that point was quite wide
and its opposite shore was bordered with sparse woodland.

Pee-wee had bathed and fished and canoed in this neighborhood almost as
long as he could remember and he was perfectly certain that there had
never been an island there. He knew an island when he saw one and
nothing was more certain than that this one was a stranger in the
neighborhood.

Yet it seemed to be perfectly at home out there in the middle of the
stream, just as if it had been born there and had grown up there.
There was nothing fugitive looking about it at all. In the true spirit
of the twentieth century, which is all for time saving and convenience,
it had voyaged to Pee-wee, thereby saving him the time and perils of an
extended cruise. It had, as one might say, been delivered at his door.

This was certainly an improvement over the old, out-of-date method of
desert island exploration. Such patent, adjustable islands would bring
the joys of adventurous pioneering "within the reach of all" as
advertisement writers are so fond of declaring, just as the phonograph,
has brought music into every home.

"That's funny," said Pee-wee, pausing in amazement. "That wasn't here
yesterday, because I was down here yesterday. Anyway as long as no
one's here I'm going to be the one to go and discover it. Findings is
keepings; it's just the same with islands as it is with everything
else."

To increase his astonishment and cause his brimming cup of joy to
overflow a tree stood upon the little speck of green land laden with
white blossoms, which wafted a faint but fragrant promise to the
enchanted scout upon the distant shore.

"That's an apple tree," said Pee-wee, his mouth watering. "I'm going
over there to discover it and then it's mine, the whole island's mine
because findings is keepings, that's international law."

No doubt he felt that the League of Nations would stand in back of him
in the matter of this epoch-making discovery.

CHAPTER VIII

PEE-WEE EXPLORES THE ISLAND

There was no doubt at all of the reality of this extraordinary
apparition. Pee-wee, who was always sure of everything, was doubly
sure of this. Squint and rub his eyes as he would, there was the
desert island in the middle of the river with the tree surmounting it.
By all the precedents in history this island was his. He had as much
right to it as the king of Spain had to San Salvador, more in fact, for
the king of Spain had never seen the