ge or highest part of the island, and
was not disposed to retrace her steps without at least making the
attempt. They accordingly once more moved forward, Ned leading the way,
and directing his steps as best he could with the aid of a small compass
which he wore attached as a charm to his watch-guard.

They had advanced but a very few yards into this "bush," as Ned termed
it, when they found themselves wandering almost blindly in the midst of
a deep, sombre, greenish twilight gloom; the overhead growth being so
dense as to almost entirely exclude the daylight, save where, here and
there, an accidental break permitted a stray sunbeam to stream down and
illumine a space of a few square yards. The effect of these partial
illuminations was very beautiful, revealing as they did the long tangled
festoons of creepers hanging black and snake-like against the light, and
causing the brilliant tints of the variegated foliage and the
resplendent hues of the flowers to flash out with dazzling effect
against the contrasting shadows. Moreover, these little illuminated
patches were alive with huge superbly-coloured butterflies, birds of
gaudy plumage, and other winged creatures, whose forms were as novel as
the combinations of colours which marked their bodies. They were the
scene of a perpetual whirl and flutter of wings, and before they
betrayed themselves to the sight their locality could be detected by the
sense of hearing from the never-ceasing hum and chirp of the insects and
the calls of the birds which frequented them. They were the scenes of
an eager, busy, active life; whilst in the twilight depths of the forest
everything was deathlike, everything was still--the very air was
motionless, not a leaf stirred. The silence was weird, oppressive, and
awe-inspiring; and when, at more or less lengthened intervals, a dry
twig snapped, a withered leaf crackled, when the soft wafting of the
wings of some nocturnal bird was heard among the branches overhead, or
the sudden, brief rustling which betrayed the presence of some wild
creature smote upon the ear, the effect upon the nerves was startling in
the extreme. Through these alternate stretches of gloom and brief
illuminated spaces the pair wound their way, Ned leading and clearing
the path where necessary with his axe or his stout, serviceable clasp-
knife, until eventually, after more than an hour's toil, they emerged
upon a bald, ridge-like eminence which, on looking about the