On this lonely spot the men had raised a large stone over the grave of Joseph West.

O'Riley, whose enthusiastic temperament had caused him to mourn over his comrade more, perhaps, than any other man in the ship, had carved the name and date of his death in rude characters on the stone.

It was a conspicuous object on the low island, and every eye in the _Dolphin_ was fixed on it as they passed.

Soon the point of rock that had sheltered them so long from many a westerly gale intervened and shut it out from view for ever.
When man's prospects are at the worst, it often happens that some unexpected success breaks on his path like a bright sunbeam.

Alas! it often happens, also, that when his hopes are high and his prospects brightest, a dark cloud overspreads him like a funeral pall.