He did not leave in a hurry. He stayed on the mountaintop for a while longer, roughly sorting through the information in his mind before returning to the beach along the way he had come.
He stopped by the roots of a coconut tree, chose a ripe coconut and split it open. After taking a few drinks, he ate the remaining flesh as well, then buried the shell in the sand. He walked a little farther along the tide line, confirming that the rising water would not flood the flat ground in the center of the island before sitting down on the sand.
He watched several seabirds circling along a fixed route over the water not far away, considering whether he could take this scenery with him and allow it to survive in its new environment.
The tide was rising, driven ever closer by the wind before spreading apart at his feet and leaving behind a new waterline.
He pressed his palm against the sand, feeling the faint rustle of grains rearranging themselves in the current as the tide receded, calculating how to transfer the island's entire shape and ecosystem intact.
He mentally confirmed the island's coordinates and the height of the rising tide once more, then stood up, brushed the fine sand from his hands, and headed toward the center of the island, preparing to find a suitable starting point for the coming transfer.
His gaze lingered for a moment on the edge of the slowly retreating waterline, as if confirming whether the time it took for the sand to level out after the water withdrew matched what he had observed upon first arriving, so he could determine whether the island was truly suitable as a newly acquired offshore reserve.
After circling over the sand, the wind shifted toward