The vessel vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving nothing but a trackless waste of sea.

The two slept on.
It was the startled cry of Natalie that roused West, and brought his drooping head, upright.

She was sitting up, still held safely by the coil of rope, and pointing excitedly behind him.
"Oh, see there! Look where I point--isn't that land ?" The raft rocked as he swung his body hastily about, and gazed intently in the direction indicated.

Land! of course it was land; land already so close at hand, his eyes could trace its conformation--the narrow strip of sand beach, the sharp bluff beyond, the fringe of trees crowning the summit.

He rubbed his eyes, scarcely able to credit his sight, half believing it a mirage.