io6 TIGER'S TEETH 



comprising the ravens' nest. He was about 

 two hundred feet above the rocks, and 

 looking down he noticed how the waves 

 slid smoothly over them, churning and 

 boiling white with foam afterwards. Some- 

 times a gull passed near him, showing its 

 yellow beak with the reddish blotch at the 

 end. Now he was swinging nearer the 

 ledge in and out, in and out. Once or 

 twice he looked upwards and wondered 

 what he should do if the old ravens came 

 for him. He had no stick, and their beaks 

 could easily pierce a lamb's skull. But 

 not so much as a croak was to be heard. 

 He decided as he heaved to and fro 

 that with his share of the money he would 

 buy a purse-net for shore-fishing. Nearer 

 and nearer he swung to the nest, and at last 

 he could touch it with his foot. But the 

 time was not yet, so he pushed hard away 

 with his feet, and a loose fragment of 

 stone, dislodged from above, hissed past him, 

 and grew smaller as it dropped towards the 



