I did my best to dispel my friend’s gloomy looks by perpetrating a few mild jokes, the effect of which was, strangely enough, not beneficial or soothing; and it was not before dinner was nearly over, and the claret had made several journeys, that his drooping spirits revived and the storm burst. He consigned the unhappy fish to—well, not back into their native element, at any rate. As soon as we had adjourned to the verandah to smoke the pipe of peace he fell asleep, and I was left to my own meditations. I might have followed his example, but for an impudent mosquito that buzzed round me sufficiently to keep me awake; he was evidently in quest of a meal, and I shrewdly suspect he got one, for I soon fell into a reverie. Just a zephyr coming seaward wafted to my corner the smell of the sea, fragrant as “the sweet south upon a bed of violets.” The happy frame of mind it produced was very similar to what I had experienced off Madeira, the few extra degrees of temperature being differentiated by my light clothing. The waves, shimmering in the fitful moonlight, rolled in steady succession over the sandy shore, and again returned to the mass of waters. My thoughts winged their way back to a primitive seaside place on the Welsh coast, where I had often gazed out upon such a scene as this, though listening to the dulcet accents of a siren, instead of being roused ever and anon by a snore louder than usual, which in so far resembled the murmur of the wild waves, in that every seventh was of greater dimensions than those that had gone before. More vivid grew the vision; we were now leaning hand in hand over the balustrade, when, suddenly, the lissom figure by my side seemed to fall into the water, and I actually started up from my chair in agony. That broke the spell; my friend awoke with a grunt, and asked what the time was. I told him it was already 2 a.m., and that we must be getting to bed; but, being sleepy and supremely comfortable, he “would not let belief take hold of him.” Argument being of no avail, more energetic measures had to be employed, and I at last succeeded in getting him indoors, when, with mutual vows to be up early for a bathe, we turned in and fell asleep. All the residents with whom we had spoken on the subject were agreed that bathing was perfectly safe within the triangular area of water bounded by the visible ledge of rocks leading to the lighthouse and the sunken reef that joined it, at an angle, with the shore.