a slight appearance of boiling on the surface of
the moving billow as it caught them. It was about to break, and the
boat was fairly in its grasp.

"Give way!" shouted Christian, in a sharp, loud voice.

A moment more, and they were rushing grandly in on a mountain of snow,
with black rocks rising on either side. It was nervous work. A little
to the right or a little to the left, and their frail bark would have
been dashed to pieces. As it was, they were launched upon a strip of
sand and gravel that lay at the foot of the towering cliffs.

"Hurrah!" cried Martin and Brown, in wild excitement, as they leaped
over the bow after the natives, while Christian, Adams, Quintal, and
McCoy went over the stern to prevent the boat being dragged back by the
recoiling foam, and pushed it high and dry on the beach.

"Well done! Here we are at last in Bounty Bay!" exclaimed Christian,
with a look of satisfaction, giving to the spot, for the first time,
that name which it ever afterwards retained. "Make fast the painter--
there; get your arms now, boys, and follow me."

At the head of the bay there was a hill, almost a cliff, up which there
wound something that had the appearance of a path, or the almost dry bed
of a water-course. It was exceedingly steep, but seemed the only route
by which the interior of the island could be reached. Up the tangled
pass for about three hundred yards the explorers advanced in single
file, all except Quintal, who was left in charge of the boat.

"It looks very like a path that has been made by men," said Christian,
pausing to breathe, and turning round when half-way up the height;
"don't you think so, Brown?"

Thus appealed to, the botanist, whose eyes had been enchained by the
luxuriant and lovely herbage of the place, stooped to inspect the path.

"It does look a little like it, sir," he replied, with some caution,
"but it also looks not unlike a water-course. You see it is a little
wet just hereabouts. Isn't it? What think you, Isaac Martin?"

"I don't think nothin' about it," returned Martin, solemnly, turning
over the quid of tobacco that bulged his cheek; "but if I might ventur'
for to give an opinion, I should say it don't much matter what it is,
one way or another."

"That's true, Isaac," said Christian, with a short laugh, as he resumed
his march up the cliff.

On the way they were shaded and kept pleasantly cool by the neighbouring
precipices but on gaining the top they