seemed to
be the merest trifle deeper and more opaque than elsewhere, and I
wondered whether it might perchance be the loom of the island, the
highest point of which being, according to the chart, eight hundred and
twenty feet above the sea level, should now be visible above the horizon
if it were only daylight--and my reckoning happened to be correct. I
fetched the ship's night-glass and took a good look through it at this
spot, but at first could make nothing certain of it. However, while I
still looked, a bright star suddenly swam into view above the spot, and
my heart gave a great leap, and a heavy sigh escaped me; for I knew,
from the sweep of the horizon and the height of other stars about it in
the immediate neighbourhood, that the celestial body which had so
suddenly sprung into the field of the telescope must have just risen
above the topmost ridge of something solid blotting out a small space of
sky in that quarter; and the something solid could only be the island of
Saint Paul.

"The island is in sight, Tudsbery, as straight ahead as it is possible
for a man to aim for it!" I exclaimed exultantly; for my feeling of
relief from doubt and anxiety, and the swift conviction that I might
henceforward confidently rely upon myself, were so great that I felt
impelled to give audible expression to my satisfaction.

"You don't say so, Mr Troubridge!" exclaimed the carpenter, coming to
my side. "Whereabouts do she lie, sir?"

"Come and stand where I am, and I will show you," answered I. "There,
now, do you see that bright star, low down in the sky, just over the
spot where the cathead passes out through the bulwarks?"

"Certainly, sir; I see it quite plainly," answered the carpenter.

"Then look immediately beneath it, and you will see the loom of the
land," said I. "You can make it out more clearly with the naked eye
than through the telescope. D'ye see it?"

"Well," exclaimed Chips doubtfully, "now that you comes to mention it, I
admit that the gloom away down there do look a bit thicker than it do
anywheres else; but I should never ha' noticed it if you hadn't drawed
my attention to it. And, even now, I don't know as I should care to
swear as to it bein' land."

"No," said I; "and neither should I, if I did not know it to be there.
But wait until the day breaks, and you will see that I am right."

"I don't doubt it, sir; I don't doubt it at all," answered Chips
soothingly; "but it's a wonder to me h