as therefore an impossibility,
for those glassy undulations, which appeared so harmless at a distance,
gathered slow and gradual height as they approached the land, and at
last, assuming the form of majestic waves, flung themselves with a grand
roar on the stern cliffs which they have battered so long in vain, and
round which--always repulsed but never conquered--they seethed in milky
foam.

With glistening eye, and heaving breast, and mantling colour, the young
doctor stood long and motionless on this extreme point of land--absorbed
in admiration of the glorious scene before him. Often had he beheld the
sea in the firths and estuaries of the North, but never till now had he
conceived the grandeur of the great Atlantic. It seemed to him as if
the waves of those inland seas, when tossed by wild storms, were but
rough miniature copies of the huge billows which arose before him,
without apparent cause, and, advancing without rush or agitation, fell
successively with solemn roar at his feet, awakening irresistibly within
him deep and new thoughts of the Almighty Creator of earth and sea.

For many minutes he stood entranced, his mind wandering in a species of
calm delight over the grand scene, but incapable of fixing itself
definitely on any special feature--now sweeping out to where the Scilly
Isles could be seen resting on the liquid horizon, anon following the
flight of circling seagulls, or busy counting the innumerable ships and
boats that rested on the sea, but ever and anon recurring, as if under
the influence of fascination, to that rich turmoil of foam which boiled,
leaped, and churned, around, beneath, and above the mighty breakers.

Awaking at last from his trance, Oliver tore himself from the spot, and
hastened away to seek the nearest strip of sand where he might throw off
his clothes and plunge into the boiling surf.

He proceeded in a southerly direction, impatiently expecting at every
step to discover some spot suitable for his purpose, but he had taken a
long and rapid walk before he found a break in those wild cliffs which
afforded him the opportunity of descending to the water's edge. Here,
on a narrow strip of sand, he undressed and leaped into the waves.

Well was it for Oliver that day that he had been trained in all manly
exercises, that his "wind" was good, that his muscles were hard, his
nerves well strung, and, above all, that in earliest youth he had
learned to swim.

Misjudging, in his i