matter of five miles if you went as the
crow flies, but you'd maybe get lost on the downs. It's about the same
distance along the coast, if you care to go by the shore. The tide won't
be up yet awhile, and you'd have ample time to get round the headland,
if you stepped out fairly well."

The beach sounded so much the most attractive route that the girls at
once decided in its favour. It was a consideration to save four miles,
and they all preferred the seashore to the hills. If they walked fast,
they calculated that it would not take more than a couple of hours, and
they would get back to school just before dark.

"We must 'step out', as the old man advised," said Phoebe. "No one
must slack off, or lag behind."

It was all very well to make good resolutions, but quite another matter
to keep them. The beach near Sandsend was an especially fascinating part
of the coast. It abounded with little, shallow pools among the rocks,
where such a variety of beautiful anemones, madrepores, sea-cucumbers,
and other marine objects might be seen that it almost resembled an
aquarium. None of these treasures were to be found at Birkwood, where
the cliffs were of a different geological formation; indeed, these
particular few miles of shore were a noted spot for zoologists, and
could show more choice species than anywhere else within a radius of
fifty miles. It was not astonishing, therefore, that the girls stopped
to marvel at some of these flowers of the sea, to watch the anemones
stretching out their delicate, brilliantly coloured tentacles, to admire
the corallines or the many strange forms of zoophytes, to chase spider
crabs, and to pick up rare shells, and gather some of the lovely
seaweeds that fringed the pools. They quite forgot the time, and went
dawdling on from one interesting rocky basin to another, wishing they
had a glass jar, or a bucket, in which they could carry some specimens
back to the Grange.

"Don't you think we might put a few anemones in our handkerchiefs?"
suggested Aldred.

"Not an atom of use! They die directly they're out of water. We tried it
once before, and it wasn't a success," replied Phoebe.

"We'll tell Miss Drummond about the place, and ask her to bring us for
an expedition some day," said Dora. "The school aquarium needs
replenishing badly."

They had been walking, or, rather, strolling for about an hour when they
reached a small bay, which lay between two promontories. The water here
was so