le, and newly erected batteries of Hurst, such as no hostile fleet
would dare to encounter; outside of which could be distinguished, by the
broken water, the dangerous shoal of the Shingles, well marked also by
its huge black buoys.

"How beautiful and curious those cliffs are coloured!" exclaimed the
children in chorus, pointing to a bay in the Isle of Wight shore, a
short distance inside the white Needle rocks.

"That is Alum Bay," answered Captain Murray. "The cliffs are composed
of fine sand of different colours, as you see. You shall land there
some day, when we will come down on purpose; and you can collect
specimens for your museum. There are tints sufficient for forming a
picture, and you may try who can produce the prettiest landscape with
them."

Beyond Alum Bay the cliffs rose to a great height, continuing to the
very end of the island, where the white Needle rocks ran out into the
blue waters. The most northern one had been scarped so as to form a
platform, on which a granite light-house had been built, instead of one
on the downs, which, frequently shrouded by mists, was not to be seen in
thick weather by vessels entering from the westward. The Needle rocks
were soon rounded, while the tide was still ebbing, and Scratchel's Bay
was opened out, its perpendicular cliff rising sheer out of the water
several hundred feet. The pilot Murray had engaged narrated how once
upon a time a transport on a dark night ran in on the rocks, and the
crew and passengers escaped over the fallen masts, and succeeded in
scrambling up the more accessible part of the cliff; when the morning
broke the white rocks looked as if sprinkled over by lady-birds, as the
soldiers in their red jackets attempted to make their way to the summit.

The yacht stood on until Christchurch Head was passed, and Bournemouth,
peeping out amid pine groves, and Studland Bay, and the pretty little
town of Swanage appeared, when she hauled her wind to save the tide
back, as with a light breeze she would require every inch of it to reach
Ryde before nightfall.

The ladies, who had never sailed down the Solent before, were delighted
with the scenery. Even the three captains, who had so often come in and
out through the Needle passage, declared that they enjoyed the views
more than they had ever done before. The sea was so smooth that there
was no necessity to bring up for luncheon, while before dinner-time the
_Stella_ was again inside the Isle