He regained his lost strength,
recovering entirely from his wounds. The natives did not
molest him, for he had stumbled upon a section of the shore
which they considered bewitched and to which none of them
would come under any circumstances.
One morning, at the beginning of his fourth month of
solitude, the mucker saw a smudge of smoke upon the horizon.
Slowly it increased in volume and the speck beneath it
resolved itself into the hull of a steamer. Closer and closer to
the island it came.
Billy gathered together a quantity of dry brush and lighted
a signal fire on the lofty point from which he had seen the
Alaska and the Lotus disappear. As it commenced to blaze
freely he threw fresh, green boughs upon it until a vertical
column of smoke arose high above the island.
In breathless suspense Billy watched the movements of the
steamer. At first it seemed that she would pass without taking
notice of his signal, but at last he saw that she was changing
her course and moving directly toward the island.
Close in she came, for the sea was calm and the water
deep, and when Billy was sure that those on board saw him
and his frantic waving, he hurried, stumbling and falling,
down the steep face of the cliff to the tiny beach at its foot.
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