had finally adjusted the focus of his telescope, he
was even able to detect, upon the white sand of the beach, two tiny
moving objects which he knew to be his own boy Percy and little Lucille
Henderson. For some time he was unable to withdraw his eyes from those
two diminutive objects; but when he did so, and turned his face to the
westward, he saw that the remarkable cliff which Ned had noticed as the
ship passed the island, and which seemed to divide it into two separate
and distinct portions, was distant not more than three-quarters of a
mile from the base of the hill on which he stood. The top edge of this
cliff bounded his view to the westward so far as the island was
concerned; but the bay with its encircling reef was visible, and even
with the naked eye he readily detected, on the interior edge of the
reef, a small speck-like object which the telescope showed him to be the
wreck mentioned by Ned in his note. The day was now wearing on apace,
and his long walk had sharpened his appetite; Gaunt therefore thought
that he could not do better than sit down where he was and take his
luncheon or dinner whilst he noted in fuller detail the topography of
the island, of which he there and then made a rough sketch-plan.

His meal over, the solitary explorer descended the mountain and made his
way to the edge of the cliff. Arrived there, it soon become apparent
that the most difficult portion of his journey still lay before him, for
at the point where he then stood, he saw at once that to descend the
cliffs face to the slope below would be an impossibility without the aid
of ropes or some substitute for them. He turned south and followed the
edge of the cliff, hoping to find a spot at which he might descend, but
without success, as he at length reached a point where the face of the
cliff turned sharply off to the eastward, eventually running into and
forming a portion of the cliff proper, which on that side of the island
ran sheer down to the water.

Retracing his steps, Gaunt soon found himself back at the spot where he
had in the first instance reached the edge of the cliff, and passing on
he found, at a distance of about a quarter of a mile beyond, a narrow
chasm or gap, which on careful inspection he saw would enable him to
descend to the sloping green-sward at the foot of the cliff. Down this
gap he cautiously scrambled, narrowly escaping an awkward fall once or
twice on his way, and by that means soon reached th