for us to do before we can settle down regularly to the
business that brought us here. What a lovely sunrise!"

"Yes, pretty fairish to look at from the land," replied the other,
giving but a half-assent to his brother's exclamation of admiration.
"I've seen finer when I was with Captain Brown last voyage down below
the Cape near Kerguelen. There, the sun used to light up all the
icebergs. Himmel, Fritz, it was like fairyland!"

"That might have been so," responded the elder of the two, in his grave
German way when his thoughts ran deep; "but, this is beautiful enough
for me."

And so it might have been, as he said--beautiful enough for any one!

The moon had risen late on the previous night, and when Fritz and Eric
turned out it was still shining brightly, with the stars peeping out
here and there from the blue vault above; while, the wind having died
away, all the shimmering expanse of sea that stretched away to the
eastwards out of the bay shone like silver, appearing to be lazily
wrapped in slumber, and only giving vent to an occasional long hum like
a deeply drawn breath. But, all in a moment, the scene was changed--as
if by the wave of an enchanter's wand.

First, a rosy tinge appeared, creeping up from below the horizon
imperceptibly and spreading gradually over the whole arc of sky, melting
presently into a bright, glowing madder hue that changed to purple,
which faded again into a greenish neutral tint that blended with the
faint ultramarine blue of the zenith above. The bright moonlight now
waning, was replaced for an instant or two only--the transition was so
short--by a hazy, misty chiaro-oscuro, which, in another second, was
dissolved by the ready effulgence of the solar rays, that darted here,
there, and everywhere through it, piercing the curtain of mist to the
core as it annihilated it.

Then, the sun rose.

But no, it did not rise in the ordinary sense of the expression; it
literally jumped up at once from the sea, appearing several degrees
above the horizon the same instant almost that Fritz and Eric caught
sight of it and before they could realise its presence, albeit their
eyes were intently fixed all the while on the point where it heralded
its coming by the glowing vapours sent before.

"Ah!" exclaimed Fritz, drawing a deep breath when this transformation of
nature was complete, the light touching up the projecting peaks of the
cliff and making a glittering pathway right into the bay.