e be left, sir?"

"Yes; he will be better undisturbed."

"Then don't you think, sir, as you and me'd better go on deck and
overhaul things a bit; see how things are and look round?"

"Yes, certainly."

"Then you lead on, sir, for there's a deal I'm wanting to see."

The door was softly closed upon the sleeping lad, and doctor and able
seaman stepped into the saloon to try and make out how they stood.

CHAPTER SIX.

The sun was sinking low as the doctor and his companion reached the deck
and then ascended to the bridge to have a hasty glance round before the
brief tropical evening should give place to darkness, and in that
rapidly made observation they grasped that the great steamer,
wonderfully uninjured, lay aground in comparatively shallow water,
doubtless upon the coral rocks which formed the bottom of a broad
lagoon.

Everything loose had been carried away by the waves which had swept the
decks, but the masts and funnel were standing comparatively uninjured,
and as far as they could make out, scarcely any injury had been done to
the structure of the ship.

"The mischief's all below, sir, I expect," said the old sailor. "We
shall find she's got a lot of water in her hold."

"But she lies immovable, I suppose," said the doctor.

"Quite, sir; she's fast as fast can be, and'll lie till she rusts away,
which won't be this side o' fifty year."

"Then there is no immediate danger?"

"Not a bit, sir, and it's a bad job as those boats was launched; they'd
all have been better here if the skipper could have known."

"Yes; waited till the storm had passed," assented the doctor.

"Ay, sir, but who could tell that we were going to be floated over the
reef and set down, as you may say, in dock? Besides, if the skipper
hadn't ordered the boats out when he did there'd ha' been a mutiny."

"I suppose so; the crew would have risen against their officers."

"The crew, sir? Yes, and the passengers too. There'd ha' been a panic
and a rush."

The doctor sighed, shaded his eyes, and looked out from the side where
they stood at the golden lagoon.

In the distance he could see the huge rollers breaking regularly on the
coral reef--a wonderful sight in the setting sun, the water glowing
orange and blood-red, while the spray which rose was a fiery gold.

"Magnificent," said the doctor, softly, and he turned to cross to the
other side of the deck to look out westward over a couple of hundred
yards of smooth wat