o far
from it, for not a glimpse have I been able to get of the coast--though
we may perhaps see whereabouts it is when the sun rises."

This was disappointing intelligence.

"Still, we ought to be thankful that we have a spot of dry land on which
to put our feet," said Boxall. "As we have been preserved hitherto, we
ought not to despair, or fear that we shall be allowed to perish. At
daylight, when we shall ascertain our position better than we can do
now, we may be able to judge what we ought to do."

Of course, we all agreed with him, and at once made our way up to the
highest part of the bank, which was covered with grass and such plants
as usually grow on saline ground seldom or never covered by the sea.
Exposed as it was, it afforded us space on which to rest our weary
limbs. Led by Boxall, we returned thanks to Heaven for our
preservation, and offered up a prayer for protection in the future; and
then we stretched ourselves out on the ground. Having no fear of being
attacked by savage beasts or equally savage men, in a few minutes we
were all fast asleep.

The sun had risen when we awoke. We all felt ravenously hungry, and
were burning with thirst. Our thirst we slightly quenched with another
orange apiece; but as we gazed around the barren sand-bank, we had no
hopes of satisfying our hunger. Unless we could quickly reach the land,
we felt we must perish. Standing up, we looked eagerly towards the
east; a mist, however, which the sun had not yet dispelled, hung over
that part of the horizon. The sand-bank, we judged, was a mile or more
long, but very much narrower. It had apparently been thrown up by a
current which swept round it inside the reef; while the reef itself
appeared to extend further than our eyes could reach to the southward,
and we supposed that we were somewhere near its northern end.

Halliday and I sat down again, not feeling inclined to walk about. We
asked Boxall what he proposed doing.

"We must return to our raft, and try and get her round the reef," he
answered. "The weather promises still to be moderate, and I think we
shall have no difficulty in doing so."

"But how are we to get on without food?" asked Halliday. "If Ben would
give me another piece of biscuit I might pick up a little; but I never
could stand hunger."

We looked round for Ben, but we found he had walked away, and was, as it
seemed, sauntering idly along the beach. The tide had by this time gone
out,