of that?" cried Kenneth, laughing in his guest's
astonished face.

"I--I don't know. Is anything broken?"

"Broken? No. We're under the shelter of the great point."

"Oh, I see. But what's that noise? Thunder?"

"Thunder? No. That's the Grey Mare wagging her tail."

"Poof!"

Scood exploded again.

"You are laughing at me," said Max quietly. "I can't help being so
ignorant."

"Never mind, we'll show you. I say, Scood, there's wind enough to carry
us by if we go close in."

"No, there isn't; keep out."

"Shan't. Get out the oars and help!"

"Best keep out," grumbled Scood.

"You get out the oars--do you hear?"

Scood frowned, and slowly laid out the oars, as he took his place on the
forward thwart, after a glance at the sail, which barely filled now.

"She aren't safe to go near," he said sulkily.

"Does she kick?" said Max eagerly.

Kenneth burst into a fresh roar of laughter.

"Oh yes, sometimes," he said, "right into the boat."

Scood sat with the oars balanced, and a grim smile upon his countenance,
while Max looked sharply from one to the other, and, seeing that there
was something he did not grasp, he sat watchful and silent, while the
boat, in the full current which swept round the bay, glided rapidly out
toward the farther point, from behind which the thunderous roar seemed
to come.

In another minute they were close to the point, round which the tide
flowed still and deep, and directly after Max held his breath, as the
boat glided on, with the sail flapping, towards where in one wild leap a
torrent of white water came clear out from a hundred feet above, to
plunge sullenly into the sea.

"That's the Grey Mare's Tail," cried Kenneth, raising his voice so as to
be heard above the heavy roar; and the fall bore no slight resemblance
to the long white sweeping appendage of some gigantic beast, reaching
from the face of the precipice to the sea.

Max felt awe-stricken, for, saving on canvas, he had never seen anything
of the kind before. It was grand, beautiful, and thrilling to see the
white water coming foaming down, and seeming to make the sea boil; but
the perspiration came out on the lad's brow as he realised the meaning
of what had passed, and understood Scood's remonstrances, for it was
evident that the boat was drawing rapidly toward the fall, and that in
the shelter of the tremendous cliff there was not sufficient wind to
counteract the set of the current.

Scood gave