them, and if we could
only contrive to keep the schooner in the unbroken water all might yet
be well. We were still rushing along at a great pace, for the gale was
blowing, if possible, more fiercely than ever; but the water was smooth,
and I was consequently hopeful that, by letting go both anchors and
giving the schooner the full scope of her cables, we might manage to
ride it out without dragging. At length we brought the last of the
visible breakers fair on our quarter, and I was in the act of putting
the helm over, singing out at the same time to haul down the staysail
and foresail, when the mate, who was on the forecastle ready to attend
to the letting go of the anchors, shouted that he thought he could make
out something like a large rock or small islet a short distance ahead.
Hurriedly instructing the helmsman to keep the schooner as she was
going, I ran forward, and immediately made out the object, which looked
amply large enough to give us a lee to anchor under. We were pretty
close to it; so without further ado the schooner was stripped of her
remaining canvas and conned into a berth close under the lee of the huge
mass, when both anchors were let go, the port anchor first and the
starboard anchor half a minute later; and in less than five minutes we
had the supreme satisfaction of finding the _Sword Fish_ riding snugly,
and in smooth water, with some three fathoms between her keel and the
sandy bottom.

I was by this time pretty well fagged out, for the hour was drawing well
on toward daybreak. Nevertheless my curiosity was so powerfully excited
with regard to the spot which we had stumbled upon that, after
thoroughly satisfying myself that the schooner was safe, and before
turning in, I got out my chart and spread it open upon the cabin table.
Our position at noon on the previous day was of course laid down upon
it, and it needed but a few moments' consideration of the courses and
distances that we had subsequently steered to demonstrate that we had
blundered right into the heart of Los Roques, or the Roccas, the most
dangerous group of islets, without exception, in the whole of the
Caribbean Sea. They are situated some seventy-five miles due north of
La Guayra, and extend over an area of ocean measuring about twenty-five
miles from east to west, and about half that distance from north to
south. The group consists of two islands proper, Cayo Grande and Cayo
de Sal, the first being triangular in shape,