ding,
and these lying on the west and south. There the mighty storm-waves had
battered the granite crags for centuries, undermining them in soft veins
till huge masses had fallen again and again, making openings which had
been enlarged till there was one long cove; the fissure where they had
taken boat with old Daygo; and another spot farther to the south.

The lads had not gone far before they curved suddenly to their left, and
struggled through one of the patches of woodland that beautified the
island. This was of oak trees and ilex, dwarfed by their position,
tortured into every form of gnarled elbow and crookedness by the sea
wind, and seldom visited save by the boys, who knew it as a famous spot
for rabbits.

It was hard work getting through this dwarf-oak scrub, but they
struggled on, descending now into a steep ravine quite in the
uninhabited part of the island, and feeling that they might talk and
shout as they pleased--for they were not likely to be heard. But they
were very quiet, and when hawk or magpie was started, or an old nest
seen, they instinctively called each other's attention to it in a
whisper.

After a time they were clear of the sombre wood, and had to commence
another fight in the hollow of the slope they had to climb, for here the
brambles and furze grew in their greatest luxuriance, and had woven so
sturdy a hedge that it was next to impossible to get through.

Perseverance, and a brave indifference to thorns, carried them along;
and at the end of half an hour they were at the bottom of a gigantic
precipice of tumbled-together masses of granite, suggesting that they
were at the beginning of the huge promontory which jutted out into the
sea, and round which Daygo had refused to take them; the beautiful
little rounded bay which they had skirted being to their right; and
forward toward the north, and lying away to their left, being the
situation of the unknown region always spoken of with bated breath, and
called The Scraw.

The lads stopped now, hot, panting and scratched, to stand gazing
upward.

"Tired?" said Mike.

"Yes. No," replied Vince. "Come on."

But Mike did not move. He stood looking before him at the rugged masses
of granite, grey with lichen and surrounded by brambles, reaching up and
up like a gigantic sloping wall that had fallen in ruins.

Vince had begun to climb, and had mounted a few feet, but not hearing
his companion following, he turned back to look.

"Wh