"I again thought that I saw——" he answered. And again he raised the telescope to his eye.
"Saw what?" Ernest pressed him.
"Smoke rising from the shore," Mr. Wolston answered, "unless it is a cloud like I saw before, when the pinnace was off the mouth of the Montrose River."
"Well," said Ernest, "is it passing away?"
"No," said Mr. Wolston; "and it must be at the same spot—at the far end of the range. Can there have been any shipwrecked men, or any savages, camped on that part of the coast for the past few weeks?"
Ernest looked carefully at the indicated spot, taking the glass in his turn, but he could see nothing in that direction.
"Why, Mr. Wolston, that is not where we need look; it's over here, to the south——" And Jack stretched his hand towards the sea beyond the huge cliffs that towered over the shore.
"It's a sail!" Ernest exclaimed.
"Yes, a sail!" Jack repeated.
"There is a ship in sight of the island," Ernest went on, "and she seems to be steering for it."