As far as they could see, the low ground was spread with scattered blocks of coral and lava, while here and there, little bright patches told of shells that had been ground and polished thin by the action of the waves, and now showed their glistening, pearly material.
Another look to the left across blocks of white coral, and over pools slowly evaporating in the hot sunshine, showed the course the ship had taken from where the sea beat against the reef-girdled shore. It was all plain enough; that was the edge of the land, with a belt of calm, blue water, and beyond that, as far as eye could reach to right and left, a barrier reef of coral, upon which the great billows curved over, flashing in the sun, and crested with their soft, white foam.
“It seems beyond belief,” said Oliver at last. “Who could imagine that our vessel could be borne right inland here and set down upon an even keel almost uninjured?”
“And without the smallest chance of ever sailing the sea again,” said Panton, quietly.
“I say, look here, you two, we’re not going to settle down here like so many Robinson Crusoes, are we!” cried Drew.
“Only just so long, I say, as it will take us to make complete collections of the natural history of the place,” said Oliver, “for I begin to be in hopes that the land is quite new, and that no one has ever set foot upon it before.”
“Then you think it is an island?” said Drew, who was eating with one hand, collecting specimens of plants with the other.
“If he doesn’t, I do,” cried Panton, taking out a little bright steel hammer and beginning to chip at a block of stone held fast by one of the roots of the big tree under whose branches they were seated. “Look at this—slag. I say that we are on a volcanic island, formed by a mountain rising out of the sea and pouring out its streams of lava, and throwing up its blocks and stones and cinders.”
“What about the coral, then? The place is covered with scattered blocks.”
“Oh, those were carried in by the great wave,” continued Panton. “Once an island like this is thrust up from the bottom of the sea, the coral insects soon begin to be busy and build all round it. Look at the reef yonder.”