e got up
at last, knocked the ashes out of his pipe, and disappeared down the
hatchway, returning presently with a spy-glass, which he carried to
his passenger with, "Lookee here, boy, take this an' make out what ye
ken. 'Tain't much ye'll see yet, but mebby ye'll get a look arter a
time." He sat down again, looking at the boy's face from time to time,
and wondering if this sending him to Culm Rock was not some of that
Lawyer Gray's work. The skipper had not a very high opinion of
lawyers.

Slowly, slowly the blue point began to take shape, and Noll's glass
brought it to his eyes all too faithfully. The skipper saw the eager
look and the warm color which had been on his face fade slowly out as
the "Gull" drew nearer and nearer the journey's end, and the
warm-hearted sailor waxed indignant. "Mought ha' told him what ter
expect, anyhow!" he muttered, shaking a great bale with his brawny
hands as if it had been Lawyer Gray's shoulders.

The "Gull" stood in toward shore. First, the pine woods, vast and
sombre, showed themselves; then, a little way on, Culm Rock came
slowly into view, bald, ragged, and desolate. Noll's face was very
grave, but he kept his place and said nothing. Slowly the curve of
the shore unfolded itself, a long line of yellow sand, length after
length of scarred and jagged rock. The sound of the surf came faintly
out, sounding over the ripple of water about the "Gull's" prow. Not a
sign of life, as yet, had showed itself. The vessel kept steadily on
till, at last, the whole great breadth of the Rock lay before them,
rising huge and massive out of the sea, and, in a sheltered hollow on
the shore, a great stone house stood up, gray and weather-beaten as
the cliffs about it.

"Is that the house?" Noll asked, turning to the skipper, and laying
down his glass.

The old sailor nodded assent, thinking to himself that he had never
seen it look darker and gloomier, and wondering what the boy thought.

"Aren't you going to stop?" Noll asked, as the "Gull" kept on, and the
stone house dropped astern.

"Goin' round to the landin'," explained Mr. Snape; "'tain't good
moorin's till ye git half a mile fu'ther round. Ye'll git ashore
pretty quick."

Under the cool and heavy shadow of the Rock they crept, coming out of
it at last into the full glory of the sun's setting. All the west was
aflame, and the sea glowed and sparkled like molten gold. Even the
wretched little Culm fish-huts looked almost