Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/256

THE CRATER; separated them. The Dido was about five miles from the northern end of the island, while the fleet was some five more to the southward of it. This placed the two almost ten miles apart ; though each seemed so near, seen from the elevation of the Peak, that one might have fancied that he could throw a shot into either. Unus n .is the great point of interest for the moment. He was just corning out clear of the island, and might be seen with the naked eye, in that pure atmosphere, a dark speck floating on the undulating surface of the ocean. By the aid of the glass, there was no difficulty in watching his smallest movement. With a steady and sinewy stroke of his arms, the young savage pursued his way, keeping to windward, as instructed by his sister, and making a pro gress in the midst of those rolling billows that was really wonderful. The wind was not very fresh, nor were the seas high ; but the restless ocean, even in its slumbers, exhibits the repose of a giant, whose gentlest heavings are formidable and to be looked to. In one particular, our colonists were favoured. Owing to some accidental cir cumstances of position, a current set round the northern end of the island, and diffused itself on its western side by expanding towards the south. This carried the canoes from the boat and the cove, and insomuch increased Juno s chance of escape. The meeting between Unus and the boat took place when the latter was within a league of the land. As the sailing directions were for every craft to fall in with the island rather to windward of the Peak, on account of the very current just mentioned, it was questionable with Mark and Betts whether any in the canoes could now perceive the boat, on account of the intervening heights. It was pretty certain no one, as yet, had made this important dis covery, for the impetuosity of savages would instantly have let the fact be known through their shouts and their eagerness to chase. On the contrary, all remained tran quil in the fleet, which continued to approach the land with a steady but regulated movement, that looked as if a secret awe pervaded the savages as they drew nearer and nearer to that unknown and mysterious world. To them the approaching revelations were doubtless of vast import;