en driven on, anxiously looking out for reefs
ahead, knowing that if driven on one, their canoe must be dashed to
pieces. Their rudder and oars had been lost, so that they had no power
of directing their vessel. Several islands were passed on which they
might have landed if they had had their paddles to guide the canoe to
the shore. "One of them," said the missionary, "we passed so close,
that we could clearly see a man on shore. It was a small low coral
island, with a lagoon, or lake in the centre, and cocoa-nuts and other
trees growing round it. By his dress and appearance we judged the man
to be a white. We also saw a hut of some size built under the trees.
He waved his hands wildly, as if entreating us to take him off, and
seemed to be shouting, and then he went down on his knees and lifted up
his hands, as if imploring mercy. Helpless ourselves, we could render
him no aid."

"That must have been Jack!" cried Charley and his two friends in the
same breath. "If we had not heard this, we might easily have overlooked
such a spot. We might have run past it at night, or within ten miles,
and not have seen it. What a dull and solitary life the poor fellow
must have dragged out in such a place."

"If a man's mind is at peace, and he can converse with his God, he need
not be sad or solitary," observed the missionary, calmly.

The young men then inquired how far off he should suppose the island to
be.

The missionary answered that they had passed it about ten days before;
that at that time they had been driving very fast before the gale, but
after it had abated, much slower. So eager were Charley and his friends
to follow up their search, that they debated whether or not they should
continue their course to the west, and look for the island which had
been described.

Elton was opposed to this while they had so many strangers on board.
"No, no," he exclaimed; "do not let us be carried away by our zeal in
the cause of our lost countryman; we have another duty to perform. We
were but lately wishing that we could send a missionary to the ignorant
inhabitants of the island we have lately left. Here is one presented to
us--a man in every way fitted for the work. Let us put the matter
before him."

They did so. Directly the missionary had heard the account they gave of
the wild islanders, he, without hesitation, expressed his readiness to
go among them, and said he was sure that all his companions would be
re