t, and people moving
about."

"Are you sure that those are people?" asked the mate. "I see a
flagstaff and flag clearly enough; but if those are human beings, the
flag must be a very large one, such as no whale-boat carries."

"Can papa be there?" exclaimed Alice, who was seated on a piece of
timber in the centre of the raft.

"Little doubt about dat," said Nub, turning round to her. "Cheer up,
Missie Alice; cheer up. We soon get dere. But whether it is land, as
Massa Walter says, or one bery big whale, is more dan I can tell. It
look to my eye like a whale; but I cannot see its head or its tail,--and
whales got both, unless dey are cut off." Nub, in fact, was greatly
puzzled at the appearance of the seeming island. He did not take into
consideration the deceptive effect produced by the light mist which
pervaded the air, making objects seen through it magnified and
distorted, as it floated imperceptibly by.

"I cannot quite make it out even now," observed the mate. "There's a
flag, there is no doubt about that; and there are creatures of some sort
moving about--but to my eyes they look more like birds than men. The
curious mist which hangs over the water plays strange tricks; and I have
over and over again been deceived, and so have many others; but I see
the flag as clearly as if it was not more than a cable's length from
us."

"It seems to me that the people are stooping down or carrying huge
bundles on their backs," observed Walter. "Perhaps they are digging or
building huts. I suspect, from their numbers, that the whole crew, whom
we supposed embarked on the big raft, are there. We are near enough for
them to hear our voices, though, as they are so busy, they have not as
yet made us out." On this Walter shouted and waved his hands.

"I thought so. There go your men, who were so busy digging and
building!" exclaimed the mate. As he spoke, a number of birds rose in
the air and flew shrieking away, soon being lost to sight in the clouds
of mist which hung over the ocean to the west; and revealing, scarcely a
quarter of a mile off, an enormous whale, or marine monster of some
sort, floating on the surface, with a small flagstaff and flag sticking
in its back.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

ON THE WHALE'S BACK--SIGNS OF A WRECK--LIGHT A FIRE AND COOK BLUBBER--A
NOVEL LAMP CONTRIVED--A SAIL IN SIGHT--DISAPPOINTMENT--NUB'S NARROW
ESCAPE--THE WHALE ROLLS OVER--A FEARFUL PREDICAMENT--THE RAFT WITH
WALTER SAIL