It was agreed that they were to be back in an hour
at the most. Twenty minutes later, each exploration party having stuck
to the beach, they came together again, much to their mutual surprise.
"The pesky thing isn't more than a few acres big!" exclaimed Joe
disgustedly.
"And it's entirely surrounded by water," added Perry brightly.
"Most islands are," said Ossie. "We can get up on top easily enough
here, fellows. Let's see what it looks like."
Their island was little more than a rock stuck out of the water. Just
how big it was was difficult to determine since the haze of driving mist
allowed but little view. From the beach, at a point presumably directly
opposite the place where they had come ashore they climbed by the aid of
rocky footholds and bushes to a broken but generally level summit clad
with a tangled growth of blueberry and briars and sprinkled most
liberally with boulders. The ground arose gradually as they advanced,
guided by Steve's pocket compass, and before very long they reached the
wind-swept edge of the cliff against which they had spent the night.
From the summit they could see dimly at brief intervals the form of the
_Adventurer_ far below.
"Well, I don't see that we've accomplished much," said Han.
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