bright and cheerful in the presence of a great emergency. The sneer had
left his face, the cynical accent had disappeared from his voice; he
employed all his social gifts, which were naturally great, for the
entertainment of his comrades. As they ate boiled eggs and fried fish
and other morsels which seemed especially dainty when cooked over the
fire that Jackson's patient industry had lighted at last, the spirits of
the whole party seemed to rise; and Percival's determination to look
upon the bright side of things, produced a most enlivening effect. Some
of them remembered afterwards, with a sort of puzzled wonder, that they
had more than once laughed heartily during their first meal upon the
Rocas Reef.

Yet none of them were insensible to the danger through which they had
passed, nor the terrible position in which they stood. Uppermost in the
minds of each, although none of them liked to put it into words, was the
question--How long shall we stay here? Is it likely that any ship will
observe our signal of distress and come to our aid? They looked each
other furtively in the eyes, and read no comfort in each other's face.

They had landed upon one of two islands, about fifteen acres each in
size, which were separated at high water, but communicated with each
other when the tide had ebbed. Both islands lay low, and had patches of
white sand in the centre; but there was very little vegetation. Even
grass seemed as if it would not grow; and the cocoa-nut trees were few
and far between.

The signs of previous wrecks struck the men's hearts with a chill. There
was a log hut, to which Mackay was moved when evening came on; there
were the iron tanks of which Percival had made mention, filled with
rain-water; there were some rotten boards, and a small hammer and a
broken knife; but there was no fresh-water spring, and there were no
provision chests, such as Heron had vainly hoped to find.

The setting up of a distress-signal on the highest point of the island
was the next matter to be attended to; and for this purpose nothing
could be found more suitable than a very large yellow silk-handkerchief
which Percival had found in his pocket. It did not make a very large
flag, although it was enormous as a handkerchief; but no other article
of clothing could well be spared. Indeed, the spareness of their
coverings was a matter of some regret and anxiety on Percival's part. He
could not conceive what they were to do if they were o