ck so heavily, there appeared to be a
smooth grey patch as if the surface had been scraped away.

"Hi! Look, look!" cried Bigley. "See the rabbits!" We looked, and
could see at least a dozen little fellows that had been scared out of
their holes, scuttling about among the stones, their white cottony tails
showing quite plainly in the clear air. But these soon disappeared, and
the others yielding to my desire to go down and see what mischief had
really been done by the fall, we all began to slip and slide and stumble
down the precipitous place, keeping as nearly as we could in the course
taken by the stone, till we came upon the bare-looking spot.

It was just as it had struck me; the great rock we had sent down had
started a number more, and they had literally scraped off all the loose
surface pieces and earth, and scoured the valley slope for a space of
about three yards wide and fifty feet in depth down to the ancient rock.
Below this the valley grew less steep, and the stone slide had had less
force, beginning after a time to leave fragments behind, so that the
place seemed little changed, except here half-way up the slope.

"Tchah!" exclaimed Bob; "nobody will notice this, and if they saw it
from down below they wouldn't take the trouble to climb up."

His words seemed full of truth, for it seemed to me that nothing but the
sheep and rabbits was likely to come rambling and climbing up here; so,
feeling more at my ease, I began to look about with the eyes of
curiosity to see if there was anything to be found.

My companions followed my example, and we examined the places that had
been scoured bare, to see that they were very much like the cliffs down
by the shore, being evidently of the slate common there, a coarse grey
slate, stained with markings of lavender and scarlet pink, which, where
it was freshly fractured, glistened in the sun like some portions of a
wood-pigeon's breast.

There was nothing else to see, and my companions went on climbing down,
while I lingered for a few minutes picking up a bit of broken stone here
and another there, to throw them away again, all but one bit which
looked dark and shiny, something like a bit of Welsh coal, only it
wasn't coal, and that I put in my pocket.

"Come on!" shouted Bob; "we're going down to the shore."

I hurried after them, and we went lower and lower till we reached the
little river, which ran glistening and rippling over the stones.

We had no tackl