t the higher part, near
the beacon.

I accordingly scrambled on as well as I could, but here and there I came
to a lower part of the rock over which the water washed, and I saw that
to reach the beacon I must wade through it. I had to proceed very
cautiously, for it was full of hollows and slippery in the extreme, and
a fall might involve serious consequences.

The shriek of the birds, though it sounded rather pleasant at a
distance, became almost deafening as I got nearer to them.

After going some way, I had to stop and rest, supporting myself on the
boat-hook. I now saw, on looking round, that the sky which at sunrise
had been bright and clear, was becoming fast covered with clouds. The
wind, too, blew with much greater force than before. Still, as it came
off the land, I hoped that it might not cause such a sea as would
prevent me from continuing my voyage. I was too eager, also, to obtain
some eggs or young birds to allow the subject to trouble me. I
therefore continued scrambling along over the rocks, hoping to find what
I was in search of nearer the beacon. I was by this time nearly wet
through up to the middle, but that did not matter, as the hot sun soon
dried my clothes. Having got on some distance without an accident, I
perhaps became more careless; for when leaping from one rock to another,
my foot slipped and I came down with a force which I thought must have
broken my arm. I lay clutching the rock with the other hand, unable to
move from the pain, while my boat-hook slipped from my grasp, and
gliding into the water was borne away from the rock. I now saw that a
rapid current was passing the rock, the influence of which I must have
felt when approaching it in the boat. Without the boat-hook I should
find it still more difficult to get along; but I knew that I must not
stay where I was for ever, and as soon therefore as the pain allowed me,
I rose to my feet and endeavoured to continue my scramble over the
rocks.

I forgot that my return journey would be quite as difficult if not more
so, as I should have no boat-hook, and at the same time should be
loaded, I hoped, with eggs and birds. I went on and on, of course
making very slow progress. At length I got close to the beacon, and
great was my disappointment to find neither eggs nor young birds.

I searched round and round the rock in all directions, and I at last
came to the conclusion that if the birds lay their eggs there at all the
hat