here and cut it for some purpose known only to themselves. But,
hallo! what have we here?"

As he spoke, Jack began carefully to scrape away the moss and
fungus from the stump, and soon laid bare three distinct traces of
marks, as if some inscription or initials had been cut thereon.
But although the traces were distinct, beyond all doubt, the exact
form of the letters could not be made out. Jack thought they
looked like J. S. but we could not be certain. They had apparently
been carelessly cut, and long exposure to the weather had so broken
them up that we could not make out what they were. We were
exceedingly perplexed at this discovery, and stayed a long time at
the place conjecturing what these marks could have been, but
without avail; so, as the day was advancing, we left it and quickly
reached the top of the mountain.

We found this to be the highest point of the island, and from it we
saw our kingdom lying, as it were, like a map around us. As I have
always thought it impossible to get a thing properly into one's
understanding without comprehending it, I shall beg the reader's
patience for a little while I describe our island, thus, shortly:-

It consisted of two mountains; the one we guessed at 500 feet; the
other, on which we stood, at 1000. Between these lay a rich,
beautiful valley, as already said. This valley crossed the island
from one end to the other, being high in the middle and sloping on
each side towards the sea. The large mountain sloped, on the side
farthest from where we had been wrecked, gradually towards the sea;
but although, when viewed at a glance, it had thus a regular
sloping appearance, a more careful observation showed that it was