e above the surface.

"Now, then, Dick, is it a sea-cow?" cried Archy, as they drew nearer.

"Well, sir, what else can it be?"

"Ah, you obstinate!" cried the lad. "Now, then, what are we going to
do? We can't land her," he continued, looking up at the towering cliff,
"and, of course, we can't take her in the boat."

"I'll soon manage that," said Dick, leaving his rowing to take up a coil
of rope he had thrown into the boat, and make a running noose.

"Yes, but--"

"It's all right, sir. Get this over her horns, and we can tow her
alongside, and hyste her on deck in no time."

The cow proved that she was accustomed to man, for, as the boat
approached, she swam slowly to meet it, raising her nose a little to
utter a loud bellow, as if glad to welcome the help. So quiet and
gentle was the poor creature, that there was no difficulty in passing
the noose over her horns, making the line fast to a ring-bolt, so as to
keep her head well above the surface, and then Dick resumed his oar; and
after a glance round to make sure that there was no place where the poor
beast could be landed, Archie gave the order for them to row back to
where the cutter lay in the bright sunshine, five hundred yards from the
shore.

He looked in vain, for at the lowest part the green edge of the cliff
was a couple of hundred feet above the level of the sea, and right and
left of him the mighty walls of rock rose up, four, five, and even six
hundred feet, and for the most part with a sheer descent to the water
which washed their feet.

The cow took to her journey very kindly, helping the progress by
swimming till they were alongside the cutter, where the men on deck were
looking over the low side, and grinning with amusement.

"Pull her horns off, sir!" said Dick, in answer to a question, as he
proceeded to pass the rope through a block, "not it."

"But hadn't we better have a line round her?"

"If you want to cut her 'most in two, sir. We'll soon have her on
board."

Dick was as good as his word, for the task was easy with a vessel so low
in the water as the cutter; and in a few minutes the unfortunate cow was
standing dripping on deck.

CHAPTER TWO.

"Can any one of you men milk?" said Lieutenant Brough, a little
plump-looking man, of about five and thirty, as he stood in naval
uniform staring at the new addition to His Majesty's cutter _White
Hawk_, a well-fed dun cow, which stood steadily swinging her long tail
to and fr