Mark met with more difficulty than he had anticipated in keeping the dingui out of the breakers.  So very smooth was the sort of bay he was in—­a bay by means of the reefs to windward, though no rock in that direction rose above the surface of the sea—­so very smooth, then, was the sort of bay he was in, that the water did not break, in many places, except at long intervals; and then only when a roller heavier than common found its way in from the outer ocean.  As a consequence, the breakers that did suddenly show themselves from a cause like this, were the heaviest of all, and the little dingui would have fared badly had it been caught on a reef, at the precise moment when such a sea tumbled over in foam.  This accident was very near occurring once or twice, but it was escaped, more by providential interference than by any care or skill in the adventurers.

It is very easy to imagine the intense interest with which our two mariners drew near to the visible reef.  Their observations from the cross-trees of the ship, had told them this was all the land anywhere very near them, and if they did not find their lost shipmates here, they ought not to expect to find them at all.  Then this reef, or island, was of vast importance in other points of view.  It might become their future home; perhaps for years, possibly for life.  The appearances of the sunken reefs, over and among which he had just passed, had greatly shaken Mark’s hope of ever getting the ship from among them, and he even doubted the possibility of bringing her down, before the wind, to the place where he was then going.  All these considerations, which began to press more and more painfully on his mind, each foot as he advanced, served to increase the intensity of the interest with which he noted every appearance on, or about, the reef, or island, that he was now approaching.  Bob had less feeling on the subject.  He had less imagination, and foresaw consequences and effects less vividly than his officer, and was more accustomed to the vicissitudes of a seaman’s life.  Then he had left no virgin bride at home, to look for his return; and had moreover made up his mind that it was the will of Providence that he and Mark were to ‘Robinson Crusoe it’ awhile, on ‘that bit of a reef.’  Whether they should ever be rescued from so desolate a place, was a point on which he had not yet begun to ponder.

The appearances were anything but encouraging, as the dingui drew nearer and nearer to the naked part of the reef.  The opinions formed of this place, by the examination made from the cross-trees, turned out to be tolerably accurate, in several particulars.  It was just about a mile in length, while its breadth varied from half a mile to less than an eighth of a mile.  On its shores, the rock along most of the reef rose but a very few feet above the surface of the water, though at its eastern, or the weather extremity, it might have been of more than twice the usual height; its length lay nearly east and west.