One morning, after several times hearing their calls in a clump of gigantic trees up one of the volcanic ravines, the doctor called the lad to be his companion to try and stalk what he believed to be birds of paradise; but they had evidently chosen the wrong time, for to their disappointment not a sound was heard, and they would have gone back to the yacht empty-handed if it had not been for Ned's sharp eyes. "There they are!" he whispered, pointing across the ravine to where another little forest of tall trees feathered the steep sides of the slope. "What are?" said Jack excitedly. "The birds you are looking for, sir. Saw about a dozen, big as pheasants, fly across and settle there." He pointed with the gun he carried to one tree which towered above the rest. "They went down under there, sir. I could lead you straight to the place." Jack took out his small glass, and after gazing through it attentively he suddenly said-- "I saw a big bird fly down. Yes, and another." "They can't be those we want," said the doctor, "but they may be good specimens of something. What do you say, Jack, will you go down and across?" "Oh yes," he replied. "It's very steep, and will mean lowering ourselves cautiously." "I don't mind," said the lad. "If it's very bad they will help me." "Oh yes, sir, we'll help," said Lenny, turning to his companions; "won't us, lads?" There was a chorus of "Ay, ays," and the steep descent from the great grove commenced, it being necessary to get to the bottom of what became low down a precipitous gully, along which one of the springs which had its source high up in the mountain dashed along. This had to be crossed, and then there was a similar climb on the other side. The start was made, and proved difficult enough, for where the trees were not close and their roots interlaced, there were openings where masses of volcanic rock were tumbled-together in inextricable confusion, and the way over them was made more difficult by the bushy, shrubby growth and creepers which bound them together. But the sailors were activity itself, and they slashed and trampled down and hauled and lowered till the whole party found themselves upon a broad stony shelf at the very edge of a sharply-cut rift, whose sides showed that it must have been split from the opposite side by some convulsion of Nature, so exactly was the shape repeated. At the bottom of this crack--for it could be called little else--the water of the stream rushed foaming along some thirty feet beneath, the whole place looking black and forbidding enough to make any one hesitate before attempting to cross, though the distance to the other ledge was not above five feet, a trifling jump under ordinary circumstances. But here, with the deep black rift and the foaming water beneath, it looked startling to a lad accustomed to a quiet home life. He, however, put a bold face on the matter and stood looking on.