is really a
pity that you should leave the book, I may never look into it."

"Oh! but this book is not like any other, it is full of adventure. All
about a man living on a desert island, with a black called Friday, for I
don't know how many years. If it isn't true, it ought to be, and so
you'd better read it," said the boy, pressing the book on her.

Margery had become interested with the description of the work, and no
longer refused to take it. She thanked Stephen more graciously than
before, and, taking the book with her, hurried back to her father.
Stephen was satisfied; he liked Margery and the captain, and Mrs Askew,
better than most people, next to himself, and he thought that he could
pass the hour till dinner-time to his satisfaction on the beach, in
picking up shells and other sea curiosities. So, leaving his pony in a
shed near the tower, which served as a stable, he strolled down to the
shore.

The tide was unusually low, and on turning to the right as he faced the
sea, he found that he could get along under the cliff on which the tower
stood, by means of a narrow ledge of rock and sand. He had never been
there before, and he thought that he should like to see how the cliff
looked towering above him. He forgot the danger he was running, should
the tide rise and cut off his retreat. He went on and on till he got
completely under the cliff, and when he looked up it seemed to bend over
above his head, and to reach up to the sky. The rocks were so wet that
it was evident the tide had only just gone down, so he thought that he
should have abundance of time to get further, and perhaps to get round,
so as to climb up the cliff on the west side. Going on, as he happened
suddenly to look up, he fancied that he saw, high above his head, a
human face looking down on him out of the side of the cliff. He was
startled--as well he might--for it seemed impossible that any one could
get to the spot. When he looked again the face--if fact it was--had
disappeared, and he saw nothing which he could have mistaken for a face.
Still he went on; there was novelty in the expedition, and no apparent
danger, of which he was not fond, and he thought that it could only be a
very little way longer round. Again he was startled, but this time it
was by a cry, and hastening on to the spot whence the sound came, he saw
a young girl, in the dress worn by the children of the fishermen,
holding on to a wet, seaweed-covered rock, o