TOUCH AND GO. 



be ready in the stern." " Look out ! wait till she rises 

 level — now ! ! " 



But the man hesitates to spring and the chance is. 

 missed. 



No ! No !— Too late ! steady— steady." 



Down the boat sinks again, till the shelf rises high 

 above our heads, and we keep her off as before till the 

 chance comes again. 



" Here she is, then — a nice steady one," — rising — 

 rising — rising tiU we are level once more with the rock. 

 " Back her in a bit — another touch — now's the time — 

 jump man — jump — Hurrah ! ! bravo ! well done, Bill ! " 

 And the first man's ashore. 



And so we all in turn make our spring ; timing the 

 waves and our jump as we swing up and down. Then, 

 while some clamber a little way up the rocks, others 

 remain below or plant themselves in convenient positions ; 

 and the guns and bags and gear are at last all handed 

 out, one by one, and passed from hand to hand to a place 

 of safety. 



But not before a bigger wave than usual comes surging 

 up, slap over the ledge, and takes the bottom man well 

 up to the arm pits. He clutches the rock and luckily 

 hangs on ; and in another moment is shinning up to us 

 like a lamplighter, spitting the salt foam from his mouth 

 amid roars of laughter. " Never mind, old man, you'll 

 soon get dry here," is all the sympathy he gets from his 

 mates, who are used to a wetting. 



" Well, good-bye, boys, hope you'll get back to the 

 ship all right, but don't forget to come and fetch us off," 

 and with this parting farewell to the men in the boat, 

 we go laughing and clambering up, among the massive 

 boulders and great slabs of granite. For the first couple 

 of hundred feet, it is all sheer climbing and shinning up 

 the rocks. The gear has to be passed from hand to hand, 

 till we reach some easier going, and then we leave the 

 lunch under the shade of a bush, get our breath back, 

 and begin to look around us. 



