He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another.

The fat boy waited to be asked his name in turn but this proffer of acquaintance was not made; the fair boy called Ralph smiled vaguely, stood up, and began to make his way once more toward the lagoon.

The note boomed again: and then at his firmer pressure, the note, fluking up an octave, became a strident blare more penetrating than before.

There, where the island pe- tered out in water, was another island; a rock, almost detached, standing like a fort, facing them across the green with one bold, pink bastion.

It was clear to the bottom and bright with the efflorescence of tropical weed and coral.

Ralph had been deceived before now by the specious appearance of depth in a beach pool and he approached this one preparing to be disappointed.

With that word the heat seemed to increase till it became a threatening weight and the lagoon attacked them with a blinding effulgence.

Immured in these tangles, at perhaps their most difficult moment, Ralph turned with shining eyes to the others.

Henry; the choir boy who had fainted sat up against a palm trunk, smiled pallidly at Ralph and said that his name was Simon.