OF THE SOUTH SEAS 185 



were shocked by the very atmosphere, said Steve, and 

 feared for their hves every moment. The sea piled up, 

 the wind blew a gale, and death was close at hand. 

 They wished they had not left Easter Island, and en- 

 vied those who had remained there. 



But they rode it out, with their pile of blankets a-trail, 

 and with helm and oars alert to keep the boat afloat. 



The gale amended after several days, and on the six- 

 teenth day from their departure they reached Man- 

 gareva. That island is in the Gambier group, and a 

 number of Europeans live there. The castaways were 

 received generously, and were informed that a schooner 

 was expected in a fortnight, which might carry them 

 to some port on their way home. But the old man said 

 they must push on. He had to report to his owners 

 the loss of the El Dorado; he had to see his family. 

 They had come twenty-six hundred miles since desert- 

 ing the schooner, and the thousand miles more to Tahiti 

 was not a serious undertaking. He persuaded Steve 

 and Alex to his manner of thinking, and with the boat 

 stocked with provisions they took the wave again, after 

 a couple of days at Mangareva. 



Now the bad weather was over. The sea was com- 

 paratively smooth, and the breeze favorable. But fate 

 still had frowns for them, as if to keep them in terror. 

 Sharks and swordfish, as though resenting the intrusion 

 of their tiny craft in waters where boats were seldom 

 seen, attacked them furiously. Five times a giant 

 shark launched himself at their boat, head on, and drove 

 them frantic with his menace of sinking them. They 

 were so filled with this dread that they fastened a mar- 

 linespike in the spar, and despite probability of provok- 



