its and tinned meat, and
then, with a biscuit in his hand, eating as he went, he trotted about
the decks, collecting things and stowing them in the dinghy. The bolt
of striped flannel, all the old clothes, a housewife full of needles
and thread, such as seamen sometimes carry, the half-sack of potatoes,
a saw which he found in the caboose, the precious coil of tobacco, and
a lot of other odds and ends he transhipped, sinking the little dinghy
several strakes in the process. Also, of course, he took the breaker of
water, and the remains of the biscuit and tinned stuff they had brought
on board. These being stowed, and the dinghy ready, he went forward
with the children to the bow, to see how the island was bearing.

It had loomed up nearer during the hour or so in which he had been
collecting and storing the things--nearer, and more to the right, which
meant that the brig was being borne by a fairly swift current, and that
she would pass it, leaving it two or three miles to starboard. It was
well they had command of the dinghy.

"The sea's all round it," said Emmeline, who was seated on Paddy's
shoulder, holding on tight to him, and gazing upon the island, the
green of whose trees was now visible, an oasis of verdure in the
sparkling and seraphic blue.

"Are we going there, Paddy?" asked Dick, holding on to a stay, and
straining his eyes towards the land.

"Ay, are we," said Mr Button. "Hot foot--five knots, if we're makin'
wan; and it's ashore we'll be by noon, and maybe sooner."

The breeze had freshened up, and was blowing dead from the island, as
though the island were making a weak attempt to blow them away from it.

Oh, what a fresh and perfumed breeze it was! All sorts of tropical
growing things had joined their scent in one bouquet.

"Smell it," said Emmeline, expanding her small nostrils. "That's what I
smelt last night, only it's stronger now."

The last reckoning taken on board the Northumberland had proved the
ship to be south by east of the Marquesas; this was evidently one of
those small, lost islands that lie here and there south by east of the
Marquesas. Islands the most lonely and beautiful in the world.

As they gazed it grew before them, and shifted still more to the right.
It was hilly and green now, though the trees could not be clearly made
out; here, the green was lighter in colour, and there, darker. A rim of
pure white marble seemed to surround its base. It was foam breaking on
the ba