d what appeared to be a fleet of vessels at anchor.

"Why, we shall soon be among a whole squadron of buccaneers!" exclaimed
Jerry, in a tone of despair. "We shall be separated, Harry--turned into
cabin boys, and never have a chance of escape. O dear! O dear! My
poor father!--what will he do?"

"Why, Jerry, I am not quite so certain that those are vessels," I
remarked; "just observe them attentively. Hillo! they have disappeared!
Stay, we shall soon rise to the top of the swell again. There they
are! They are as steady as church steeples. Those are not the masts of
vessels. They are cocoa-nut and palm-trees, depend on that. They are
growing on one of those coral islands which abound in these latitudes.
Watch again. On we go." (Here I caught sight of the glittering, white,
sandy beach.) "How the surf breaks on the reef outside it! How bright
and clear it appears, rising out of the deep ocean! How green the
ground looks under those tall trees, and how intensely blue the lagoon
in the centre! It is a lovely-looking spot--quite a fairy land. I hope
that we shall be put on shore there, though I would rather have a few
hills and valleys to diversify the scene, if we are to remain there
long."

While we were talking we were rapidly approaching the coral island. The
doctor joined us, and was watching it also. The schooner stood on, and
we thought she was going to pass it. The doctor, though not less
anxious to leave the vessel than we were, did not appear to agree with
our wish to be set on shore there. "It is dreadfully hot there, without
shelter from sun or wind. There is also but little variety of food; and
green as the ground looks from hence, we should find nothing to be
compared to a green lawn when once we set foot on it," he remarked.
Still Jerry and I were ready enough to run the risk, hoping that, at all
events, we might soon find the means of getting away. When, however, we
had abandoned all hopes of landing there, the schooner was once more
hauled up close to the wind. We found that she had stood on to clear a
reef. She stood in under the lee of the land, and hove-to close to
where an opening appeared in the reef.

Our hearts beat quick, for now we felt certain that something or other
was going to happen, though nobody had said anything to us. It seemed
strange that we could have lived so long surrounded by our
fellow-creatures, and yet so entirely alone. A boat was lowered. A
cask of