As I played on, I thought I saw its foxlike snout dip and rise in time to the music. No, that was impossible.

You’re so glad to see something alive, you’d probably fiddle to a flea.

I wasn’t going to argue with Scratch on that.

I finished another shanty and laid the violin down in the shade of the cactus to dry out fully. The lizard took a step closer and sniffed. Then it flopped down and laid its snout on its foreclaws.

“So you liked that, did you?” I asked, not feeling as silly as I should talking to a lizard. “Sorry, but I need to let the fiddle properly dry out for now.”

I opened the case to air that too, keeping one eye on the lizard. I’d forgotten about the small compartment at the top, where I kept spare strings and a block of amber rosin for the bow. The strings would be useful—I could find a way to hook a prickly pear or to catch fish—but when I flipped open the lid, something else was in there too, and my heart leaped.

Mr. Darwin’s eyeglass. I’d snatched it up from the ground as we left the field of giant tortoises just yesterday. What luck! I pressed it to my eye, but it was meant for close work, and through it the world in front of me was blurred and wobbly. How I wished Mr. Darwin were here. If a gentleman were lost at sea there would be a big to-do to search for him, but a simple cabin boy turned servant, with no one at home who’d miss him … Perhaps they’d already given me up for lost.

The lizard was still looking at me.

“Yes. You’re right, no more of that sort of talk,” I said.

I’d just gained twice as many possessions as I had five minutes ago. This was something to celebrate.

“See this? I’ve seen men start fires with a magnifying glass.”

You think the Beagle could spot your smoke against the volcano?

I turned. The smoke puffing from the top of the volcano was no longer being swept away by the wind and had formed a black pool of cloud above the summit.

“I’ll make a fire and then I can cook fish and singe the spikes off the prickly pears,” I retorted. “I’ll have a cheerful blaze going through the night, right on the shore where the lookout will spot me.”

Not going to start anything with these clouds.

It was hot and bright but had become hazy. No matter! I lay back, hands behind my head, and made myself smile. It was an old trick. Sometimes, when my aunt was in a worse than usual fit and I’d been missing Da something dreadful, I’d smile at strangers in the street and sooner or later someone would smile back, and I’d feel a little better. Just a little.

I lifted my chin. The green lizard was still there. Maybe it was even smiling back, I couldn’t tell.