so small and low an object as that rock at so great a distance.  Nevertheless, the glass was much better than common.  It had been a present to Spike from one who was careful in his selections of such objects, and who had accidentally been under a serious obligation to the captain.  Knowing the importance of a good look, as regards the boats, Spike had brought this particular instrument, of which, in common, he was very chary, from his own state-room, and sent it aloft, in order that Jack might have every available opportunity of ascertaining his facts.  It was this glass, then, which was the means of the important discoveries the little fellow, who was thus perched on the fore-topmast cross-trees of the Swash, did actually succeed in making.

Jack actually started, when he first ascertained how distinctly and near the glass he was using brought distant objects.  The gulls that sailed across its disk, though a league off, appeared as if near enough to be touched by the hand, and even their feathers gave out not only their hues, but their forms.  Thus, too, was it with the surface of the ocean, of which the little waves that agitated the water of the reef, might be seen tossing up and down, at more than twice the range of the Poughkeepsie’s heaviest gun.  Naked rocks, low and subdued as they were in colour, too, were to be noted, scattered up and down in the panorama.  At length Tier fancied his glass covered a field that he recognized.  It was distant, but might be seen from his present elevation.  A second look satisfied him he was right; and he next clearly traced the last channel in which they had endeavoured to escape from Spike, or that in which the boat had been taken.  Following it along, by slowly moving the glass, he actually hit the rock on which Mulford had been deserted.  It was peculiar in shape, size, and elevation above the water, and connected with the circumstance of the channel, which was easily enough seen by the colour of the water, and more easily from his height than if he had been in it, he could not be mistaken.  The little fellow’s heart beat quick as he made the glass move slowly over its surface, anxiously searching for the form of the mate.  It was not to be seen.  A second, and a more careful sweep of the glass, made it certain that the rock was deserted.

Although a little reflection might have satisfied any one Mulford was not to be sought in that particular spot, so long after he had been left there, Jack Tier felt grievously disappointed when he was first made certain of the accuracy of his observations.  A minute later he began to reason on the matter, and he felt more encouraged.  The rock on which the mate had been abandoned was smooth, and could not hold any fresh water that might have been left by the late showers.  Jack also remembered that it had neither sea-weed nor shell-fish.  In short, the utmost malice of Spike could not have selected, for the immolation of his victim, a more suitable place.