not at all to my mind.
It seemed to me that, when serious business was on hand, every one
conspired to treat me as a baby. I had told Captain Branscome
yesterday that I would not put up with it; and though I stood in far
greater awe of Dr. Beauregard than of the Captain, I felt none the
less mutinous now. Plinny, who in moments of agitation invariably
had recourse to some familiar work for a sedative, was on her knees
repacking the luncheon-baskets. Her back was turned to me, and from
her I glanced towards Mr. Goodfellow, who had stepped down to the
boat, and was leaning over the gunwale to rearrange the gear.
From him I looked up the beach, to the ridge behind which the others
had disappeared, and to the creepers overhanging the cliff.
Suddenly it came into my head that by gaining the upper end of the
ridge, where it met the cliff, I could wriggle under these creepers,
and observe from behind them all that went on, as well on the next
beach as on this. And with another glance at Plinny's back I tiptoed
away.

I moved as swiftly as I dared, making no noise, nor looked behind me
until I reached the rocks under the cliff--the path by which Mr.
Goodfellow had crept round to scuttle the boat.

I calculated that by working my way along for fifty yards between
them and the rock-face I should gain an opening which, observed from
below, had seemed to promise me an excellent view of the next beach.
But they hung so heavily that I found myself struggling in an almost
impenetrable thicket; and when at length I gained the opening, and
drew breath, above the splash of waves on the beach I heard a sound
which caused me to huddle back like a rabbit surprised in the mouth
of its burrow.

Some three yards from my hiding the bank of low cliff bounding the
beach shelved upward and inland in a stretch of short turf, and from
the head of this slope came the thud of footsteps--of heavy footsteps
descending closer and closer.

I drew back under the creepers, and held my breath. Between their
thick woven strands my eyes caught only, to the right, a twinkle of
the sea; in front, a yard or two of white shingle glittering beyond
the green shade; and, five seconds later, this patch was blotted out
as two men plunged past my spyhole. They walked abreast, and carried
a box between them. I could hear them panting, so closely they
passed.

They halted on the edge of the bank.

"The boat's all right," said one; and I heard him jump down