erhaps two hundred feet to the westward of the boat, when, from what
Sibylla could see of his movements, he appeared to break the bough of a
bush in such a manner as to leave the branch dangling from the parent
shrub, after which he began to make his way along the cliff-face toward
the boat.

A few minutes later he reached the dinghy--minus the bird, by the by,
which he had set out to secure--and stepping in at once proceeded to
cast off the painter. Then, as he stepped aft and tossed the paddles
into the rowlocks, he first got a glimpse of Sibylla's still troubled
face.

"I beg your pardon, Miss Stanhope," he said. "I am afraid I have
frightened you by my long stay aloft there. The fact is I was so
interested in my discovery that for the moment I forgot the flight of
time.

"I have made a most curious and important discovery, and one that may or
may not be of the utmost value to us. When I started aloft to get that
bird--by the bye, where is it? Ah! I see it! and I will have it, too,
before I go back to the ship; but I will tell you my story first. I had
not made my way very far up the cliff when I came to what looked so very
much like a flight of roughly hewn steps running up the cliff-face that
I determined to follow the indications, and investigate. I did so, and
soon came to the conclusion that, though the step-like projections were
just as thickly overgrown as the rest of the cliff-face--showing that
they had not been used for years, or possibly generations, they had
undoubtedly been wrought out by the hand of man. Pushing the shrubs on
one side I had no difficulty whatever in making my way upwards, until I
at length came out upon a flat platform of rock, in the outer edge of
which were two holes or depressions, some twelve feet apart, which I
imagined might have been hollowed out to receive the heels of a pair of
sheers, an impression which was rendered all the stronger when, on
looking more closely, I discovered a groove terminating in a third hole
which I immediately guessed must have been formed to receive the heel of
the back-leg. All this is, I suppose, Greek to you; but you will
perhaps comprehend me when I explain that sheers are used to assist in
hoisting heavy articles with. The rocky platform is about fifteen feet
square, the cliff-face overhanging it above; and at its back part there
is a sort of split in the rock about eight feet wide and nearly the same
height. I passed in through this