as in the darkness of that terrible night his words seemed to be
snatched away as soon as uttered.

"Yes; it would be safer; where are they?"

"Bah! Nonsense! Look down there. Suppose you had on a life-belt, what
could you do in such a sea? You'd both be knocked to pieces or have the
breath choked out of you in five minutes. Stick to the ship while you
can. That's good advice."

"Is there any danger?" shouted the young man who was nearest the last
speaker.

"Of course there is. No one could be in such a tornado without being in
danger."

"But shall we be wrecked?" asked the fresh-comer.

"Heaven only knows, sir. We're all amongst the islands and reefs, and
if one of them is in our way nothing can save us."

No words were spoken then for some time, and every man on board the
_Planet_ brig, which after a short stay at Singapore was off on a voyage
of discovery along the coast of New Guinea, clung to bulwark, shroud and
stay, or sheltered himself the best way he could from the waves which,
like the wind, seemed ready to pluck them from their hold.

Everything possible in the way of navigation had been done when the
frightful storm came on, after scant warning in the way of a falling
barometer. Then nothing was left for the unfortunates on board but to
hold on and wait for the end of the hurricane as they were swept along
swiftly in its course.

Three days before, they had been sailing gently within sight of the
towering volcanoes of Java. Now, as Mr Rimmer, the chief mate, said,
they were "anywhere," the wind having veered round as if blowing in a
vast circle, and all government of the brig being pretty well at an end.

Matters had been bad enough while it was daylight. When darkness came
on the little hope which had remained was pretty well quenched; and
Oliver Lane began to think of the home in England that he might never
see again, and of how different the reality of the expedition was from
all that he had pictured in his rather vivid imagination.

When the trip was planned, and he obtained permission to join it through
the influence of his father, a famous naturalist, he saw himself sailing
amid glorious islands, with gorgeous tropical foliage hanging over seas
of intense blue, glittering like precious stones in the burning
sunshine; coral reefs seen through transparent water with their groves
of wondrous seaweeds, and fish of brilliant tints flashing their scale
armour as they swam here and th