Part 11 (1/2)

There is a light to-day on booby Island, and regular packet communication with the rest of the world, and the beautiful uncertainty of the fate of letters left there is a thing of the past

Iclose in, exchanged signals with the keeper of the light Sailing on, the sloop was at once in the Arafura Sea, where for days she sailed in water ood fortune to enter the sea on the last quarter of the hts I witnessed the phosphorescent light effect at night in its greatest splendor The sea, where the sloop disturbed it, seeht I could see the smallest articles on deck, and her as a path of fire

On the 25th of June the sloop was already clear of all the shoals and dangers, and was sailing on a smooth sea as steadily as before, but with speed so-jib made at Juan Fernandez, and set it as a spinnaker froiven er, and the ba its own, the _Spray_across to-day from Australia toward the islands bent their course over the _Spray_ S in the opposite direction In the part of the Arafura that I came to first, where it was shallow, sea-snakes writhed about on the surface and tumbled over and over in the waves As the sloop sailed farther on, where the sea became deep, they disappeared In the ocean, where the water is blue, not one was ever seen

In the days of serene weather there was not much to do but to read and take rest on the _Spray_, to h tiotten, and to forestall the Cape of Good Hope by a store of ease My sea journal was nowlike this of June 26 and 27, for exa, it is a bit squally; later in, the day blowing a steady breeze

On the log at noon is 130 miles _Subtract_ correction for slip 10 ”

--------- 120 ”

_Add_ for current 10 ”

-------- 130 ”

Latitude by observation at noon, 10 degrees 23' S

Longitude as per mark on the chart

There wasn't , I', when all is told:

First of all, to-day, was a flying-fish on deck; fried it in butter

133

For slip, off, and for current, on, as per guess, about equal--let it go at that

Latitude by observation at noon, 10 degrees 25' S

For several days now the _Spray_ sailed west on the parallel of 10 degrees 25' S, as true as a hair If she deviated at all froht,--and this h, at noon, at the sa the longitude My tin clock and only timepiece had by this time lost its minute-hand, but after I boiled her she told the hours, and that was near enough on a long stretch

On the 2d of July the great island of Ti day I saw Dana Island, not far off, and a breeze carant of the spices or what not of the coast

On the 11th, with all sail set and with the spinnaker still abroad, Christmas Island, about noon, caht it was abeam and distant two and a half miles The surface of the island appeared evenly rounded froht in the center In outline it was as sainst the sides, where it lay like a monster asleep, motionless on the sea It seemed to have the proportions of a whale, and as the sloop sailed along its side to the part where the head would be, there was a nostril, even, which was a blow-hole through a ledge of rock where every wave that dashed threw up a shaft of water, lifelike and real

It had been a long time since I last saw this island; but I remember my temporary admiration for the captain of the shi+p I was then in, the _Tawfore_, when he sang out onefrom the quarter-deck, well aft, ”Go aloft there, one of ye, with a pair of eyes, and see Christht froreat hit, and he never got over it The chiefnever to ard of the captain, now took hiether When we arrived at Hong-Kong there was a letter in the shi+p's mail for me I was in the boat with the captain some hours while he had it But do you suppose he could hand a letter to a seaot to the shi+p he gave it to the first ave it to the second ly, on the capstan-head, where I could get it

CHAPTER XVI

A call for careful navigation--Three hours' steering in twenty-three days--Arrival at the Keeling Cocos Islands--A curious chapter of social history--A welco the _Spray_ on the beach--A Moha as a paradise--A risky adventure in a sovernor calms the fears of the people--A lecture--A convent in the hills

To the Keeling Cocos Islands was now only five hundred and fifty miles; but even in this short run it was necessary to be extre a true course else I would miss the atoll

On the 12th, some hundred miles southwest of Christ up froular winds, which weakened now for a few days, while a swell heavier than usual set in also fro on in the direction of the Cape of Good Hope Accordingly, I steered higher to ard, allowing twenty e of current; and it was not too ht ahead The first un froly about the vessel, and then took itself off ith a businesslike air in its wing The tern is called by the islanders the ”pilot of Keeling Cocos” Farther on I ca over whatever they caught