ing of the boats was very disagreeable to them, than to fear, which they were too irrational to feel acutely. Presently a voice hailed the boats from the water, and Dr. O'Malley was observed to be bobbing up and down near them, clinging to a spar from the wreck. With some difficulty he was extracted from the sea and dragged into the boat in which Miss Smith presided, where he lay in a great state of exhaustion, consoling himself with a bottle which, even in this fearful hour, he had not forgotten to place in his pocket before leaving the ship. "Strange indeed," mused Miss Smith, "are the ways of Providence, which has thought fit, in Its inscrutable wisdom to save the doctor and to drown seven innocent infants." 3 Thus the fearful night wore through, becoming before morning much calmer, so that when dawn lightened the sky it revealed a dreary waste of gray waters which heaved indeed, and very disagreeably, but with so great an assuagement of their earlier fury that the danger of swamping seemed practically at an end. The two boats had kept within hail of one another, and daybreak found them but a few yards apart. The only other object visible in that vast and watery waste was a low mound of land which looked to be but a mile or so away. "America!" ejaculated Miss Smith. "The Almighty be thanked that He has guided us aright through the deep!" The doctor emitted a sound of scornful and intoxicated mirth. The sailors addressed Miss Smith with no greater contempt than that which they entertained for all her sex. "America, ma'am," one of them said, "is some two thousand miles away. That is some lonely Pacific island, which may or may not be inhabited. We had best approach it, and, if it does not appear to be peopled by savages, we can land on its shores and rest a while and look for fresh water." "With all my heart, my good men," Miss Smith agreed. "These unfortunate children are sadly in need of a little repose on dry land. Heaven send that it may not be inhabited by implacable natives!” "Natives," the sailor answered her, "are very generally implacable, where they exist at all. So, by your leave, ma'am, should any signs of human life be observable on the island, we will not land, but make our escape as rapidly as may be." "With all my heart," Miss Smith again agreed, and having communicated their project to the other boat, the men bent lustily to the oars and were very soon within a stone's throw of the island. It had a most agreeable look, being surrounded, as such islands so frequently are, by a lagoon, half a mile in width, bounded by a low circular reef of red and white coral. The island itself, which had a rather curious formation, being two peninsulas joined by a narrow neck of land, had a sandy shore, and dense woods of palm trees, banana trees, bread-fruit trees, prickly pears, mangoes, and other vegetation familiar to all who have perused island literature. Further, it had, to the relief of the castaways, every appearance of being peaceful and uninhabited. "We're in luck, it appears," said Dr. O'Malley, but Miss Smith reproved him. "Luck, sir, is perhaps scarcely the word to apply to these fore-ordained mercies." "As you like, my good girl, as you like. I admire the way you keep it up, even, so to speak, in the maw of death. Yes, ma'am, I admire it, and I'm telling you so frankly. Get way on her, men. We must make for that gap in the reef, and then we should have a clear run on to yonder strip of beach. There's another foreordained mercy for you, ma'am, that this is a lagoon island and has a reef to shelter it, and isn't exposed to the waves, the way we'd be smashed to bits trying to land." Even as it was, the billows broke too roughly on the beach to make landing a safe or agreeable task; however, it was presently accomplished, and both boats grounded on the sand. What a landing was that! Cramped and chilly orphans stumbled or were lifted on to a glistening shore already warming under the morning sunlight, for it was promising to be a fair day. A dense growth of wood climbed back almost from the shores; it was full of the delightful noises of monkeys and of birds, moved, it seemed, to prodigious excitement by the advent of these strange visitors. Miss Smith, also profoundly moved, gazed about her and recited the following lines:— "Coral insect! unseen are his beautiful hues; "Apparently quite uninhabited," said Dr. O'Malley, when she had finished. "Not a footprint on the sands but our own: no traces of human visitation. What d'ye think, Thinkwell?" "America, ma'am," one of them said, "is some two thousand miles away. That is some lonely Pacific island, which may or may not be inhabited. We had best approach it, and, if it does not appear to be peopled by savages, we can land on its shores and rest a while and look for fresh water." "With all my heart, my good men," Miss Smith agreed. "These unfortunate children are sadly in need of a little repose on dry land. Heaven send that it may not be inhabited by implacable natives!" "Natives," the sailor answered her, "are very generally implacable, where they exist at all. So, by your leave, ma'am, should any signs of human life be observable on the island, we will not land, but make our escape as rapidly as may be." "With all my heart," Miss Smith again agreed, and having communicated their project to the other boat, the men bent lustily to the oars and were very soon within a stone's throw of the island. It had a most agreeable look, being surrounded, as such islands so frequently are, by a lagoon, half a mile in width, bounded by a low circular reef of red and white coral. The island itself, which had a rather curious formation, being two peninsulas joined by a narrow neck of land, had a sandy shore, and dense woods of palm trees, banana trees, bread-fruit trees, prickly pears, mangoes, and other vegetation familiar to all who have perused island literature. Further, it had, to the relief of the castaways, every appearance of being peaceful and uninhabited. "We're in luck, it appears," said Dr. O'Malley, but Miss Smith reproved him. "Luck, sir, is perhaps scarcely the word to apply to these fore-ordained mercies." "As you like, my good girl, as you like. I admire the way you keep it up, even, so to speak, in the maw of death. Yes, ma'am, I admire it, and I'm telling you so frankly. Get way on her, men. We must make for that gap in the reef, and then we should have a clear There's another fore run on to yonder strip of beach. ordained mercy for you, ma'am, that this is a lagoon island and has a reef to shelter it, and isn't exposed to the waves, the way we'd be smashed to bits trying to land." Even as it was, the billows broke too roughly on the beach to make landing a safe or agreeable task; however, it was presently accomplished, and both boats grounded on the sand. What a landing was that! Cramped and chilly orphans stumbled or were lifted on to a glistening shore already warming under the morning sunlight, for it was promising to be a fair day. A dense growth of wood climbed back almost from the shores; it was full of the delightful noises of monkeys and of birds, moved, it seemed, to prodigious excitement by the advent of these strange visitors. Miss Smith, also profoundly moved, gazed about her and recited the following lines:— "Coral insect! unseen are his beautiful hues; "Apparently quite uninhabited," said Dr. O'Malley, when she had finished. "Not a footprint on the sands but our own: no traces of human visitation. What d'ye think, Thinkwell?" |