r his nose as he announced
that he was going to sleep.

We both laughed and did not believe him, as we each took up the position
most agreeable to him, Bigley stretching himself upon his breast,
folding his arms and placing his chin upon them, so as to gaze at his
father's boat with undivided attention.

As for me, I lay on my side to stare at the great wall of cliff that ran
along the land, and curved over and over into great hills and mounds.

It was very beautiful to watch the many tints in the distance, and the
bright colours of the broken rock. The upper parts were of a velvety
green; then in the hollows where the oak-trees flourished there were
endless tints, against which the soft grey of the gulls, as they floated
along, seemed to stand out bright and clear.

We three lads had been walking and climbing and exerting ourselves for
hours now, and the strange restful sensation of stretching one's self on
that warm, smooth mass of rock was delicious.

To make it more agreeable, the soft wind fanned our faces, and the sea
seemed to be whispering in a curious lulling way that was delightful.

I remember raising myself a little to look at Bob Chowne in his lazy
attitude. Then I stared at Bigley, who had doubled back his long legs,
as he watched the boat, whose sails seemed to be coming nearer now, and
then I sank back in my former attitude, to gaze at the cliffs and the
soft blue sky flecked with silvery gauzy clouds.

Then one of the big grey gulls fixed my attention, and I lay staring at
it hard, and watching its movements, as I wondered why it was that it
should keep flying to and fro, for nothing apparently, turning itself so
easily by a movement of the tail, and curving round and round without an
effort.

That gull completely fascinated me. Sometimes it floated softly so near
that I could plainly see its clear ringed eye and the colour of its
beak, the soft white of its head and under parts, the delicate grey of
its back, and the black tips of its wings, which formed soft bends that
sustained the great bird with the slightest exertion. For now and then
it beat the air a little, then the wings remained motionless a minute at
a time, and the secret of flying seemed to me to be to float about in
that clear transparent air, just as a fish did in the sea.

It was very wonderful to watch it, feeling so dreamy and restful the
while. The gull seemed to have fixed its eyes on me, and to know that I
was noting