its way through miniature valleys,
until lost in the light yellow sand of the sea-shore. On this beach
there was not even a ripple, because of the deep calm which prevailed
but on the ring or coral-reef, which completely encircled the island,
those great "rollers"--which appear never to go down even in calm--fell
from time to time with a long, solemn roar, and left an outer ring of
milk-white foam. The blue lagoon between the reef and the island varied
from a few yards to a quarter of a mile in breadth, and its quiet waters
were like a sheet of glass, save where they were ruffled now and then by
the diving of a sea-gull or the fin of a shark. Birds of many kinds
filled the grove with sweet sounds, and tended largely to dispel that
feeling of intense loneliness which had been creeping that day over our
seaman's spirit.

"Come, my doggie," said Jarwin, patting his dumb companion's head, "if
you and I are to dwell here for long, we've got a most splendid estate
to look after. I only hope we won't find South Sea niggers in
possession before us, for they're not hospitable, Cuffy, they ain't
hospitable, bein' given, so I'm told, to prefer human flesh to most
other kinds o' wittles."

He looked anxiously round in all directions at this point, as if the
ideas suggested by his words were not particularly agreeable.

"No," he resumed, after a short survey, "it don't seem as if there was
any of 'em here. Anyhow I can't see none, and most parts of the island
are visible from this here mast-head."

Again the seaman became silent as he repeated his survey of the island;
his hands, meanwhile, searching slowly, as if by instinct, round his
pockets, and into their most minute recesses, if haply they might find
an atom of tobacco. Both hands and eyes, however, failed in their
search; so, turning once more towards his dog, Jarwin sat down and
addressed it thus:--

"Cuff, my doggie, don't wink in that idiotical way, you hanimated bundle
of oakum! and don't wag yer tail so hard, else you'll shake it off some
fine day! Well, Cuff, here you an' I are fixed--`it may be for years,
an' it may be for ever'--as the old song says; so it behoves you and me
to hold a consultation as to wot's the best to be done for to make the
most of our sukumstances. Ah, doggie!" he continued in a low tone,
looking pensively towards the horizon, "it's little that my dear wife
(your missus and mine, Cuff) knows that her John has fallen heir to
sitch a