the crevices of the rocks. They
found a jellyfish--a pulpy translucent mass; and once even caught a
sight of a seal in the hollow of a breaker, with sleek and shining
head, his barbels bristling, and heard his hoarse croaking bark as he
hunted the off-shore fish.

Blix refused to allow Condy to help her in the least. She was quite as
active and strong as he, and clambered from rock to rock and over the
shattered scantling of the flume with the vigor and agility of a young
boy. She muddied her shoes to the very tops scratched her hands, tore
her skirt, and even twisted her ankle; but her little eyes were never
so bright, nor was the pink flush of her cheeks ever more adorable.
And she was never done talking--a veritable chatterbox. She saw
everything and talked about everything she saw, quite indifferent as to
whether or no Condy listened. Now it was a queer bit of seaweed, now
it was a group of gulls clamoring over a dead fish, now a purple
starfish, now a breaker of unusual size. Her splendid vitality carried
her away. She was excited, alive to her very finger-tips, vibrant to
the least sensation, quivering to the least impression.

"Let's get up here and sit down somewhere," said Condy, at length.

They left the beach and climbed up the slope of the hills, near a point
where a long arm of land thrust out into the sea and shut off the wind;
a path was there, and they followed it for a few yards, till they had
come to a little amphitheatre surrounded with blackberry bushes.

Here they sat down, Blix settling herself on an old log with a little
sigh of contentment, Condy stretching himself out, a new-lighted pipe
in his teeth, his head resting on the little handbag he had
persistently carried ever since morning. Then Blix fell suddenly
silent, and for a long time the two sat there without speaking,
absorbed in the enjoyment of looking at the enormous green hills
rolling down to the sea, the breakers thundering at the beach, the
gashed pinnacles of rock, the vast reach of the Pacific, and the
distant prospect of the old fort at the entrance of the Golden Gate.

"We might be a thousand miles away from the city, for all the looks of
it, mightn't we, Condy?" said Blix, after a while. "And I'm that
HUNGRY! It must be nearly noon."

For answer, Condy sat up with profound gravity, and with a great air of
nonchalance opened the handbag, and, instead of shoes took out, first,
a pint bottle of claret, then "devilish