That evening Mike was on guard, and he was just about to come down to get his supper when he saw something in the distance. He looked carefully. Could it be a boat? He called Jack.
“Jack! Come quickly! I can see something. Is it a boat, do you think?”
Everyone tore up the hill. Jack looked hard. “Well, if it’s a boat, it’s very small,” he said.
“It’s something black,” said Nora. “Whatever is it? Oh, I do hope it isn’t anyone coming now.”
The children watched, straining their eyes. And suddenly the thing they thought might be a small boat flew up into the air!
“It’s that black swan we saw the other day!” said Jack, with a squeal of laughter. “What a fright it gave us! Look, there it goes! Isn’t it a beauty?”
The children watched the lovely black swan flying slowly towards them, its wings making a curious whining noise as it came. Nora went rather red, for she remembered how frightened she had been the first time she had heard a swan flying over the island - but nobody teased her about it. They were all too thankful it was only a swan, not a boat.
“There’s no need to keep watch any more to-night,” said Jack, and they all went down the hill. Evening was almost on them. They sat by their fire and ate their supper, feeling happier than the day before. Perhaps after all no one would come to look for them - and anyway, they had done all they could now to get things ready in case anyone did come.
The next day the children kept watch in turn again, and the next. The third day, when Nora was on guard, she thought she saw people on the far side of the lake, where a thick wood grew. She whistled softly to Jack, and he came up and watched, too.
“Yes, you’re right, Nora,” he said at last. “There are people there - and they are certainly hunting for something or someone!”