near him. He made sure of this by directing his eyes
successively in the direction of every point of the compass. The
"sand-eel man" was still busy, but he was far enough. Frank hastened
behind a small rock and began to undress. As he did so, he
experienced a series of queer sensations. He was tasting pleasure at
the expense of his conscience, and, struggle as he would, he felt
unhappy. It was the first time that he thus openly disregarded his
mother's commands, and it cost him something to do so.

It did not take him long to divest himself of his clothing. He was
soon in the water, dancing and romping. The water around him
resembled that of Lodore.

He now felt happy, having forgotten all about his mother and the
errand which she had sent him to accomplish.

The water was warm; the little green crabs that walked sideways
passing quite close to him, amused him considerably. He passed a
portion of his time chasing them. Then he waded farther into the
water till it came up to his hips. Ah, this was pleasure indeed! He
would not have exchanged his place for a suite of rooms in
Buckingham Palace.

He had been in the water for about a quarter of an hour. He glanced
round to see if the fisherman was to be seen. No trace of him now.

"He has gone home," he thought. He began to feel cold. "I must go
and dress," he said to himself, "or I shall catch cold, and then
mamma will know that I have been bathing."

Frank proceeded towards the place where he had placed his clothes,
but as he approached the shore, he found that the water seemed to be
getting warmer. This discovery was the cause of his staying five
minutes longer in the water than he would otherwise have done.

Then he again betook himself towards _terra firma_. "Hullo,
what's this?" And he held up a boot. "How strange, it looks exactly
like mine," he muttered. Then a thought--a flash shot through his
brain, immediately followed by a pang through his heart. The
thought--"where are my clothes?"--the pang--the result of his
disappointing glance towards the place in which he had placed them.
He was out of the water in the twinkling of an eye. The boot which
he had found was in his hand. Where were his trousers? where was his
coat? There was his shirt being knocked about by the waves! He
rushed upon it, threw it on the gravel near his boot, and began
tremblingly to search for his other garments. He at last succeeded
in bringing together the following collection: One p