t at once, then," suggested the impatient Terence.

"No, Masther Terry," said the sailor; "not afore night. We mustn't
leave 'eer till it gets dark. We'll 'ave to thravel betwane two days."

"What!" simultaneously exclaimed the three midshipmen. "Stay here till
night! Impossible!"

"Ay, lads! an' we must hide, too. Shure as you are livin' there'll be
somebody afther this sthray kaymal, in a wee while, too, as ye'll see.
If we ventured out durin' the daylight they'd be shure to see us from
the 'ills. It's sayed, the thievin' schoundrels always keep watch when
there's been a wreck upon the coast; an' I'll be bound this beest
belongs to some av them same wreckers."

"But what shall we do for food?" asked one of the party; "we'll be
famished before nightfall! The camel, having nothing to eat or drink,
won't yield any more milk."

This interrogative conjecture was probably too near the truth. No one
made answer to it. Colin's eyes were again turned towards the beach.
Once more he directed the thoughts of his comrades to the shell-fish.

"Hold your hands, youngsters," said the sailor. "Lie close 'eer behind
the 'ill; an' I'll see if there's any shell-fish that we can make a meal
av. Now that the sun's up, it won't do to walk down there. I must make
a crawl av it."

So saying, the old salt, after skulking some distance farther down the
sand gully, threw himself flat upon his face, and advanced in this
attitude like some gigantic lizard crawling across the sand.

The tide was out, but the wet beach, lately covered by the sea,
commenced at a short distance from the base of the dunes.

After a ten minutes' struggle, Bill succeeded in reaching the
dark-looking spot, where Colin had conjectured there might be
shell-fish.

The old sailor was soon seen busily engaged about something; and from
his movements it was evident that his errand was not to prove fruitless.
His hands were extended in different directions; and then at short
intervals withdrawn, and plunged into the capacious pockets of his
pea-jacket.

After these gestures had been continued for about half an hour, he was
seen to "slew" himself round, and come crawling back towards the
sand-hills.

His return was effected more slowly than his departure; and it could be
seen that he was heavily weighted.

On getting back into the gorge, he was at once relieved of his load;
which proved to consist of about three hundred "cockles", as he called
the she