, with myself and the breakers for an audience. Shortly
afterwards, I strolled off towards the interior, and left Browne lying
on the sand, with his pocket Shakespeare, where we found him, when we
reached the boats. I kept on inland, until the forest became so dense,
and was so overgrown with tangled vines and creeping plants, that I
could penetrate no farther in that direction. In endeavouring to
return, I got bewildered, and at length fairly lost, having no clear
notion as to the direction of the beach. The groves were so thick and
dark as to shut out the light almost entirely; and I could not get a
glimpse of the sun so as to fix the points of the compass. At last I
came to an opening, large enough to let in the light, and show which way
the shadows fell. Knowing that we had landed on the west side of the
island, I could now select my course without hesitation. It was getting
late in the afternoon, and I walked as fast as the nature of the ground
would allow, until I unexpectedly found myself at the edge of the grove,
east of the spring where the men were at work filling the breakers. The
moment I came in sight of them, I perceived that something unusual was
taking place. The first officer and Luerson were standing opposite each
other, and the men, pausing from their work, were looking on. As I
inferred, Mr Nichol had given some order, which Luerson had refused to
obey. Both looked excited, but no words passed between them after I
reached the place. There was a pause of nearly a minute, when Mr
Nichol advanced as if to lay hands on Luerson, and the latter struck him
a blow with his cooper's mallet, which he held in his hand, and knocked
him down. Before he had time to rise, Atoa, the Sandwich Islander,
sprang upon him, and stabbed him twice with his belt-knife. All this
passed so rapidly, that no one had a chance to interfere--"

"Hark!" said Browne, interrupting the narration, "what noise is that?
It sounds like the breaking of the surf upon the shore."

But the rest of us could distinguish no sound except the washing of the
waves against the boat. The eye was of no assistance in deciding
whether we were near the shore or not, as it was impossible to penetrate
the murky darkness, a yard in any direction.

"We must be vigilant," said Arthur, "the land cannot be far-off, and we
may be drifted upon it before morning."

After listening for some moments in anxious silence, we became satisfied
that Brown