ting glance around them, and began the descent of the
mountain. To ascend was one thing; to descend, quite another; and in a
little more than an hour from the moment of leaving the summit they
found themselves once more on the beach and beside their boat. Then,
greatly fatigued by their unwonted exertions, but with the memory of a
thoroughly enjoyable day fresh upon them, they paddled leisurely off to
the brig, reaching her just as the sun was dipping below the horizon.

Their experiences of that day only whetted Leslie's--and, it must be
confessed, Flora's--appetite for further exploration and adventure; the
former in particular felt that he would never be satisfied until he had
circumnavigated his island and critically examined every yard of its
coast-line. To do this, a boat was of course necessary, or at least
something of a much more seaworthy character than the "pontoon" in which
he had adventured the passage to the island. And they had nothing of
the kind. After Flora had retired to her cabin, however, Leslie spent
an hour or so on deck, smoking his pipe and pondering upon the problem
of how to supply the deficiency; and when at length he turned in, he
believed he saw his way.

The following morning accordingly found him astir bright and early,
eager to put his ideas into immediate execution. He first got on deck
again the pontoon that he had used on the previous day, and proceeded to
considerably strengthen her by the addition of further wales, stringers,
and beams; and when he had got her to his liking, he proceeded to treat
the other in a precisely similar fashion. Then he fitted them both with
rudders. Next, having carefully disposed the two pontoons on deck, with
their longitudinal centre-lines parallel and nine feet apart, he first
decked them both completely in, leaving only a manhole eighteen inches
square in the middle of each deck; and then proceeded to frame and fit
together a thoroughly strong platform, twelve feet square, so arranged
that it could be securely bolted to the gunwales of the two pontoons in
the positions they occupied relatively to each other. This done, he
launched the whole arrangement overboard; and found himself the proud
and happy possessor of what, for want of a better and more appropriate
name, he called a "catamaran;" the structure consisting, of course, of
the two pontoons arranged parallel to each other, with a water space of
six feet between them, and firmly and stro