everything. The intensity of his application was possible only because
he was alone. Forced to probe, to examine and to ponder, his mind
acquired new strength. Many things which otherwise would have been
obscure to him became plain. Looking back upon his own eventful life
since that meeting with St. Luc and Tandakora in the forest, he was
better able to read motives and to understand men. The reason why Adrian
Van Zoon wished him to vanish must be money, because only money could be
powerful enough to make such a man risk a terrible crime. Well, he would
have a great score to settle with Van Zoon. He did not yet know just how
he would settle it, but he did not doubt that the day of reckoning would
come.

A cask of oil and several lanterns were among his treasures from the
ship, and, making use of them, he frequently read late at night, often
with the rain beating hard on walls and roof. Then it seemed to him that
his mind was clearest, and he resolved again and again that when he
returned to his own he would make full use of what he learned on the
island. It seemed to him sometimes that his being cast away was a piece
of luck and not a misfortune.

A clear day came, and, taking his rifle, he strolled toward his peak of
observation, passing on the way the herd of wild cattle with the old
bull at its head. The big fellow looked at him suspiciously, as if
fearing that his friend might be suffering from one of his mad spells
again. But Robert's conduct was quite correct. He walked by in a quiet
and dignified manner, and, reassured, the bull went back to his task of
reducing the visible grass supply.

He saw nothing from the peak except the green island and the blue sea
all about it, but there was a singing wind among the leaves and it was