“Let us go to the shore,” suggested Dennis; and looking round, continued,—“isn’t this a glorious country! I feel the mild air invigorating me so much that I glory in being alive!” “I never dreamed of anything so delightful!” exclaimed Ross, drawing in a full breath of the sweet air, almost chewing it in his enjoyment. “Come along then!” cried Gilbert. “I feel like a boy again, and I’m going to have a swim in that sea, if I get sharked!” Across the moorland they went, and soon came to a cliff of earth down which they scrambled to the beach—a stretch of beautiful sands. Some two miles distant there jutted into the sea a long, flat rock with deep water around it; Ross pointed this out and suggested bathing from there, so in order to get a better view they reclimbed the cliff and walked along the edge of it to the spot indicated. The walking here was as easy and soft as on the richest carpet; the grass was thick and mossy, and below this were several inches of peat. The cliffs were most peculiar in shape, some sharp at the top like a long knife-edge, others pointed like needles, and all of a soft, red sandstone. Very soon they came to the outer edge of this promontory, which divided two bays and ran into the sea like a long and attenuated letter V, and they stood lost in delighted wonderment, for the coast beyond was opened out before them in a mighty sweep; in and out the line went, bordered with an edging of sand and rocks and seaweed and splashing, sparkling foam from the broken waves, as if a long piece of diamond-trimmed lace had been laid open to view. Below them, the sea had hollowed out great basins in the rocks, forming gigantic pools of immense depth, and rocks innumerable were scattered about, giving plain evidence of the power of the Bonian sea. These rocks were spread open and piled upon each other, their peculiar square shapes resembling enormous toy bricks. Full of the vigour of life and joyously exhilarated with the beauty of the scene, the explorers raced down the cliff and bathed in one of the pools, to their great enjoyment. After running about in the sun till dry, they dressed and retraced their steps, but had not proceeded far before they began to feel very uncomfortable. The sea-water had been somewhat sticky, and though they were quite dry before they dressed, their skin and clothing were now united, and their hair also was matted into one solid piece like a shell, all shrinking in the sunshine to a painful extent. Their clothing not being quite so elastic as their skin, considerably impeded their progress, so much so as soon to stop it altogether, and at last they could walk no more but had to tumble down as gently as their stiffened limbs would permit. “Now we’re in for it!” groaned Dennis. “It’s glorious!” said Ross, ruefully. “I feel like a capsuled herring! And here we shall be, in full view of Earth telescopes!”