roughly fatigued with the toil of
that eventful morning.

The reader may easily imagine with what impatience our two mariners
waited the slow return of light. Each minute seemed an hour, and it
appeared to them as if the night was to last for ever. But the earth
performed its usual revolution, and by degrees sufficient light was
obtained to enable Mark and Bob to examine the state of things around
them. In order to do this the better, each went into a top, looking
abroad from those elevations on the face of the ocean, the different
points of the reef, and all that was then and there to be seen. Mark
went up forward, while Bob ascended into the main-top. The distance
between them was so small, that there was no difficulty in conversing,
which they continued to do, as was natural enough to men in their
situation.

The first look that each of our mariners bestowed, after he was in his
top, was to leeward, which being to the westward, was of course yet in
the darkest point of the horizon. They expected to obtain a sight of at
least one island, and that quite near to them, if not of a group. But no
land appeared! It is true, that it was still too dark to be certain of a
fact of this sort, though Mark felt quite assured that if land was
finally seen, it must be of no great extent, and quite low. He called to
Bob, to ascertain what _he_ thought of appearances to leeward, his
reputation as a look-out being so great.

"Wait a few minutes, sir, till we get a bit more day," answered his
companion. "There is a look on the water, about a league off here on the
larboard quarter, that seems as if something would come out of it. But,
one thing can be seen plain enough, Mr. Mark, and that's the breakers.
There's a precious line on 'em, and that too one within another, as
makes it wonderful how we ever got through 'em as well as we did!"

This was true enough, the light on the ocean to windward being now
sufficient to enable the men to see, in that direction, to a
considerable distance. It was that solemn hour in the morning when
objects first grow distinct, ere they are touched with the direct rays
from the sun, and when everything appears as if coming to us fresh and
renovated from the hands of the Creator. The sea had so far gone down as
to render the breakers much less formidable to the eye, than when it was
blowing more heavily; but this very circumstance made it impossible to
mistake their positions. In the actual state of the