he water in precipices for all the world like mighty steps. By here
and there, as the ground sloped away to the northward, there were
forests of teak (at least, I judged them to be that), pretty woods with
every kind of palm, green valleys and grassy pastures. The sands of the
cove were white as snow, and shone like so many precious stones pounded
up to make a sea beach. On the north side only was there barrenness--
for that seemed but a tongue of low land and black rock thrust straight
out into the sea. But elsewhere it was a spectacle to impress a man;
and I began, perhaps, to admit that Edmond Czerny had more than a
crank's whim in his mind when he took little Ruth Bellenden to such a
shore for her honeymoon. He had a fancy for wild places, said I, and
this was the very spot for him. But Miss Ruth, who had always been one
for the towns and cities and the bright things of life--what did she
think of it? I should learn that, if she were ashore yonder. Now, we
put straight in to the cove where the silver sand was, and no sooner
was I ashore than I espied a rickety wooden ladder rising almost
straight up to the cliff's head, which hereabouts was no more than
sixty feet high. Neither man nor beast was on the beach, nor did I make
out any sign of human habitation whatever. It was just a little sandy
bay, lone and desolate; but directly I slipped out of the launch I
discovered footprints leading to the ladder's foot, and I knew that men
had gone up before me, that very morning it must be, seeing that the
tide had ebbed and the sand was still wet. At another time I might have
asked myself why nobody came out to meet us, and why there was no
lookout for the island to hail a strange ship in the offing; but I was
too eager to go ashore, and, for that matter, had my feet on the sand
almost before the launch grounded.

"Do you, Dolly, come up with me," said I; "the others will stand by to
anchor until we come down again. If it's not in an hour, lads, go back
and get your dinners; but look for me at sunset anyway, for I've no
mind to sleep ashore, and that you may be sure of."

They took the orders and pushed the launch off. Dolly and I ran up the
crazy ladder and found ourselves at the cliff's head, but no better off
in the matter of seeing than we had been before. True, the launch
looked far down, like a toy ship in a big basin of blue water; we could
distinguish the sword-fish reef, as the lad called it, and other reefs
to the