illages close to a beach, to secure facilities for their fishing
operations, Leslie was further confirmed in his hope that his island was
uninhabited; especially as he looked carefully in every direction for
the smoke of fires, and found none.

Then he allowed his eyes to wander farther afield, and intently scanned
the entire visible surface of the ocean, in search of a sail, but
without success. He was not surprised at this; for he knew the island
to be situated far out of the track of all ships, save perhaps whalers,
and craft that might be driven by adverse winds out of their proper
course; and although it is the first instinct of the castaway sailor to
maintain a ceaseless watch for a sail, the ex-lieutenant knew that the
chance of rescue for himself and his companion by a passing ship was
altogether too slight to be seriously given a place in his plans for the
future. Nevertheless, for a moment he entertained the idea of erecting
a flagstaff on the summit and hoisting a flag upon it for the purpose of
attracting the attention of any ship that might perchance pass the
place; but a very brief consideration of the project sufficed to
convince him that the benefit to be derived therefrom was much too
problematical to justify the expenditure of so much labour and time as
it would involve. Moreover he had a conviction that any ship sighting
so conspicuous an object as the island in a spot shown upon the charts
as clear sea, would approach and give the place an overhaul.

But although Leslie's most careful scrutiny failed to reveal any sign of
the presence of ships, he was astonished to discover that there was
other land in sight from his lofty lookout. He clearly saw two other
eminences peering above the horizon to the westward, one bearing as
nearly as possible due west, and the other about south-west, while away
in the north-western quarter he believed he detected the loom of land at
a very great distance. The two islands in clear view were apparently
about the same distance away--a distance which, from their delicate,
filmy appearance, he estimated to be quite a hundred miles; and he knew
that they must be, like his own, mountainous, from the fact that they
showed above the horizon.

The sun was by this time settling perceptibly in the western sky, and,
lovely as was the prospect that stretched around them, Leslie felt that
the time had arrived for them to be moving once more; they accordingly
threw a final par