e knew,
there were no islands in that part of the Atlantic; yet his very
position belied the truth. He could not have drifted to the mainland;
the fact that he was alive precluded all possibilities of that, for he
would have drowned in far less time than the latter thought implied.

He turned and inspected the land upon which he had been cast. A small,
barren island, bleak and inhospitable, and strangely metallic, met his
gaze. The rays of the sun beating down upon it were thrown back with
an uncomfortable intensity; the substance of the island was a
lustrous, copperlike metal. No soil softened the harshness of the
surface; indescribably rugged and pitted was the two hundred-foot
expanse. It reminded Parkinson of a bronze relief-map of the moon.

For a moment he puzzled over the strangeness of the unnatural island;
then suddenly he realized the truth. This was the meteor! Obviously,
this was the upper side of the great sphere from space, protruding
above the sea.

* * * * *

Fortunate for him that the meteor had not been completely covered by
water, he thought--but was it fortunate? True, he was alive now,
thanks to the tiny island, but how long would he remain alive without
food or water, and without hope of securing either? Unless he would be
picked up by a passing steamer, he would die a far more unpleasant
death than that of drowning. Some miracle had saved him from a watery
grave; it would require another to rescue him from a worse fate.

Even now he was beginning to feel thirsty. He had no way of
determining how long he had been unconscious, but that it was at least
ten hours, he was certain, for the sun had been at its zenith when he
had awakened. No less than fifteen hours had gone by since
water--other than that of the sea--had passed his lips. And the fact
that it was impossible for him to quench his thirst only served to
render it more acute.

In order to take his mind from thoughts of his thirst and of the
immediate future, he rapidly circled the island. As he had expected,
it was utterly barren. With shoulders drooping in despair he settled
wearily to a seat on the jagged mass of metal high up on top of the
meteor.

An expression of sudden interest lit up his face. For a second time he
felt that particular throbbing, that strange pulsing beneath the
surface of the meteor. But now it was far more noticeable than before.
It seemed to be directly below him, and very clos