"May as well stretch my legs," thought Peter. "I'll have a shot at getting to the top of the cliffs and see what's doing. I wonder how far it is to the nearest village?" He had to walk a hundred yards along the beach before he found a likely means of ascent--a narrow gorge through which a clear stream dashed rapidly. Yet the rivulet never met the sea direct. The water, although of considerable volume, simply soaked into the sand and disappeared. "We shan't need to go slow with the drinking-water," he said to himself, as he gathered a double handful of the cool, sparkling fluid and held it to his lips. "By Jove, isn't that a treat after water from a boat's keg. Well, here goes." The ascent was steep but fairly easy. Nevertheless Mostyn was so out of training, from a pedestrian point of view, that his muscles ached and his limbs grew stiff long before he arrived at the top. At length, breathless and weary, he gained the summit and threw himself at full length upon the grass. After a while he stood up and looked around. The sun was just rising--and it appeared to rise out of the sea. From where he stood, Peter could see right across the ground from west to east and from north to south; and, save where the tall bluff cut the skyline, sea and sky formed a complete circular horizon. Peter gave a gasp of astonishment. Instead of finding himself, as he had expected, upon one of the largest islands of the world, he was on a sea-girt piece of land barely three miles in length and two in breadth. In vain he looked for other land. The extent of his view, assuming that the point on which he stood was two hundred feet above the sea-level, was a distance of roughly twenty miles, and, except for the island upon which the boat had stranded, there was nothing in sight but sky and sea. "So much for Madagascar," ejaculated the Wireless Officer. "I'm a rotten bad navigator. Wonder where this show is, and if it is inhabited." For the most part the island consisted of a fairly level plateau covered with scrub. The southern part was well wooded with palms, while the course of the little stream was marked by a double line of reeds. In vain Peter looked for signs of human habitation. Not so much as a solitary column of smoke marked the presence of any inhabitants. "This is out of the frying-pan into the fire with a vengeance," said the Wireless Officer to himself. "We've plenty of fresh water, it is true, but precious little to eat. And the boat is beyond repair with the limited means at our disposal. Fire, did I say? We can obtain that, so the possibility of having to eat raw or sun-dried fish is removed."