e line was
far above my head. I could hardly touch it with the tips of my fingers!

A thrill of horror ran through my veins, as I contemplated the result of
this discovery. The danger was too clearly defined. Before rescue
could reach me, the tide would be in. I should be overwhelmed--swept
from the reef--drowned in the waste of waters!

CHAPTER TEN.

CLIMBING A SMOOTH POLE.

My belief now was, that my life was in peril--nay, rather, that death
was almost certain. My hopes of being rescued on that day were but
slight from the first, but now they were slighter than ever. The tide
would be back long before night. In a few hours it would be at its
flood, and that would be the end. Should people go in search of me
before night--which, for reasons already given, was not at all likely--
they would be too late. The tide would not wait either for them or for
me.

The mixed feeling of horror and despair that came over me, held me for a
long time as if paralysed. I could not give consideration to anything,
nor did I notice for some time what was going on around me. I only
gazed upon the blank surface of the sea, at intervals turning from one
side to the other, and helplessly regarding the waves. There was
neither sail nor boat in sight; nothing to relieve the dreary monotony,
but here and there the white wings of the gulls, flapping about at their
leisure. They no longer continued to annoy me with their screaming,
though, now and then, an odd one would return and fly very near; as if
wondering what I was doing in such a place, and whether I did not mean
to go away from it.

From this state of gloomy despair I was aroused by a gleam of hope. My
eyes had fallen upon the signal-staff, the sight of which had so lately
caused me a feeling of the opposite kind; and then the thought rushed
into my mind that by means of this I might save myself.

I need hardly say that my design was to climb to its top, and there
remain till the tide should go down again. One half the post, I knew,
was above watermark, even at high tide; and on its top I should find
safety.

It was only a question of climbing up the staff; but that seemed easy
enough. I was a good tree climber, and surely I could accomplish this.

The discovery of this place of refuge filled me with renewed hopes.
Nothing could be easier than to get up; I might have a hard night of it,
staying up there, but there could be no danger. The peril was past: I