[Illustration: "STILL HE STOOD THERE, HOLDING ALOFT HIS SIGNAL."]

Nevertheless Brandon erected his signal, and as there was no place on
the solid rock where he could insert it he held it up in his own hands.
Hours passed. The ship had come very much nearer, but her hull was not
yet visible. Still he stood there under the burning sun, holding aloft
his signal. Fearing that it might not be sufficiently conspicuous he
fastened his coat to the top, and then waved it slowly backward and
forward.

The ship moved more slowly than ever; but still it was coming nearer;
for after some time, which seemed to that lonely watcher like entire
days, her hull became visible, and her course still lay nearer.

Now Brandon felt that he must be noticed. He waved his signal
incessantly. He even leaped in the air, so that he might be seen. He
thought that the rock would surely be perceived from the ship, and if
they looked at that they would see the figure upon it.

Then despondency came over him. The hull of the ship was visible, but it
was only the uppermost line of the hull. He was standing on the very top
of the rock, on its highest point. From the deck they could not see the
rock itself. He stooped down, and perceived that the hull of the ship
sank out of sight. Then he knew that the rock would not be visible to
them at all. Only the upper half of his body could by any possibility be
visible, and he knew enough of the sea to understand that this would
have the dark sea for a back-ground to observers in the ship, and
therefore could not be seen.

Still he would not yield to the dejection that was rapidly coming over