He sat down upon a stone, took out a cigar, and commenced smoking.
He was scarce twenty paces from the pool in which the pretty dears were
enjoying themselves. He could hear the plashing of their palms, like
young cygnets beating the water with their wings. He could hear them
exchange speeches, mingled with peals of clear-ringing laughter. There
could be no harm in listening to these sounds, since the sough of the
sea hindered him from making out what was said. Only now and then did
he distinguish an interjection, proclaiming the delight in which the two
Naiads were indulging, or one, the sharper voice of the negress, to warn
then against straying too far out, as the tide had commenced rising.
From these signs he knew he had not been observed while standing exposed
by the projection of rock.
A full half-hour elapsed, and still continued the plunging and the peals
of laughter.
"Very mermaids they must be--to stay so long in the water! Surely
they've had enough of it!"
As shown by this reflection, the sportsman was becoming impatient.
Shortly after, the plashing ceased, and along with it the laughter. He
could still hear the voices of the two girls engaged in conversation--at
intervals intermingled with that of the negress.
"They are out now, and dressing," he joyfully conjectured. "I wonder
how long they'll be about that. Not another hour, I hope."
He took out a fresh cigar. It was his third.
"By the time I've finished this," reflected he, "they'll be gone. At
all events, they ought to be dressed; and, without rudeness, I may take
the liberty of slipping past them."
He lit the cigar, smoked, and listened.
The conversation was now carried on in an uninterrupted strain, but in
quieter tones, and no longer interspersed with laughter.
The cigar became shortened to a stump, and still those silvery voices
were heard mingling with the hoarse symphony of the sea--the latter,
each moment growing louder as the tide continued to rise. A fresh
breeze had sprung up, which, brought shoreward by the tidal billow,
increased the noise; until the voices of the girls appeared like some
distant metallic murmur, and the listener at length doubted whether he
heard them or not.
"Their time's up," he said, springing to his feet, and flinging away the
stump of the cigar. "They've had enough to make their toilet twice
over, at all events. I can give no more grace; so here goes to continue
my exploration!"
He turned towards the projection of the cliff. A single step forward,
and he came to a stand--his countenance suddenly becoming clouded with
an unpleasant expression! The tide had stolen up to the rocks, and the
point of the promontory was now full three feet under water; while the
swelling waves, at intervals, surged still higher!
There was neither beach below, nor ledge above; no way but by taking to
the water.
The explorer saw that it would be impossible to proceed in the direction
intended, without wading up to his waist. The object he had in view was
not worth such a saturation; and with an exclamation of disappointment--
chagrin, too, for the lost time--he turned upon his heel, and commenced
retracing his steps along the base of the bluffs.
He no longer went strolling or sauntering. An apprehension had arisen
in his mind that stimulated him to the quickest pace in his power. What
if his retreat should be cut off by the same obstacle that had
interrupted his advance?
The thought was sufficiently alarming; and hastily scrambling over the
ledges, and skimming across the stretches of quicksand--now transformed
into pools--he only breathed freely when once more in the gorge by which
he had descended.