"I am sorry," Jack went on, "for I am sure we could have made out all our people. If it had occurred to them to go to Prospect Hill, I wager that we should have been able to recognise them—with the telescope, of course. For they are over there, talking about us, counting the hours, and saying: 'They would have got to the foot of the mountain yesterday, and to-day they will be at the top.' And they are wondering how big New Switzerland is, and if it makes a good show in the Indian Ocean."
"Well said, my boy!" laughed Mr. Wolston. "I fancy I hear them."
"And I fancy I see them," Jack declared. "Never mind! I am still sorry that the rocks hide Jackal River from us, and our house at Rock Castle too."
"No good being sorry," Ernest remarked, "when you've got to put up with it."
"It is the fault of this peak," Jack complained. "Why isn't it higher? If it rose a few hundred feet higher into the air, our people would see us from over there. They would signal to us. They would hoist a flag on the pigeon-house at Rock Castle. We would wag them good morning with ours——"
"Jack's off again!" said Mr. Wolston.
"And I am sure that Ernest would see Hannah!"
"I see her all the time."
"Of course; even without a glass," Jack answered quickly. "Ah! the eyes of the heart are long-sighted!"
All that remained was for the explorers to make an accurate survey of the island, noting its general outline and its geologic formation.