sheltered from the sea breeze. To spend the rainy season on this beach seems to me impracticable."
"You are right, Gordon," answered Briant," and we'll look out for some place where we can instal ourselves."
"At least, until we have found that we cannot get out of this pretended island," said Donagan, returning to his idea.
"That is understood," said Gordon, "although the season is already rather advanced. At any rate, we'll act for the best. So to-morrow you start!"
Preparations were soon finished. Four days' provisions were stowed in bags to be carried over the shoulders, four guns, four revolvers, two boarding-axes, a pocket compass, a powerful telescope, and the usual pocket utensils, matches and tinder-box seemed enough for a short expedition that was not without its dangers. Briant and Donagan, and Service and Wilcox, who were to go with them, were cautioned to be careful not to push forward without extreme circumspection, and never to separate.
Gordon could not help feeling that he would have been of use to keep Briant and Donagan together. But it appeared to him the better plan to remain at the wreck, so as to watch the younger boys. So he took Briant apart, and made him promise to avoid any subject that might cause a quarrel or disagreement. The hopes of the weather were realized. Before nightfall the last clouds had vanished in the west. The line of sky and sea met in a clear horizon. The magnificent constellations of the southern hemisphere sparkled in the firmament, the Southern Cross conspicuously pointing to the Antarctic Pole. On the eve of their separation Gordon and his comrades were sad at heart. And as their eyes sought the sky, there came to them the thought of the fathers and mothers and friends and country that they might never see again.
