r Lavie cast a look seaward, and saw at once
the explanation of their unusual demeanour. The ship had been making
good way for the last hour or two, and was now near enough to the
Canaries to allow the Peak of Teneriffe to be clearly seen, like a low
triangular cloud, and the rest of the island was coming gradually into
clearer sight Mr Lavie joined the party, and set himself to watch what
is perhaps the grandest spectacle which the bosom of the broad Atlantic
has to exhibit. At first the outline of the great mountain, twelve
thousand feet in height, presented a dull cloudy mass, formless and
indistinct. But as the afternoon wore on, the steep cliffs scored with
lava became visible, and the serrated crests of Anaga grew slowly upon
the eye. Then, headland after headland revealed itself, the heavy dark
grey masses separating themselves into hues of brown and red and
saffron. Now appeared the terraced gardens which clothe the cultivated
sides, and above them the picturesque outlines of the rocks intermingled
with the foliage of the euphorbia and the myrtle, and here and there
opening into wild mountain glens which the wing of the bird alone could
traverse. Lastly, the iron-bound coast became visible on which the surf
was breaking in foaming masses, and above the rocky shelf the long low
line of spires and houses which distinguish the town of Santa Cruz. For
a long time the red sunset light was strong enough to make clearly
distinguishable the dazzling white frontages, the flat roofs, and
unglazed windows, standing out against the perpendicular walls of
basaltic rock. Then a dark mist, rising upwards from the sea, like the
curtain in the ancient Greek theatre, began to hide the shipping in the
port, the quays, and the batteries, till the whole town was lost in the
darkness. Higher it spread, obscuring the masses of oleander, and
arbutus, and poinsettia in the gardens, and the sepia tints of the rocks
above. Then the white lava fissures were lost to the eye, and the Peak
alone stood against the darkening sky, its masses of snow bathed in the
rich rosy light of the expiring sun. A few minutes more and that too
was swallowed up in darkness, and the spell which had enchained the four
spectators of the scene was suddenly dissolved.

CHAPTER TWO.

THE CAPE VERDES--DIONYSIUS'S EAR--UNWELCOME NEWS--FRENCH LEAVE--THE
SKIPPER'S WRATH--A SCRAPE.

Three or four days had passed, the weather appearing each day more
del