Solitude, in my frame of mind, was not too dearly purchased at the risk of sunstroke or sand-blindness; and soon I was alone on the ill-omened islet.

I should find it hard to tell of what I thought--of Jim, of Mamie, of our lost fortune, of my lost hopes, of the doom before me: to turn to at some mechanical occupation in some subaltern rank, and to toil there, unremarked and unamused, until the hour of the last deliverance.

I was, at least, so sunk in sadness that I scarce remarked where I was going; and chance (or some finer sense that lives in us, and only guides us when the mind is in abeyance) conducted my steps into a quarter of the island where the birds were few.

By some devious route, which I was unable to retrace for my return, I was thus able to mount, without interruption, to the highest point of land.

And here I was recalled to consciousness by a last discovery.
The spot on which I stood was level, and commanded a wide view of the lagoon, the bounding reef, the round horizon.