A MISADVENTURE. 227 
soundly ; as it was, we lay awake most of the time 
and counted the stars. 
* Very late in the evening we were aroused by a 
shouting, and became aware that our friends had 
sought us. They had all embarked on the drogher, 
after becoming satisfied that some accident had be- 
fallen us, and, after anchoring off our island, had sent 
a boat to seek for us. The night was pitchy dark, 
and the heavy seas clashed so fearfully that to attempt 
a landing would have been certain disaster; so we 
warned our friends back, to wait for us till morning. 
Our voices seemed drowned in the roar of the 
breakers, but the regular click of the oars, growing 
fainter and fainter, told us that we had been heard. 
Frazer told us, between his moanings, that sometimes 
it is impossible to land for weeks, just about this 
season of the year, and we fell to calculating upon 
the chances of subsisting upon iguanas and wild 
goats for a few days, notwithstanding the proximity 
of our friends. On the morrow, however, we safely 
embarked, though hungry, weary, and exceeding 
thirsty. Our more fortunate companions had indeed 
devoured the dinner, while we were fasting on that 
desert rock, but there yet remained sufficient to stay 
our needs; and they coaxed us with toddies and 
punches and brisk champagne, until we forgot our 
trials and remembered only our triumphs. 
Ever memorable will be that night on the beach — 
the second time in a twelvemonth I had fallen a 
victim to Neptune’s rage — as that in which I for the 
first time saw the Southern Cross. As the night 
waned, and the cross assumed an upright position 
upon the horizon, there came to mind that passage 
