Part 6 (1/2)

By a violent effort he staggered to his feet In an instant he comprehended his position At this western end the island descended gently into the water, and the shoal which it formed extended forrollers that came over them so vehemently, and in such marked contrast with the more abrupt waves of the sea behind

In an instant he had comprehended this, and had taken his course of action

Now he had foothold Now the ground beneath lent its aid to his endeavor; he was no longer altogether at the mercy of the water He bounded forward toward the shore in such a direction that he could approach it without opposing himself entirely to the waves The point that stretched out was noithin his reach The waves rolled past it, but by ain it

[Illustration: ”HE STAGGERED UP A FEW PACES UPON THE SANDY DECLIVITY”]

Again and again the high rollers caht hiain As he was caught up fro mass, and supported himself on the crest of the wave, but as soon as his feet touched botto forward toward the point which now became every minute more accessible Wave after wave came, each was h hounding one another on to make sure of their prey But now that the hope of life was strong, and safety had grown almost assured, the deathlike weakness which but shortly before had assailed hith and unconquerable resolve

At length he reached a place where the rollers were of less dith the water beca not more than a foot in depth Here the first point, where the mound was, protected it from the wind and sea This was the cove which he had noticed The water was all white with foam, but offered scarcely any resistance to him He had but to wade onward to the shore

That shore was at last attained He staggered up a few paces upon the sandy declivity, and then fell down exhausted upon the ground

He could not ht came on, but he lay where he had fallen, until at last he fell into a sound sleep

CHAPTER V

THE MYSTERY OF COFFIN ISLAND

When Brandon awaked on the following h in the sky He rose at once and walked slowly up, with stiffened liher spot His clothes already were partly dry, but they were uncomfortable and i, and laid them out on the sand Then he exaes This box held soood order As the cartridges were encased in copper they were uninjured He then examined a silver case which was suspended round his neck It was cylindrical in shape, and the top unscrewed On opening this he took out his father's letter and the inclosure, both of which were uninjured He then rolled them up in a small coan to look about hiht breeze was blowing from the sea which just ruffled the water and tempered the heat The island on which he had been cast was low, flat, and covered with a coarse grass which grew out of the sand But the sand itself was in h it was constantly shi+fting and changing The mound was not far away, and at the eastern end of the island he could see the black outline of the rock which he had noticed froth he had before heard to be about five miles; the width appeared about onebetter than the abomination of desolation

At the end where he was the island terminated in two points, bethich there was the cove where he had found refuge One of these points was distinguished by the mound already ular oblong shape The other point was low, and descended gently into the water The island itself appeared to be ence of some sand-bank which, perhaps, had been formed by currents and eddies; for here the currents of the Strait of Sunda encounter those from the Southern and Indian oceans, and this bank lay probably near their point of union

A short survey showed him this It showed hi life, and that he had escaped drowning only perhaps to perish by the er and thirst had begun to be felt, and how to satisfy these wants he knew not Still he would not despair Perhaps the _Java_ ht return in search of him, and his confinement would only last for a day or so

He understood the act of Cigole in a way that was satisfactory to himself He had thrown him overboard, but had made it appear like an accident As he fell he had heard the shout ”Man overboard!” and was now able to account for it in this way So a faint hope reive him up

Still subsistence of so to be done but to explore the sandy tract before hi the sea-shore On one side toward the north the shore was shallow and sloped gently into the water; but on the southern side it descended more abruptly The tide was out A steep beach appeared here covered with stones to which gested the idea to hiht be clams in the sand He walked over there in search of theradual that extensive flats were left uncovered by the receding tide

When a boy he had been someti up these clams in sport Now his boyish experience became useful Myriads of little holes dotted the sand, which he knew to be the indications of these an to scoop in the sand with his hands In a short tier, and as better, he saw all around an unlih Drink was equally necessary The salt of these shell-fish aggravated the thirst that he had already begun to feel, and now a fear caht be no water The search seemed a hopeless one; but he determined to seek for it nevertheless, and the only place that seemed to promise success was the rock at the eastern end Toward this he now once more directed his steps

The island was all of sand except the rocks on the south beach and the cliff at the eastern end Coarse grass grew very extensively over the surface, but the sand was fine and loose, and in many places thrown up into heaps of rew in tufts or in spires and blades, thinly scattered, and nowhere for a sod The soil was difficult to walk over, and Brandon sought the beach, where the damp sand afforded a firmer foothold In about an hour and a half he reached the rock

It was between five hundred and six hundred feet in length, and about fifty in height There was no resemblance to a coffin now as Brandon approached it, for that likeness was only discernible at a distance Its sides were steep and precipitous It was one black solid ments near it Its upper surface appeared to be level, and in various places it was very easy to ascend Up one of these places Brandon climbed, and soon stood on the top

Near him the summit was soular; but between the two ends it sank into a deep hollohere he saw that which at once excited a tumult of hope and fear It was a pool of water at least fifty feet in diameter, and deep too, since the sides of the rock went down steeply But was it fresh or salt? Was it the accumulation from the showers of the rainy season of the tropics, or was it but the result of the past night's storm, which had hurled wave after wave here till the holloas filled?

With hasty footsteps he rushed toward the in of the pool, and bent down to taste For a , he hesitated, then, throwing off the fever of suspense, he bent down, kneeling on the in, till his lips touched the water

It was fresh!+ Yes, it was from the heavens above, and not from the sea below It was the fresh rains from the sky that had filled this deep pool, and not the spray fro liquid Not a trace of the salt-water could be detected It was a natural cistern which thus lay before hih for the reception of the rain For the present, at least, he was safe

He had food and drink As long as the rainy season lasted, and for some time after, life was secure Life beco purchased by such efforts as those which Brandon had put forth, and the thought that for the present, at least, he was safe did not fail to fill him with the most buoyant hope To hi more could be desired He had food and drink in abundance In that climate shelter was scarcely needed What more could he wish?