ent had hitherto sighted that peak, it must lie too far off
the course of rambling traffic, to expect a visit now. I knew that we
had dropped down-world for days before the wreck, and I had heard
grumbling, because of the mysterious course being steered. I was the
firstcomer--and yet the faint and struggling instinct of hope urged the
setting up of a tattered flag or two of sail cloth along the beetling
heights.

From my eyrie in the rocks, the coast line went away in a succession of
broken and porous cliffs which I had explored for a distance of perhaps
two miles. That two miles held all I had learned to know of this island
which was clearly a large one. What the interior had behind its curtain
of palm and moss and cane--back in the impenetrable jungle--belonged to
the mystery of an unopened book. I did know that off to the left as one
faced the sea, separated from me by four or five miles of precipitous
coast line, loomed a headland from which a flag waving by day would be
observable--if ever a vessel came across the shoulder of the world. To
reach the point and return would be a day's journey, for the path I must
take led over a trail more suited to a mountain goat than a man who had
until lately been civilized.

One morning I set out carrying tightly wrapped one of the pieces of
sail-cloth which had come out of the mate's chest. My resolution to set
my flag flying had filled me with a sort of specious exaltation. The
venomous beauty of the place was beyond description, and in a measure I
yielded to its lure and walked almost buoyantly. The sea to its skyline
was blue with a depth of sapphire. The tangle of the jungle was aflash
with vivid and sparkling color. Small, harmless snakes slid brightly
aside, as multi-hued as shreds of rainbow. I had climbed and crawled for
several hours, and was beginning to suffer keenly from weariness and
stone bruises on my poorly protected feet, when I came to a sort of path
running upward. This led me to a more commanding eminence than I had
before reached and gave me a view inland over an endless blanket of
green, unbroken forest. Ahead of me was a still greater height, and
after a short rest I made my way to the point from which I could look
across its crest. Then I halted dead in my tracks and stood fingering my
revolver. A cold sweat came out on my forehead and my knees trembled,
threatening to fail me. It was as though a curtain had risen on a stage
set to terrify the beholder.