“Land ho! Land ho!”
What! Could I believe my ears?
“Land ho! Land ho!”
With a bound I sprang from my hammock and rushed upon deck.
Ay, it was true! There, half a mile ahead of us, was a sight that stunned me like the blow of a bludgeon.
Land it was, but not such a land as in my wildest dreams I had hoped to find.
Ten thousand lights glimmered on that mysterious shore, and illumined the front of a Roman temple whiter than milk. A marble staircase of the same hue led down to the very water’s edge.
A sacrifice was in progress.
From the highest terrace a column of black smoke curled slowly upward.