Ut's been lifted out o' ground to be afther swallowin' us in--a sweet dose will be the lot av us, mesilf with as foine a gir-rl av school age as iver you'll see in anny counthry." "Ah yes, Barnay," said St.George soothingly--but he would have tried now to soothe a man in the embrace of a sea-serpent in just the same absent-minded way, Amory thought indulgently.
The sun was lowering and birds of evening were beginning to brood over the painted water when _The Aloha_ cast anchor.

In the late light the rugged sides of the island had an air of almost sinister expectancy.

There was a great silence in their windless shelter broken only by the boom and charge of the breakers and the gulls and choughs circling overhead, winging and dipping along the water and returning with discordant cries to their crannies in the black rock.
Before the yacht, blazoned on a dark, water-polished stratum of the volcanic stone, was the White Blade which Jarvo told them marked the subterranean entrance to the mysterious island.
St.George and his companions and Barnay, Jarvo and Akko were on deck.

Rollo, whose soul did not disdain to be valet to a steam yacht, was tranquilly mending a canvas cushion.
"The adon will wait until sunrise to go ashore ?" asked Jarvo.
"_Sunrise_!" cried St.George.

"Heaven on earth, no.