cliffs of the Peak. By this time, Brown had become so
great a favourite, that he was permitted to accompany the chief; and
Wattles was brought along as a companion for his shipmate. The remaining
five were left behind, to complete a craft on which they had now been
long employed, and which was intended to be the invincible war-canoe of
those regions. Brown and Wattles had been in Waally's own canoe when the
terrible echoes so much alarmed the uninstructed beings who heard it.
They described them as much the most imposing echoes they had ever
heard; nor did they, at first, know what to make of them, themselves. It
was only on reflection, and after the retreat to Rancocus Island, that
Brown, by reasoning on the subject, came to the conclusion that the
whites, who were supposed to be in possession of the place, had fired a
gun, which had produced the astounding uproar that had rattled so far
along the cliff. As all Brown's sympathies were with the unknown people
of his own colour, he kept his conjectures to himself, and managed to
lead Waally in a different direction, by certain conclusions of his own
touching the situation of the reef where the Rancocus had been lost.

Bill Brown was an intelligent man for his station and pursuits. He knew
the courses steered by the launch, and had some tolerably accurate
notions of the distances run. According to his calculations, that reef
could not be very far to the northward of the Peak, and, by ascending
the mountains on Rancocus Island, he either saw, or fancied he saw, the
looming of land in that part of the ocean. It then occurred to Brown
that portions of the wreck might still be found on the reef, and become
the means of effecting his escape from the hands of his tyrants. Waally
listened to his statements and conjectures with the utmost attention,
and the whole fleet put to sea the very next day, in quest of this
treasure. After paddling to windward again, until the Peak was fairly in
sight, Brown steered to the north-east, a course that brought him out,
after twenty-four hours of toil, under the lee of the group of the reef.
This discovery of itself, filled Waally with exultation and pride. Here
were no cliffs to scale, no mysterious mountain to appal, nor any
visible obstacle to oppose his conquests. It is true, that the
newly-discovered territory did not appear to be of much value, little
beside naked rock, or broad fields of mud and sea-weed intermingled,
rewarding their fi