belt of calm,
blue water, and beyond that, as far as eye could reach to right and
left, a barrier reef of coral, upon which the great billows curved over,
flashing in the sun, and crested with their soft, white foam.

"It seems beyond belief," said Oliver at last. "Who could imagine that
our vessel could be borne right inland here and set down upon an even
keel almost uninjured?"

"And without the smallest chance of ever sailing the sea again," said
Panton, quietly.

"I say, look here, you two, we're not going to settle down here like so
many Robinson Crusoes, are we!" cried Drew.

"Only just so long, I say, as it will take us to make complete
collections of the natural history of the place," said Oliver, "for I
begin to be in hopes that the land is quite new, and that no one has
ever set foot upon it before."

"Then you think it is an island?" said Drew, who was eating with one
hand, collecting specimens of plants with the other.

"If he doesn't, I do," cried Panton, taking out a little bright steel
hammer and beginning to chip at a block of stone held fast by one of the
roots of the big tree under whose branches they were seated. "Look at
this--slag. I say that we are on a volcanic island, formed by a
mountain rising out of the sea and pouring out its streams of lava, and
throwing up its blocks and stones and cinders."

"What about the coral, then? The place is covered with scattered
blocks."

"Oh, those were car