seen again in our part. But away out on the horizon were the sails
of a whale-ship which had been cruising about the coast for some days
past; and though my mother kept her own counsel for a long year, we
children soon knew that all three had escaped in the whaler, for my
brother Harry had received a letter from Trenfield. It was handed to
him by the aboriginal 'King Billy,' and contained only these
words,--'Good-bye, sir. Ruth and I and her father will be on the blue
water before daylight.'

When two years or more had passed, my mother received a letter. It was
written from Boston in America, and was signed 'Ruth Trenfield.'

'I am glad she and Walter are happy at last,' said my mother, with the
tears shining in her soft eyes.

A NORTH PACIFIC LAGOON ISLAND

Two degrees north of the Equator, and midway between the Hawaiian
Islands and fair, green Tahiti, is the largest and most important of
the many equatorial isolated lagoon islands which, from 10 deg. N. to
10 deg. S., are dispersed over 40 deg. of longitude. The original native
name of this island has long been lost, and by that given to it by
Captain Cook one hundred and twenty years ago it is now known to Pacific
navigators--Christmas Island. Cook was probably the first European to
visit and examine the place, though it had very likely been sighted by
the Spaniards long before his time, in the days of the voyages of the
yearly galleons between the Philippines and Mexico and Peru.

On the afternoon of December 24, 1777, Cook (in the _Resolution_ and
_Discovery_) discovered to leeward of the former ship a long, low,
sandy island, which proved to be about ninety miles in circumference.
It appeared to be an exceedingly barren-looking land, save on the
south-west side, where grew a luxuriant grove of coco-palms. Here he
brought his ships to an anchor, and partly to recuperate his crews,
who were in ill health, and partly to observe an eclipse of the sun, he
remained at the island some weeks. He soon discovered that the lagoon in
the centre was of noble proportions, and that its waters teemed with
an immense variety of fish and countless 'droves' of sharks. To-day it
remains the same.

Fifty years passed ere this lonely atoll was visited by another ship,
and then American and English whalers, or, as they were called in those
days, 'South Seamen,' began to touch at the island, give their crews a
few days' spell amid the grateful shade of the palm grove and lo