OUTH--A LONG CALM--FOLLOWED BY A SHARK--A BREEZE, BUT AGAINST THEM--
RUNNING SHORT OF PROVISIONS--REDUCED TO YAMS AND OIL--BOAT RUN DOWN BY A
WHALER--DESMOND AND TIM MISSING--TOM AND JERRY FIND THEM.

Tom and Gerald trudged manfully forward on their survey of the island.
The path was very uneven. They kept as near to the coast as they could,
and frequently they could only make their way, on account of the
ruggedness of the rocks, by turning inland. They had to clamber over
fallen trunks or to cut a path with their axe through thick creepers.
At other times they had to climb wild rocks and rugged hills, then to
descend again, either into some valley running up from the shore or to
the shore itself. Their object being, however, to examine the
productions of the island, they generally kept away from the beach.
They had made good eight or ten miles, when, ascending a rocky height,
they obtained a view of the sea and a line of coast for some distance.
Suddenly Tom stopped and put his hand on his companion's arm.

"Tell me, Desmond, what do you think is that dark object out there? It
is curiously shaped, like--or, is it--"

"A vessel, to be sure," exclaimed Desmond, whose eyes had been turned
towards the spot. "How could she have come there without our seeing
her?"

"She may possibly have been there for some time," said Tom. "Certainly
she must have been wrecked during a gale before we landed here, and she
appears to be thrown high up on the rocks."

As they got up to the vessel, they saw that she had been driven on shore
between two ledges, where she had remained fixed. It had probably been
high tide when she was wrecked, as the water had completely left her.
After much difficulty, by scrambling along over the rocks, the
midshipmen got alongside, then hauled themselves on board by some ropes
which were hanging over the bows. The vessel was a fore-top-sail
schooner. Her masts were still standing, and her canvas was hoisted,
though torn to tatters, now fluttering in the breeze. A horrible odour
came up from the main hold as they went aft, and on looking down what
was their horror to see three bodies, one apparently a white seaman,
from his dress, the other two evidently blacks, from the few rags still
hanging to their remains. The two midshipmen anxious to accomplish the
survey of the vessel, hastened aft. About the companion hatch and on
the bulwarks, the wood had been chipped off, as if by bullets, and there