s
in her as boatkeepers, ready for any emergency, as I had directed. It
was a little annoying to find one's instructions disregarded so
flagrantly; but I reminded myself that, with the berthing of the ship in
the basin, I should have accomplished all that had been demanded of me,
and henceforth must expect to be treated as a nonentity. That, of
course, would leave me quite free to think out some plan whereby to
effect my escape and return to civilisation; for Wilde's Socialistic
doctrines did not in the least appeal to me, and not even the prospect
of passing the remainder of my life upon that beautiful and fertile
island could reconcile me to them.

However, there was plenty of time before me in which to work out a plan
of escape; my present business was to ascertain whether the Basin--as I
already named it in my own mind--afforded safe anchorage for the ship; I
therefore resumed the task of sounding, working pretty regularly all
over the area of it, with the result that the floor was found to slope
upward very gradually until within about half a mile of low-water mark,
when the slope became comparatively steep. So far as my somewhat
cursory survey went there seemed to be no submerged rocks, shoals, or
other dangers in that beautiful landlocked harbour to imperil the safety
of the ship; but in order to make assurance doubly sure I landed on the
inner beach and ascended the south-west head--from which the best view
of the basin was to be obtained--when, the sun having by this time
climbed nearly to the zenith and his rays striking down almost
perpendicularly into the water, I was able to see a considerable portion
of the sandy floor of the harbour through the crystalline depths of its
waters; but neither in this way could I discover any sign of danger or
obstruction. I therefore concluded that the ship might be brought
inside the Heads, and anchored pretty closely to the beach, without much
apprehension of harm happening to her, especially as there did not
appear to be more than eighteen inches rise of tide in this particular
part of the ocean.

From the situation which I now occupied I was of course afforded the
best view of the island that I had yet obtained; and truth compels me to
say that the more I saw of it the better I liked it. There should be no
lack of fresh water on the island, for even from my point of observation
there were at least a dozen small streams in sight, and doubtless there
were others bey