day by enthusiastic
sightseers, some of whom have journeyed thousands of miles to feast
their eyes upon the beauties of the famous Blue Basin of Trinidad, which
is not very greatly altered now from what it was when those three
adventurous Devonians stood and gazed enraptured upon it, probably the
first white men who ever beheld its magic loveliness.

For a space the trio stood spellbound, silent and motionless; then the
spell relaxed its grip upon them sufficiently to permit of renewed
movement and speech, and they burst into rapturous ejaculations as they
moved forward to gaze again at closer quarters.

"Beautiful! beautiful beyond the power of human mind to imagine, or
human tongue to tell," exclaimed "Sir" Thomas Cole, the ship's chaplain.
"Well might the Psalmist say: `O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In
wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches.' And
I'll warrant that David never looked upon such a scene as this, for 'tis
not recorded that he was ever to the tropics. And if God hath seen fit
to make this earth so beautiful, think, my masters, what must Heaven,
His own abode, be like?"

"Ay, well may you say that, Sir Thomas," answered Chichester "and yet,
if there seems a chance of any of us going there, we're willing to do
almost anything to delay our departure."

"Well, and 'tis not to be wondered at when this old earth of ours can
show such loveliness as this," commented literal, plain-spoken George.
"For my part, I'm willing enough to be here, just now, to enjoy the
beauty that the Lord has made to delight His people's eyes. And what a
glorious spot it is for a bathe! Come on, gentles; who's for a dip?
There's time enough for a swim across and back again if we don't delay
too long. 'Twill be delightfully cooling and refreshing after our long
walk from the boat."

The proposal found immediate acceptance, for the heat had been
overpowering, and the trio were streaming perspiration at every pore.
It was Chichester only, who by virtue of his professional knowledge was
aware of the evil results attending a sudden chill, who first took the
precaution of advancing to the edge of the basin and testing the
temperature of the water by plunging his hand into it, and it was while
he was doing this that his attention was arrested by the peculiar
appearance of what he at first took to be a large stone projecting out
of the shallow water on the opposite side of the basin. At first sight