d staring thoughtfully
out over the water.

"Get out of the way, please," he called in a fretful voice. "Can't you
see you are obstructing my view?"

"Good morning," said Cap'n Bill, politely.

"It isn't a good morning!" snapped the little man. "I've seen plenty of
mornings better than this. Do you call it a good morning when I'm
pestered with such a crowd as you?"

Trot was astonished to hear such words from a stranger whom they had
greeted quite properly, and Cap'n Bill grew red at the little man's
rudeness. But the sailor said, in a quiet tone of voice:

"Are you the only one as lives on this 'ere island?"

"Your grammar's bad," was the reply. "But this is my own exclusive
island, and I'll thank you to get off it as soon as possible."

"We'd like to do that," said Trot, and then she and Cap'n Bill turned
away and walked down to the shore, to see if any other land was in
sight.

The little man rose and followed them, although both were now too
provoked to pay any attention to him.

"Nothin' in sight, partner," reported Cap'n Bill, shading his eyes with
his hand; "so we'll have to stay here for a time, anyhow. It isn't a
bad place, Trot, by any means."

"That's all you know about it!" broke in the little man. "The trees are
altogether too green and the rocks are harder than they ought to be. I
find the sand very grainy and the water dreadfully wet. Every breeze
makes a draught and the sun shines in the daytime, when there's no need
of it, and disappears just as soon as it begins to get dark. If you
remain here you'll find the island very unsatisfactory."

Trot turned to look at him, and her sweet face was grave and curious.

"I wonder who you are," she said.

"My name is Pessim," said he, with an air of pride. "I'm called the
Observer."

"Oh. What do you observe?" asked the little girl.

"Everything I see," was the reply, in a more surly tone. Then Pessim
drew back with a startled exclamation and looked at some footprints in
the sand. "Why, good gracious me!" he cried in distress.

"What's the matter now?" asked Cap'n Bill.

"Someone has pushed the earth in! Don't you see it?

"It isn't pushed in far enough to hurt anything," said Trot, examining
the footprints.

"Everything hurts that isn't right," insisted the man. "If the earth
were pushed in a mile, it would be a great calamity, wouldn't it?"

"I s'pose so," admitted the little girl.

"Well, here it is pushed in a full inch! That's a t