in and rowed to the end of
the island; for, as Mr. Earnshaw said to the third lieutenant, we had
best begin at the end and do the work thoroughly. When we got to the
point we turned and rowed back, keeping about two hundred yards from
the cliff, so that we could see well up. They were about a hundred feet
high--sometimes a little less, sometimes a good bit more, and they went
as straight up from the water's edge as the cliffs at Dover, only there
weren't no beach. It was deep water right up to the foot.

"We went along very slowly, the men only just dipping their oars into
the water, and all of us watching every foot of the cliffs. Sometimes we
would stop altogether while the officers talked over the possibility of
any one climbing up at some place where the water trickling down from
the top had eaten away the face a little; but not a goat in the world
could have climbed up them, not to say men. So we kept on till we got to
the other end of the island, which must have been five miles long. Not a
place could we see.

"'Unless we are going to do as the captain said--blast steps up the face
of that rock--I don't believe it's to be done,' Lieutenant Earnshaw said
to Mr. Escombe. 'Well, there's nothing to do, lads, but to row in
and drop your grapnels again and wait till we see the ship's lights
tonight.'

"Although we rowed in to within an oar's length of the cliff, there was
eight fathoms of water when we dropped the grapnels. We had been lying
there an hour when the third lieutenant said:

"'I should think, Mr. Earnshaw, that if we were to bring the pinnace
with that four pounder gun in the bow and up end it, and with a small
charge fire a ball with a rope fastened to it up into that clump of
trees we saw just about the middle of the island, it might get caught.'

"'So it might, Escombe, and the idea is a good one; but I doubt whether
there's a man on board ship could climb a rope swinging like that
against the face of those cliffs.'

"'He might if we used a knotted rope,' Mr. Escombe said.

"'I wouldn't mind making a try, yer honor,' one of the sailors said, and
half a dozen others volunteered their readiness to make the attempt.

"'I will put it to the captain,' Mr. Earnshaw said; 'if he agrees, as
you were the first to volunteer, Jones, you shall have the chance.'

"The day was dead calm, so was the night that followed it; and although
we rowed back to the end of the island from which we had come, no lights
w