Monitress Merle

erma

til the middle of October that Mavis and Merle were

meet the other members of the club. Beata and Romola turned up alone to-day, unencumbered by younger brothers and sisters or the donkey. They

terday in old Mr. Davis's boat, and he brought home the most lovely mackerel. Wouldn

nteresting from the fact that they could be eaten afterwards. Fay instantly rushed into Helyar's General Store to buy a log-line of her own; Mavis and Merle, after caut

remarked Romola casually. "There isn't time, though, to

e'll find something along the rocks, you'll see. Mavis, where are we g

a path most of the way, and we can scramble where there isn't. I

don't waste any more time; I'm

the bracken was brown and withered, there were specimens of wild flowers to be picked and written down in the note-books. Summer seemed to have lingered, and had left poppies, honeysuckle, foxgloves, and other blossoms

r high above the cliffs. Here quite a little excitement occurred, for several sea-gulls attacked the buzzard and with loud cries tried to drive it aw

ection at the edge of the cliff, but now these outposts of civilisation vanished and they were at the very brink of the crags. Tattie, whose head was

know I shall fall if I do. Oh! I wish I'd

ke this," urged Mavis. "After that the

n't go either backwards

obbed Tattie, waxi

eat difficulty Fay and Beata between them got her back to the path along which they

she said, wiping her ey

me keep an

Nan and I don't like walking so near the edge

stletons and Fay should go on to St. Morval's

iddy," commented Mavis. "If they can't manage that piec

s are horribly slippery. You ought to have rubber soles for these rocks. It

rambling. As for Fay she's a real fairy. I believe she coul

k, though, I'd like a private aeroplane of my own. They're things that are bound to come soon

nt sweep of coast-line. Below them, fixed to a buoy that floated on the water, a bell was ring

an hear it in a fog when they can't see quite where they are." Mer

abbot of A

t bell on the

he storm it fl

waves its w

sails away. Years afterwards his ship comes back to Scotland, and there's a thick f

the Rover t

mself in his

oured in on

l sank beneat

t was a sneaking rag to

expect to see a monk walking along, telling his beads. Who was

iest heard of it, so one day he came out and talked to her, and asked her if she wouldn't like to be baptized, and she said she'd think about it. So she swam away; but she came back again and again, and it was decided that she was to be baptized on Easter Sunday. But on Good Friday there was a terrible storm, and the waves came up and swallowed the whole of the village, so that when the poor

k of your mermaid now, when I hear the bell. This is our way down

obliged to sit and slide, and finally, with some difficulty, scrambled on to the grim rugged rocks beneath.

secure him: once he sat down tight and excluded the air from his shell, no amount of pulling could move him. The victims thus gathered were sacrificed by Beata and Merle, who acted as high priestesses, and chopped them up, and placed them upon the hooks, for neither Mavis nor Romola would touch them, and e

ce for it! What an utter idiot I was! I never thought it w

vring she managed to fling her own line over it and drag it

e girls sat waiting for bites. But alas! none came. There were several false alarms, but the lines

at last. "If we could find a few lob-worms now, it

on't know much abo

me time, I suppose. You can't

, they determined to venture. They sat on the edge of the sloping rock, let go, and then simply slid down, hanging on to pieces of ivy and tufts of grass. The cove, when they thus reached it, was worth the trouble of getting there. Sand-gobies we

g!" announced Romola at

ion of the party. All immediate

fast, and we're close

a pity not to s

ed from the aperture, the sunshine lighting it with all the prismatic colours of the rainbow. For a few seconds it played like a fountain, then died down as the wave receded. The girls were so interested in watching it that they quite forgot the sea behind them. While their backs were turned to it, the great strong tide was lapp

edly pulling off her shoes and stocking

underneath caused her to slip, and the strong swirl of the tide near

he suggested. "But wh

hook he

there till the

ned?" asked Romola, in a

lly nasty fix. We can sit above high-water mark, but it means staying till the tide goes down and

ll morning!" groaned Fay. "This

ost of us bargained

l, only Mother'll be in

't tu

aiting to go home in the c

the fright o

"October isn't exactly the month you'd choose for camping out

cuits or eating! I

ould much have preferred the sight of a tea-table. It was beginning to grow very cold. They buttoned their sports coats about their throats, and huddled close together for warmth. The sun sank into the sea like a great fiery ball, and the darkness crept on. Presently the moon rose, shinin

n you go through it yourself somehow it seems to take the edge off the romance. I don't

s we might have lighted a fire!" sig

me in decent time? It's no good crying ove

e sea-gulls and cormorants had flown past at sunset and gone to roost. The absolute quiet, and the dark shadows, and

, and scrambling to her feet she made a trumpet

came a splash of oars, and a boat, with a lantern fastened to its bow, entered the cove. It advanced cautiously to the rocks, and a tall boyish figure sprang out and held it steady, while some

nd surely not Bev

ed her a

m. There was a pretty to-do when it grew dark and you didn't turn up. The Doctor went to the Vicarage to ask if you were there, and they said you'd gone

ere coming over we w

en't seen you and Merle for ages. You've given Chagmouth people an excitement! I should think half the town'