And half an hour before sunset we raced through the narrow opening of
the lagoon and saw the smoke of the dinner-fire blowing here and there
among the trees, and the figures of Joan and the Bo'sun's Mate running
down to meet us at the landing-stage.
V
Everything changed from the moment John Silence set foot on that island;
it was like the effect produced by calling in some big doctor, some
great arbiter of life and death, for consultation. The sense of gravity
increased a hundredfold. Even inanimate objects took upon themselves a
subtle alteration, for the setting of the adventure--this deserted bit
of sea with its hundreds of uninhabited islands--somehow turned sombre.
An element that was mysterious, and in a sense disheartening, crept
unbidden into the severity of grey rock and dark pine forest and took
the sparkle from the sunshine and the sea.
I, at least, was keenly aware of the change, for my whole being shifted,
as it were, a degree higher, becoming keyed up and alert.
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