earnestly and with all sincerity, for he intended, God willing,
to keep his word.

CHAPTER TWO.

The fleet of fishing-boats as they approached the coast steered in
different directions, some keeping towards Kynance and Landewednach,
while Paul Trefusis shaped his course for Mullyan Cove, towards the
north, passing close round the lofty Gull Rock, which stands in solitary
grandeur far away from the shore, braving the fierce waves as they roll
in from the broad Atlantic.

Asparagus Island and Lion Rock opened out to view, while the red and
green sides of the precipitous serpentine cliffs could now be
distinguished, assuming various fantastic shapes: one shaped into a
complete arch, another the form of a gigantic steeple, with several
caves penetrating deep into the cliff, on a level with the narrow belt
of yellow sand.

Young Michael, though accustomed from his childhood to the wild and
romantic scenery, had never passed that way without looking at it with
an eye of interest, and wondering how those cliffs and rocks came to
assume the curious forms they wore.

The little "Wild Duck," for that was the name Paul Trefusis had given
his boat, continued her course, flying before the fast increasing gale
close inshore, to avoid the strong tide which swept away to the
southward, till, rounding a point, she entered the mouth of a narrow
inlet which afforded shelter to a few boats and small craft. It was a
wild, almost savage-looking place, though extremely picturesque. On
either side were rugged and broken cliffs, in some parts rising sheer
out of the water to the gorse-covered downs above, in others broken in
terraces and ledges, affording space for a few fishermen's cottages and
huts, which were seen perched here and there, looking down on the
tranquil water of the harbour.

The inlet made a sharp bend a short distance from its mouth, so that, as
Paul's boat proceeded upwards, the view of the sea being completely shut
out, it bore the appearance of a lake. At the further end a stream of
water came rushing down over the summit of the cliffs, dashing from
ledge to ledge, now breaking into masses of foam, now descending
perpendicularly many feet, now running along a rapid incline, and
serving to turn a small flour-mill built a short way up on the side of
the cliff above the harbour.

Steep as were the cliffs, a zigzag road had been cut in them, leading
from the downs above almost to the mouth of the harbour, where