nd final instructions were given
me; the skipper once more shook hands, and wished me success, Mr
Annesley following suit; and then, the gig being by that time manned and
in the water, I slipped down the side and seated myself in the stern-
sheets alongside old Rawlings, the bowman shoved off, and the crew,
dropping their oars with a splash into the water and dashing it into
liquid fire, stretched out to their work, sending the light boat dancing
over the wavelets toward the distant shore, and leaving far astern a
luminous wake, with six small whirlpools of fire eddying on each side of
it.

We pulled steadily on for half an hour, and then, that no precaution
might be omitted, the crew were ordered to muffle their oars. This
done, we resumed our way, but at a much quieter pace, the land rising up
before us an uniform black mass against the deep violet of the star-
studded sky, without the faintest suggestion of detail of any kind
whereby to direct our course. How Rawlings could possibly hit a spot so
absolutely invisible as the ruin seemed quite incomprehensible to me;
but there is no doubt he was specially gifted in that respect, it being
apparently impossible for him to forget or confuse the slightest details
of any locality which he had once visited.

Be that as it may, we paddled gently on until the boat was so completely
within the shadow of the land that we were in utter darkness, it being
impossible to distinguish the face of the stroke oarsman from where I
sat. A few more strokes, and Rawlings uttered in a low tone the word
"oars!" they were noiselessly laid in, and in another moment the boat's
bow grated upon the shingle of the beach.

"Now as soon as we have landed, shove off to about fifty or sixty
fathoms from the beach, and lay on your oars, ready to pull quietly in
again when you hear me whistle three times. But if I _hail_ instead of
whistling, bend your backs and send her in upon the beach with all your
strength, and then jump out and shove her off again the moment I'm
aboard, for in that case I shall have Johnny Crapaud after me," said
Rawlings to the coxswain, as we stepped gingerly forward to the bow of
the boat.

As soon as our feet touched the shingle, we turned round, and giving the
boat's nose a vigorous shove launched her off the beach, with enough
stern-way upon her to carry her the prescribed distance from the beach
without the aid of the oars. As we stood for a moment watching her, we