l."

This was soon done, and, the cart coming round, it was packed with the
different odds and ends that naturalists take with them when going to
the sea-side; and also with those agreeable refreshments taken by all
people, whether naturalists or not, when they anticipate being by the
rocks and shingle for a few hours in the fresh sea-breeze. The boys
then eagerly took their places, the horse leaped to the light shake of
the reins given by the Squire, Sam left its head, Mamma waved her
handkerchief from the porch, the gate was passed, and away they went
bowling over the hard road, and past, green trees, hedges, and fields,
with the sweet smell of new-turned hay borne on the morning breeze,
while the sky above seemed clearer and brighter than ever.

"Now, boys, which way shall we go; down by the marsh, or along the
upland at once to the rocks?"

"Oh, through the marsh, Papa!" said Harry; "and then you can drive along
the sands to the rocks. It is so nice and quiet riding along the
sands."

"Yes," said his father; "but how about old Tom, here? He won't like
dragging all you great fellows through the heavy sand; will you, Tom?"

Old Tom on hearing his master's cheery voice gave his head a toss, as
much as to say, "I should think not," and then trotted along faster than
ever, making the wheels spin round, and the dust fly in a cloud behind
them.

And now they began to leave the woods behind: the hedges began to get
scarcer and shorter, and at last they were out in the marsh--a marsh no
longer, but a large and far spreading plain, divided by broad drains and
ditches, and dotted over with enormous cattle grazing in the rich fat
grass; while here and there the land seemed waving in the gentle breeze
as it lightly passed over the bending crops of wheat, oats, rye, and
barley. Here and there were farmhouses scattered at wide interval while
in the distance stood a church with a few houses clustered round it, and
towards this point Fred could now see that the road tended. Soon they
could see the high bank that guarded the marsh from the ravages of the
sea in its angry moments; and away to the right the beetling cliffs,
with the downs running up to the summits, and ending in a sheer
precipice three or four hundred feet deep, at whose foot it was said a
man-of-war had once been wrecked, and all souls drowned. Down beneath
the cliff, too, were the rocks of every fantastic shape or form, now
with the water just gently lap