ir," answered Bob, taking out his tobacco-box,
and helping himself to a quid. "Nor would I be at all surprised should
there turn out to be a bit of land to leeward, if you and I was to
Robinson Crusoe it for the rest of our days. My good mother was always
most awarse to my following the seas on account of that very danger;
most especially from a fear of the savages from the islands round
about."

"We will look for our boats," Mark gravely replied, the image of
Bridget, just at that instant, appearing before his mind with a painful
distinctness.

Both now turned their eyes again to leeward, the first direct rays of
the sun beginning to illumine the surface of the ocean in that quarter.
Something like a misty cloud had been settled on the water, rather less
than a league from the ship, in the western board, and had hitherto
prevented a close examination in that part of the horizon. The power of
the sun, however, almost instantly dispersed it, and then, for the first
time, Bob fancied he did discover something like land. Mark, however,
could not make it out, until he had gone up into the cross-trees, when
he, too, got a glimpse of what, under all the circumstances, he did not
doubt was either a portion of the reef that rose above the water, or was
what might be termed a low, straggling island. Its distance from the
ship, they estimated at rather more than two leagues.

Both Mark and Bob remained aloft near an hour longer, or until they had
got the best possible view of which their position would allow, of
everything around the ship. Bob went down, and took a glass up to his
officer, Mark sweeping the whole horizon with it, in the anxious wish to
make out something cheering in connection with the boats. The drift of
these unfortunate craft must have been towards the land, and that he
examined with the utmost care. Aided by the glass, and his elevation, he
got a tolerable view of the spot, which certainly promised as little in
the way of supplies as any other bit of naked reef he had ever seen. The
distance, however, was so great as to prevent his obtaining any certain
information on that point. One thing, however, he did ascertain, as he
feared, with considerable accuracy. After passing the glass along the
whole of that naked rock, he could see nothing on it in motion. Of birds
there were a good many, more indeed than from the extent of the visible
reef he might have expected; but no signs of man could be discovered. As