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.

"Hello, what are you doing down there?"

Pee-wee looked up and beheld a boy seated comfortably in the branches
of the tree. He was looking down through the profusion of blossoms
with an exceedingly merry face, and had apparently been witnessing the
arrival of the discoverer with silent amusement.

"Some desert island, hey?" he laughed.

"Are you a native?" Pee-wee shouted.

"Sure, I'm part of the wild life of the island, I'm a scout," the boy
called down. "Come on up, there's room for two on this branch. If the
island should lurch you might get your feet wet."

"What is this island anyway?" Pee-wee asked, somewhat taken aback by
the discovery that he was not the discoverer. "Where does it belong?
Anyway I'm the boss of it because I discovered it. I just put my sign
up and you can come down and see it if you want to and swear
allegiance."

"What are you talking about?" the boy called down. "I was on it before
it was born."

"Do you mean to tell me I didn't discover you?" Pee-wee shouted up.

"No, _I_ discovered _you_," said the other boy.

"What do you mean, _you knew it before it was born_?" Pee-wee demanded
skeptically. "How could it have been before it was? If a thing isn't,
how can you know it? You're crazy. I was the first one to discover it
since it was here and you're a part of it. But anyway I'd like to know
how it got here, that's one thing _I'd_ like to know."

"Come on up here and I'll tell you," said the wild native.

Pee-wee climbed up and sat on the limb beside his new friend. He was a
boy somewhat older than Pee-wee with a face so round that the face of
the man in the moon would have seemed narrow by comparison. And there
was a redness in his cheeks which made his head seem almost like an
apple grown prematurely ripe upon that blossom laden tree. He wore the
negligee scout attire and his happy-go-lucky nature was made the more
piquant by the easy, humorous fashion in which he sat upon the limb,
swinging his legs.

Pee-wee could not have found it in his heart to quarrel with any boy
whose face looke