s from Darrow to get to a good berth, to land, to build
shore quarters, and to snug down for a stay of a year at least!"

We stared at each other.

"Joyous prospect," I muttered. "Hope there's something to do there."

The morning wore, and we rapidly approached the island. It proved to
be utterly precipitous. The high rounded hills sloped easily to within
a hundred feet or so of the water and then fell away abruptly. Where
the earth ended was a fantastic filigree border, like the fancy paper
with which our mothers used to line the pantry shelves. Below, the
white surges flung themselves against the cliffs with a wild abandon.
Thousands of sea birds wheeled in the eddies of the wind, thousands
of ravens perched on the slopes. With our glasses we could make out
the heads of seals fishing outside the surf, and a ragged belt of kelp.

When within a mile we put the helm up, and ran for the west end. A
bold point we avoided far out, lest there should be outlying ledges.
Then we came in sight of a broad beach and pounding surf.

I was ordered to take a surf boat and investigate for a landing and
an anchorage. The swell was running high. We rowed back and forth,
puzzled as to how to get ashore with all the freight it would be
necessary to land. The ship would lie well enough, for the only open
exposure was broken by a long reef over which we could make out the
seas tumbling. But inshore the great waves rolled smoothly, swiftly--
then suddenly fell forward as over a ledge, and spread with a roar
across the yellow sands. The fresh winds blew the spume back to us.
We conversed in shouts.

"We can surf the boat," yelled Thrackles, "but we can't land a load."

That was my opinion. We rowed slowly along, parallel to the shore,
and just outside the line of breakers. I don't know exactly how to
tell you the manner in which we became aware of the cove. It was as
nearly the instantaneous as can be imagined. One minute I looked ahead
on a cliff as unbroken as the side of a cabin; the very next I peered
down the length of a cove fifty fathoms long by about ten wide, at
the end of which was a gravel beach. I cried out sharply to the men.
They were quite as much astonished as I. We backed water, watching
closely. At a given point the cove and all trace of its entrance
disappeared. We could only just make out the line where the headlands
dissolved into the background of the cliffs, and that merely because
we knew of its existence. The