THE NOTE-BOOK. 253 



two countries having once been connected by a great plain, a 

 portion of which is now covered with water. From the bottom 

 of the sea the fishermen often dredge up bones and fragments 

 of trees similar to those in the base of this cliff." 



The short winter day soon drew on to dusk, and they strolled 

 on to the pier to see the sun set in the sea on this the east 

 coast of England. The land so juts out, and to the northward 

 the water so bites into the land, that not only does the sun rise 

 from the sea, but it also sets in it. 



The surf-crested waves which broke heavily against the black 

 breakwater were red and lurid with the sunset light, and in 

 fastastic masses, flooded with red and orange, the clouds 

 gathering about the descending sun. And then, as the strange 

 glare faded away and the grey dusk settled over the chafing 

 sea, a white light shot out from the lighthouse tower, and traced 

 a gleaming pathway over sea, pier, houses, and woods, as it 

 revolved with steady purpose. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



The Boys' Note- Book. 



A NOTE-BOOK was incidentally mentioned in the last chapter. 

 Properly speaking, it should have been mentioned long before. 

 On the table in the boat-house lay a large folio manuscript 

 book, in which the boys noted down whatever, in their reading 

 or observation, struck them as noticeable or worth remembering, 

 or of which they wished to be reminded at some future time, 

 when they should have leisure to look up what they wished 

 to know concerning the matter noted. Before therefore I 

 close this "strange eventful history," I shall quote a few 

 pages at random out of their Note-book, just to show how it 

 was kept up. 



