Mother stopped rowing.
“Want to come?” she called.
But in that moment Titty remembered again that she was not merely Robinson Crusoe, who had a right to be rescued by a passing ship, but was also Able-seaman Titty, who had to hoist the lantern on the big tree behind her, so that the others could find the island in the dark, and then to light the leading lights so that they could bring their prize into the harbour.
“No,” she called. “Only goodbye.”
“Goodbye,” called mother.
“Goodbye,” called Titty. She lay down on the lookout point, and watched mother through the telescope. Suddenly she found that she could not see her. She blinked, pulled out her handkerchief, and wiped first the telescope glass and then her eye.
“Duffer,” she said. “That’s with looking too hard. Try the other eye.”