Time Travelers from the Umbrella House

Chapter 18 The First Traces of the Lonely Island

Fearing that the boat would be carried away by the current and become a tramp boat again, the three of them immediately used their hands as paddles in the direction of the island, taking turns paddling with their arms, which barely kept the boat from spinning around in the water. They could see the island in the distance, but they had no oars and the boat was still moving slowly forward. Alice, a little worried, jumped out of the boat and swam behind it, pushing it forward. Seeing this, Michiko also jumped in and helped as much as she could. Ronnie couldn't swim, so all he could do was cheer them on. The three of them worked hard for a long time and finally reached the beach. "So tired!" Michiko panted heavily and lay down on her back on the beach. Alice fixed the boat and lay down beside her. "Ronnie, is this place the 'strange island' you were talking about?" she asked.

"I don't think so, 'Strange Island' is not that far away,but we could call this island 'Strange Island' instead."

"Do you think there are people on this island?"

"Sister, we can go to the highest point on the island and take a look to find out, this island shouldn't be too big."

After resting on the beach, the three of them got up and walked towards the center of the island. "Ronnie, don't walk so fast, be careful of falling," Alice looked at Ronnie bouncing in front of her and spoke up to warn him. Ronnie stopped walking, turned around and smiled at her, "It's okay, I'm flexible, I won't fall."

"Aren't you tired?" Michiko asked with a frown.

"I've been sitting on the boat the whole time and I'm not making any effort, how could I be tired?" Ronnie said, continuing to walk forward. However, he slowed down because the path ahead wasn't easy to walk on, filled with reefs and broken rocks that they could trip over if they weren't careful. It took the three of them more than half an hour to reach the highest point of the island, looking far and wide, not realizing that they were greatly disappointed: it was a very barren island, with no more than fifty trees on the entire island, bare, and about two kilometers long and only one kilometer wide, with a height of seventy to eighty meters at its highest point. At the same time, they thought, "How can such an island be inhabited?not even a bird would come here, would it?"

"It's all right, it's better here than on the ship, we survived all the hardships on the ship," Alice spoke comfortingly.

"Sister, we still have to find a way to get out of here, do you want to stay in this hellish place for the rest of your life?"

"I don't care, as long as I can be with you," Michiko said quietly.

Although the words were well spoken, a trace of worry still flashed across Alice's face, "The most important thing right now is to survive on the island, let's figure out the other things slowly ... Ronnie, you go and move the ship's things here, Michiko and I will split up to look for a place to land, we'll meet back here in half an hour!"

"Sister, aren't I the captain? why are you calling the shots?" Ronnie was annoyed and immediately objected.

Alice laughed and replied, "It's not like you're on the ship now, of course your captain's identity is useless ...well, split up and move!"

Ronnie still listened to his sister and went back to the ship to get things moving. The way down was much easier and it wasn't long before they were back at the boat. Looking at the thirty or so crab shells laid out in the middle of the boat, he didn't know what to do with them, as there was still some fresh water in them, and it would be a shame to pour it out, but he couldn't take it with him if he didn't, so in the end he decided to drink it all. Then he took off his jacket and wrapped the crab shells, dried fish, and shrimp into a ball, untied the flag and rope from the sail, folded the flag neatly, and returned to the meeting place. He was the first to return and did not see the two women, so he had to find a rock to lie on and wait for their return. Fifteen minutes passed without him noticing, and there was still no sign of the duo. Bored for a moment, he got up and wanted to move around a bit. First, he found a branch to hang the flag from, and then he stuck it in the mud. Then he walked to the other side of the island, looking down at the road and walking carefully, afraid of stepping on snakes. A few moments later, he saw a mountain overhanging under the cracks in the stone where water was seeping out, but the amount of water was very small, only two or three drops per second. He opened his mouth to take a bite and praised, "So sweet, but it's just that the amount of water is too small," he took a sip of water and came to these two conclusions.