boat half-way up the rugged shore.

Though his back was toward the island during the entire cruise, he knew
that land was near fully a minute and a half before reaching it by the
presence of several grasshoppers kicking vainly in the surf. But what
particularly attracted his attention as indicating the presence of
human life upon the island was part of a cruller bobbing near the
shore. This startled and impressed him as the footprint in the sand
startled and impressed Robinson Crusoe.

Pee-wee could hardly believe that on the very day which had begun so
inauspiciously he had actually set foot upon a strange island, but
there it was under his very feet and it could not get away for he was
standing on it.

Having fastened his sign to the tree trunk he proceeded to explore the
island. This was done mainly with his eyes since the island was too
small for the usual form of exploration.

It consisted of a little spot of land about fifteen feet in diameter,
held together by the roots of the tree. It was hubbly and
grass-covered and one side of it had a kind of ragged edge. It seemed
to be subject to earthquakes for as Pee-wee stood upon it he felt a
slight jarring beneath him. Undoubtedly the island depended on the
tree more than the tree depended on the island; one might have fancied
that the island carried too much soil.

But Pee-wee's surprise at the instability of his Conquest was nothing
to his astonishment at the voice which he presently heard above him.