was on
the top, and how the butt was fastened in the ground. Firmly it must
have been set; for I had often seen the waves wash up to it during great
storms, and the spray driving so high above it, that neither rock, nor
staff, nor knob were at all visible.

Ah! many a time had I sighed to visit that attractive spot; but never
yet had the opportunity occurred. It was by far too distant for any
excursion I had hitherto dared to make--far too dangerous a flight for
me to take in the little dinghy; and no one had offered to go with me.
Harry Blew had once promised me he would take me--at the same time, he
laughed at the desire I expressed to visit such a place. What was it to
him? He had often rowed past it and around it, and no doubt landed upon
it, and perhaps tied his boat to the staff, while he shot the sea-birds,
or fished in the waters beside it; but it had never been my good fortune
to accompany him in one of these pleasant excursions. I had been in
expectation, however, of doing so; but now these hopes were gone. I
could no more get away except on the Sundays; and on these very days my
friend was always engaged in his own occupation--for Sundays, above all
other days of the week, was the time for sailing parties.

For a long time, then, I had waited in vain; but I now resolved to wait
no longer. I had made a bold determination on that very morning; which
was, that I should take the dinghy and visit the reef myself. This,
then, was the grand excursion on which I was bound, when I removed the
little boat from her fastenings, and shot out upon the bosom of the
bright blue sea.

CHAPTER SIX.

THE GULLS.

I have styled my determination a bold one. True, there was nothing
remarkable in the enterprise itself.

I only mean that it was bold for one so young and so little as I was at
the time. Three miles rowing would be a good long pull, and that right
out into the great deep water almost beyond sight of the shore! I had
never been so far before, nor half so far, neither; in fact, never more
than a mile from the beach, and in pretty shallow water, too--I mean,
while by myself.

With Blew I had been everywhere around the bay; but then, of course, I
had nothing to do with the management of the boat; and, trusting to the
skill of the young waterman, had no cause to feel afraid.

Alone, the case was different. Everything depended upon myself; and
should any accident arise, I should have no one to give