ort-lived twilight of those regions, to which I have already
referred, ended abruptly in a dark night. Hastily throwing a few
blankets into our little boat, we stepped into it, and, whispering
farewell to the natives in the schooner, rowed gently over the lagoon,
taking care to keep as near to the beach as possible. We rowed in the
utmost silence and with muffled oars, so that had any one observed us at
the distance of a few yards, he might have almost taken us for a phantom-
boat or a shadow on the dark water. Not a breath of air was stirring;
but fortunately the gentle ripple of the sea upon the shore, mingled with
the soft roar of the breaker on the distant reef, effectually drowned the
slight plash that we unavoidably made in the water by the dipping of our
oars.

Quarter of an hour sufficed to bring us to the over-hanging cliff under
whose black shadow our little canoe lay, with her bow in the water ready
to be launched, and most of her cargo already stowed away. As the keel
of our little boat grated on the sand, a hand was laid upon the bow, and
a dim form was seen.

"Ha!" said Peterkin in a whisper, as he stepped upon the beach, "is that
you, Avatea?"

"Yis, it am me," was the reply.

"All right! Now, then, gently. Help me to shove off the canoe,"
whispered Jack to the teacher; "and Peterkin, do you shove these blankets
aboard, we may want them before long. Avatea, step into the
middle;--that's right."

"Is all ready?" whispered the teacher.

"Not quite," replied Peterkin. "Here, Ralph, lay hold o' this pair of
oars, and stow them away if you can. I don't like paddles. After we're
safe away I'll try to rig up rollicks for them."

"Now, then, in with you and shove off."

One more earnest squeeze of the kind teacher's hand, and, with his
whispered blessing yet sounding in our ears, we shot like an arrow from
the shore, sped over the still waters of the lagoon, and paddled as
swiftly as strong arms and willing hearts could urge us over the long
swell of the open sea.

All that night and the whole of the following day we plied our paddles in
almost total silence and without halt, save twice to recruit our failing
energies with a mouthful of food and a draught of water. Jack had taken
the bearing of the island just after starting, and laying a small pocket-
compass before him, kept the head of the canoe due south, for our chance
of hitting the island depended very much on the faithfulness of our