probably rest between the sun and the ship, rendering it
impossible to take an observation. The officers watched their progress.
A large cloud was floating by; would it pass onwards before the sun
gained its extreme altitude?

"Now, master!" cried Adair, in a cheerful tone.

The western edge of the cloud, tinged with a golden hue, was seen, and
the sun came forth. The captain and Green with the first lieutenant had
their sextants to their eyes in a moment: the sun was still rising.

"It has dipped!" cried Adair.

They carefully noted down the latitude, and Green, in a few seconds,
worked out the observation on a little slip of paper, not bigger than
one's thumb nail. Hurrying below, the chart was got out, and now the
exact position of the ship was obtained.

"Hurrah! If this volcano of an island doesn't prove a fly-away piece of
rock, we shall be up to it before sunset," exclaimed Green.

The wind had now sufficiently gone down to allow all sail to be set.
The part of the crew who had knocked off from the pumps and the buckets
were roused up. With the greatest alacrity, as if they had had their
usual rest, they flew to their stations.

The topsails and courses, long furled, were let fall and sheeted home;
staysails were hoisted, and with the screw thus aided, the ship again
rushed rapidly through the water. She steered, however, with some
difficulty; and Green expressed an opinion that damage had been done to
her false keel, that a portion of it had been torn off, and that another
part was still hanging down attached to the bottom.

"We must take that into account when we wish to bring up," observed
Adair, "so that there may be no chance of running the ship on the rocks,
where we do not want her to go."

The next few hours were as anxious as any that had been passed; for,
although the sea was going down and the wind was moderate, the water
rushed in through the leaks at a rate which required the ceaseless
efforts of the crew to keep under. The youngest midshipman on board--
Tommy Pratt, hitherto unknown to fame or to our readers--was observed,
with one of the ship's boys, who had been considered not strong enough
to handle the buckets, running up and down with two big jugs, which they
emptied through the scuppers.

"Every little helps, I've heard say," answered Tommy to the first
lieutenant; "and I suppose a few quarts too much would sink the ship.
So I got Ned Jones, who was doing nothing, to lend me