now been accustomed to them more than a twelvemonth, and he found that the effect they produced on the muscles of his lower limbs was absolutely surprising.  He could now ascend the Stairs in half the time he had taken on his first trials, and he could carry burthens up and down them, that at first he would not have dreamed of attempting even to take on his shoulders.  The same was true with all the colonists, male and female, who began to run about the cliffs like so many goats—­chamois would be more poetical—­and who made as light of the Stairs as the governor himself.

When Mark reached the Peak again, he found matters drawing near to a crisis.  The canoes were within a league of the island, coming on steadily in line, and paddling with measured sweeps of their paddles.  As yet, the sail of Juno’s boat had escaped them.  This was doubtless owing to their lowness in the water, and the distance that still 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 was the great point of interest for the moment.  He was just coming 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 progress 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 circumstances 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 discovery, 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 tranquil 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; and the stoutest heart among them must have entertained some such sensations as were impressed on the spirits of Columbus and his companions, when they drew near to the shores of Guanahani.