It did not look as though the sea was there.

To the north Briant could make out the beach running straight away for seven or eight miles; beyond another cape, and a stretch of sand that looked like a huge desert. To the south was a wide marsh. Briant had surveyed the whole sweep of the westerly horizon.

Was he on an island or a continent? He could not say. If it was an island, it was a large one. That was all he could discover.

Then he looked to the westward. The sea was shining under the oblique rays of the sun, which was slowly sinking in the heavens.

Suddenly he brought his glass to his eye, and looked away into the offing.

‘Ships!’ he exclaimed, ‘Ships going past!

Three black spots appeared on the circle of gleaming waters about fifteen miles away.

Great was his excitement Was he the sport of an illusion? Were they vessels he saw?

He lowered the glass, and cleaned the eyepiece, which had clouded with his breath. He looked again.

The three points looked like ships with nothing visible but their hulls. There was no sign of their masts, and no smoke to show that they were under way.

And then the thought occurred to him, that they were too far off! for his signals to be seen; and as it was likely that his companions had not seen these ships, the best thing he could do was to get back to the wreck and light a big fire on the beach. And then—when the sun went down—.

As he thought he kept his eye on the three black spots. One thing was certain; they did not move.

Again he looked through the glass, and for some minutes he kept them in the field of his objective. And then he saw that they were three small islands that the schooner must have passed close by when they were hidden in the mist.

It was two o’clock. The tide began to retire, leaving the line of reefs bare at the foot of the cliff. Briant thinking it was time to return to the wreck, prepared to descend the hill.

But once again he looked to the eastward. In the more oblique position of the sun he might see something that had hitherto escaped him. And he did not regret doing so; for beyond the border of forest he could now see a bluish line, which stretched from north to south for many miles, with its two ends lost behind the confused mass of trees.

‘What is that?’ he asked himself.

And again he looked.

‘The sea! Yes! The sea!’

And the glass almost dropped from his hands.

It was the sea to the eastward, there could be no doubt! It was not a continent on which he had been cast, but an island. An island in the immensity of the Pacific, which it would be impossible to leave!

And then all the perils that begirt him presented themselves to his mind as in a vision. His heart almost ceased to beat. But struggling against the involuntary weakness, he resolved to do his best to the last, however threatening the future might be.

A quarter of an hour afterwards he had regained the beach, and by the same way as he had come in the morning he returned to the wreck. He reached it about five o’clock, and found his comrades impatiently awaiting his return.

CHAPTER VI—A SPELL OF RAIN.

In the evening after supper Briant told the bigger boys the result of his exploration. Briefly it was as follows: to the east, beyond the forest zone, he had distinctly seen a line of water extending from north to south. That this was the horizon of the sea appeared indubitable. Hence it was on an island and not on a continent that the yacht had been wrecked.

Gordon and the others received the information with considerable excitement. What! They were on an island and deprived of every means of leaving it! Their scheme of finding a road to the eastward would have to be abandoned! They would have to wait till a ship came in sight! Could it be true that this was their only chance of rescue?

‘But was not Briant mistaken?’ asked Donagan.

‘Did you not mistake a bank of clouds for the sea?’ asked Cross.

‘No,’ answered Briant ‘I am certain I made no mistake. What I saw was a line of water, and it formed the horizon.’

‘How far off was it?’ asked Wilcox.

‘About six miles from the cape.’

‘And beyond that,’ asked Webb, ‘were there no mountains, no elevated ground?’

‘No! Nothing but the sky.’

Briant was so positive that it was not reasonable to retain the least doubt in the matter.

But Donagan, as was always the case when he argued with Briant, continued obstinate.

‘And I repeat that Briant has made a mistake. And until we have seen it with our own eyes—’

‘Which we shall do,’ said Gordon, ‘for we must know the truth about it.’

‘And I say we have not a day to lose,’ said Baxter, ‘if we are to leave this place before the bad weather, supposing we are on a continent.’

‘We will go to-morrow, if the weather permits,’ said Gordon. ‘We will start on an expedition that may last some days. I say weather permitting, for to plunge into the forest in bad weather would be madness—’

‘Agreed, Gordon,’ answered Briant ‘And when we reach the other side of the island—’

‘If it is an island?’ interrupted Donagan.

‘But it is one!’ replied Briant impatiently. ‘I have made no mistake. I distinctly saw the sea in the east it pleases Donagan to contradict me as usual—’

‘And you are not infallible, Briant!’

‘No, I am not! But this time I am! I will go myself to this sea, and if Donagan likes to come with me—’

‘Certainly I will go.’

‘And so will we,’ said three or four of the bigger boys.

‘Good!’ said Gordon. ‘But don’t get excited, my dear young friends. If we are only boys, we may as well act like men. Our position is serious, and any imprudence may make it worse. We must not all go into this forest.