on to the rock just as the water was only ankle-deep, had a good
search round, and came back, to be picked up again safely, though the
boat was within an ace of being capsized.

But they had seen nothing. There was no boat, and they searched along
some distance east, turned back to the ledge and went west, still
without elucidation of the mystery; then they went as close under the
cliffs as they dared go, in the hope of finding some cavern or passage
through the rocks that escaped notice from outside.

All in vain, and, obeying the signal now flying on the cutter, the boat
was rowed back.

"Well, Mr Raystoke, where's the boat?"

"Don't know, sir. We never got sight of her."

"Then you must have been asleep," cried the lieutenant angrily. "There,
breakfast, my lads, and be smart."

After the meal, Gurr was left in the charge of the cutter, while the
lieutenant accompanied Archy to search for the high cliff which
contained the old quarry, and they rowed east for a couple of miles in
vain. But, after pulling back to the starting-point, and making for the
other direction, they had not gone four hundred yards under the cliff
before the midshipman exclaimed excitedly,--

"There; that's the place: there!"

"Then why didn't you say so when we were on deck? You could have seen
it there."

"I could not tell without seeing it close in, sir; and besides it looks
so different from right out yonder."

"But are you sure this is right?"

"Oh yes, sir. Look, that's the place--where there is that narrow rift,
and if you look high up there is a hole. There, I can see it plainly."

"Humph! Can you? Well, I cannot!"

"But you can see that broad ledge, sir, about two hundred feet up.
That's where I climbed down to, and we had the struggle--that boy and
I."

"No, I can't see any ledges, Mr Raystoke. There may be one there, but
if you had not been upon it, I don't believe you would know that there
was one."

Archy looked up at the towering pile of rock, and was obliged to own
that he was right. He shivered slightly as he swept the face of the
cliff for the various points that had helped him in his descent, and, as
he gazed out there in cold blood, it seemed to have been an extremely
mad idea to have attempted the descent.

"Well, it is impossible to land here," continued the lieutenant. "You
are certain that this is the place?"

"Certain, sir."

"Good. Then we'll go back to the cutter, and this evening a s