t each other with blank
disappointment. It was gone--there can be no doubt about it, and was
utterly irrecoverable. "Don't grumble, my lads. We should have been
worse off had we been fast to it with a gale blowing, and unable to cut
ourselves adrift," exclaimed Mr Brand. "Let us thank the Almighty that
we have escaped so great a danger. We'll run under the lee of that
island for the night, and try and find the ship in the morning."
Accordingly we bore away, and were in a short time in comparatively
smooth water. Still the weather looked very threatening. We pulled in
close to the breakers. "Harry," said Cousin Silas, "I think we should
know that island. I see an opening in the breakers, and a clump of
trees on it which seems familiar to my eyes. We shall be better off on
shore than here. I will take the boat in." The men were somewhat
astonished when they received the order to pull in for the land. We
exactly hit the passage, and soon had the boat hauled up on the beach.
"We will have a roof over our heads to-night, lads," said Cousin Silas,
leading the way, and in a quarter of an hour we were seated under the
shelter of the hut where we had lived for so many months! It was
strange that we had so unexpectedly fallen in with our own island again.

We lit a blazing fire, and caught some wild-fowl, and knocked down some
cocoa-nuts, which were now in season, and picked some bread-fruit, and,
with the provisions we had in the boat, enjoyed a capital meal, which
somewhat restored our spirits after the loss of our whale. As far as we
could discover, no one had been there since we left the spot,--even our
beds were ready for us. All hands rested soundly, and by the next
morning the short-lived summer gale had blown itself out. I mounted to
the top of our flag-staff, and to my no small satisfaction saw our ship
lying-to five or six miles off to the westward. I was hurrying with the
rest down to the boat, for I had no wish to be left again on the spot
though I felt an affection for it, when Cousin Silas stopped me. "We
have an important work to perform," said he. "Before we go we will
obliterate our former directions and write fresh ones, saying where we
are now going." I saw the wisdom of this precaution in case the
_Triton_ might visit the place; and, accordingly, with our knives we
carved in a few brief words a notice that we were well and bound for the
Bonins. This done, we embarked and ran out towards th