children to the bow, to see how the island was bearing. 

 It had loomed up nearer during the hour or so in which he had been collecting and storing the things—nearer, and more to the right, which meant that the brig was being borne by a fairly swift current, and that she would pass it, leaving it two or three miles to starboard. It was well they had command of the dinghy. 

 “The sea’s all round it,” said Emmeline, who was seated on Paddy’s shoulder, holding on tight to him, and gazing upon the island, the green of whose trees was now visible, an oasis of verdure in the sparkling and seraphic blue. 

 “Are we going there, Paddy?” asked Dick, holding on to a stay, and straining his eyes towards the land. 

 “Ay, are we,” said Mr Button. “Hot foot—five knots, if we’re makin’ wan; and it’s ashore we’ll be by noon, and maybe sooner.” 

 The breeze had freshened up, and was blowing dead from the island, as though the island were making a weak attempt to blow them away from it. 

 Oh, what a fresh and perfumed breeze it was! All sorts of tropical growing things had joined their scent in one bouquet. 

 “Smell it,” said Emmeline, expanding her small nostrils. “That’s what I smelt last night, only it’s stronger now.” 

 The last reckoning taken on board the Northumberland had proved the ship to be south by east of the Marquesas; this was evidently one of those small, lost islands that lie here and there south by east of the Marquesas. Islands the most lonely and beautiful in the world. 

 As they gazed it grew before them, and shifted still more to the right. It was hilly and green now, though the trees could not be clearly made out; here, the green was lighter in colour, and there, darker. A rim of pure white marble seemed to surround its base. It was foam breaking on the barrier reef. 

 In another hour the feathery foliage of the cocoa-nut palms could be made out, and the old sailor judged it time to take to the boat. 

 He lifted Emmeline, who was clasping her luggage, over the rail on to the channel, and deposited her in the stern-sheets; then Dick. 

 In a moment the boat was adrift, the mast stepped, and the Shenandoah left to pursue her mysterious voyage at the will of the currents of the sea. 

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