fifty in height. There was no resemblance to a coffin now as Brandon
approached it, for that likeness was only discernible at a distance. Its
sides were steep and precipitous. It was one black solid mass, without
any outlying crags, or any fragments near it. Its upper surface appeared
to be level, and in various places it was very easy to ascend. Up one of
these places Brandon climbed, and soon stood on the top.

Near him the summit was somewhat rounded; at the farther end it was flat
and irregular; but between the two ends it sank into a deep hollow,
where he saw that which at once excited a tumult of hope and fear. It
was a pool of water at least fifty feet in diameter, and deep too, since
the sides of the rock went down steeply. But was it fresh or salt? Was
it the accumulation from the showers of the rainy season of the tropics,
or was it but the result of the past night's storm, which had hurled
wave after wave here till the hollow was filled?

With hasty footsteps he rushed toward the margin of the pool, and bent
down to taste. For a moment or so, by a very natural feeling, he
hesitated, then, throwing off the fever of suspense, he bent down,
kneeling on the margin, till his lips touched the water.

It was fresh! Yes, it was from the heavens above, and not from the sea
below. It was the fresh rains from the sky that had filled this deep
pool, and not the spray from the sea. Again and again he quaffed the
refreshing liquid. Not a trace of the salt-water could be detected. It
was a natural cistern which thus lay before him, formed as though for
the reception of the rain. For the present, at least, he was safe.

He had food and drink. As long as the rainy season lasted, and for some
time after, life was secure. Life becomes doubly sweet after being