it after all.

But to return to the _Water Lily_. On the evening of the day following
that on which we sailed from the pirate's island, we found ourselves so
near the reputed position of the treasure-island that I decided to heave
the cutter to for the night, so as to avoid the possibility of running
upon the outlying reef during the darkness. Bob went aloft the last
thing after the sun had set, and before darkness closed down upon the
face of the tranquil ocean, but he could see nothing that he was able to
identify with certainty as land. On the extreme verge of the western
horizon he saw, he said, something which _might_ be an island; but
evening clouds, especially in fine weather and when low down on the
horizon, sometimes assume such forms and hues that it is very difficult
for even the most experienced mariner to decide whether what he is
looking at is land or merely vapour, particularly when land is known or
supposed to exist in the direction in which he is looking.

We took in our spinnaker and gaff-topsail therefore, housed the topmast,
lashed our helm a-lee, and hauled the fore-sheet over to windward,
allowing the jib-sheet to flow. It was my eight hours in, that night:
but it was so close below and the weather was so fine, that I brought my
hammock on deck and turned in there, with a waterproof-rug rigged tent-
fashion over me, to keep off the dew.

Nothing occurred to disturb the tranquillity of the night; and next
morning, as soon as breakfast was over, we filled away upon the cutter
again and made sail upon our course. Bob should have been in his
hammock, or taking his rest in some other fashion, between breakfast-
time and noon; but he was so anxious to catch a glimpse of the spot
which had attracted us over so many thousand miles of ocean, and had led
us to brave so many dangers, that he could not stay below, and he spent
the entire morning at the cross-trees on the look-out. I obtained a
most excellent observation for longitude, about half-past nine that
morning, and on working it up I found that we were barely twenty miles
to the eastward of the point we were aiming for: and as we had hove the
cutter about at midnight, so as to keep her as nearly as possible
directly to windward of the spot, we ought to have been at anchor at
noon. But mile after mile was traversed, and still no land appeared
rearing itself above the horizon, and at length the time arrived for me
to take my meridian altitude.