134 THE OUT-STATION ; OR, 



eyes to catch the sight of a dwelling or any living 

 thing, but in vain. 



A sharp, harsh, grating sound, as if our chain -cable 

 had run out by accident, a fearful shock, and a rush of 

 waves astern, was the event of a moment, and we 

 were stranded on a coral reef ! 



Luckily, we had one nut- shell of a boat, which was 

 at once got out, and the land being little more than a 

 mile ahead, the first party pulled off for it. 



At times I could see them get out of the boat on 

 to the reef, and lift her over the shallows (so little 

 water was there on their summit) and as they lowered 

 her again she would be in forty or fifty fathoms. 



We soon ascertained our position to be such that it 

 was impossible for us to sink ; we had run into a per- 

 fect channel, or bed of coral, to the whole length of 

 our keel, so it was some consolation to know that we 

 might yet live to be hanged, although our chance of 

 getting off after the plunder that we anticipated, was 

 most completely knocked in the head. 



After landing the men in six journeys, I found my- 

 self on shore, on a low sandy island, covered with a 

 few shrubs only, and which might have been circum- 

 ambulated in a quarter of an hour. 



This was another poser, for had it been one of the Can- 

 nibal Islands themselves, I doubt if the adage of " dog 

 not eating dog" would be longer tenable, nor would I 

 have given much for the pickings of his majesty's bones, 

 after we had been allowed a first attack on him. 



