roceeded round the pool, she became aware that it was not
so perfectly still as hitherto; and a gurgle of waters grew upon the
ear. It was only that the tide was coming up, and that the pool was
being fed by such influx as could take place through a few crannies.
She perceived that these crannies had let in a glimmering of light which
was now sensibly darkened. She had no fear--only the delicious awe
which thrills through the spirit on its admission to the extreme
privacies of nature. There was some light, and safe opportunity of
return by the way she had come. She would not go back till she had
tried whether she could get on.

On she went--more than once in almost total darkness--more than once
slipping on a piece of wet and weedy rock where she expected to tread on
thick sand--more than once growing irritable at little difficulties, as
hungry people of better tempers than hers are apt to do in strange
places. A surprise awaited her at last. She had fancied she perceived
a glimmer of light before her; and she suddenly found herself at the top
of a steep bank of sand, at the bottom of which there was an opening--a
very low arch--to the outer air. While she was sliding down this bank,
she heard a voice outside. She was certain of it. Presently there was
a laugh, and the voice again. If she had found Rollo, there was
somebody else too; and if Rollo was not here, there was the more to hope
something from.

Now the question was whether she could get through the arch. She pushed
her basket through first, and then her own head; and she saw what made
her lie still for some little time. The arch opened upon a cove, deep
and narrow, between projecting rocks. A small raft rose and fell on the
surface of the water; and on the raft stood a man, steading himself with
his legs wide apart, while he held a rope with both hands, and gazed
intently upwards. The raft was in a manner anchored; tied with ropes to
masses of rock on each side of the cove; but it still pitched so much
that Lady Carse thought the situation of the man very perilous: and she,
therefore, made no noise, lest she should startle him. She little
dreamed how safe was his situation compared with that of the comrade he
was watching.

In a short time the man changed his occupation. He relaxed his hold of
the rope, fastened it to a corner of the raft, gazed about him like a
man of leisure, and then once more looked upwards, holding out his arms
as if to