would be practically impossible to hit off her position in the darkness.

The beach on which they stood was of no great width, some sixty or
seventy feet wide, perhaps, from the water's edge to the spot where it
abruptly met the luxuriant growth of thick guinea-grass that seemed to
form the turf of the island. Immediately opposite the spot where they
had landed there stretched a clear space of this turf, measuring about a
quarter of a square mile in area, entirely unencumbered by bush, or
tree, or shrub of any kind. Leslie recognised this as the spot that he
had already fixed upon, while aboard the brig, as the site for his camp;
and his nearer inspection of it now satisfied him that it was eminently
suitable for the purpose and indeed could not be improved upon. Beyond
the confines of this open space, to right, left, and rear of it, shrubs
and small bushes grew at first sparsely and, further on, in greater
profusion, until ultimately this more or less scattered growth merged
into the dense and apparently impenetrable bush and forest with which
the entire island appeared to be clothed.

When Leslie's eyes had first fallen upon this island an uneasy suspicion
had arisen within him that so comparatively large and important an area
must almost of necessity be inhabited; and he had not been altogether
free from doubt as to what, in such a case, the disposition of its
inhabitants might be toward him and his companion. He had an idea that
he had somewhere heard or read that the natives of certain of the
Pacific islands were addicted to cannibalism; and he felt that if by any
evil chance this particular island should happen to be inhabited by such
a race, the cup of their misfortunes would be full. Consequently, the
work of constructing his pontoons had been frequently broken into by
long and anxious examinations of the island through the telescope, in a
search for indications of the presence of inhabitants.

These examinations had entirely failed to reveal any such indications;
and the hope had gradually arisen in his mind that, after all, the
island might prove to be uninhabited. But he was not yet by any means
satisfied that this hope was well-grounded, and he determined that this
first visit of his to the place should be mainly devoted to a further
search and examination. Before doing anything further, therefore, he
suggested to Flora that they should walk the entire length of the
beach--keeping to the grass as f