"Oh, what a sea there must be!" cried Duke. "Do let us go down to see it, mother!"
"Will it be mountains high?" asked Noel.
"I can't say that," replied his mother with a smile, "but it is sure to be a grand sight. I dare not let you go down to the shore alone. In half an hour I shall have finished this work, and then, if it is still fine, I will go with you."
Never did half an hour seem so long. The boys were impatient to be off. At last their mother was ready, and they set out. Mrs. Bryden had wrapped herself in a cloak with a hood, which she drew over her head, for it was impossible to wear a hat in such a gale. The boys drew their caps low down on their heads that the wind might not carry them away, and set off in high glee.
It was hard work fighting their way down the glen in the teeth of the wind; but Duke and Noel found it good fun.
Mrs. Bryden was obliged to pause now and then, shrinking into some sheltered nook while she regained her breath.
At last they came on to a rocky platform beyond which it was impossible to go, for the sea was raging high between the cliffs and dashing in mad fury against the rocks that barred the entrance to the glen. In the distance the waves might be seen towering like high walls of palest green ere they rolled over in foaming billows. Where they struck the side of the cliff a cloud of spray resembling smoke rose to the green summit. It was grand to watch the fury of the breakers as they dashed against the rocks.
Retreating, they left behind them a surf which lay like soapsuds in the hollows, or was driven landward by the wind in fragments, giving the effect of a snowstorm. The boys never forgot that spectacle.
As the three stood watching it, they were joined by the Italian boy and his tutor, Mr. Fletcher, accompanied by the huge mastiff they called Nero.
Their greetings were mute at first, for it was scarcely possible to hear each other speak, so great was the tumult of the elements. In addition to the uproar of wind and waves there was the loud and peculiar noise made by the sea as it rushed into the deep caverns so numerous along that coast. With a roll as of thunder the waves made their way into the long cave which the boys had explored only, yesterday; then came some loud and terrific reports as the sea entered the rocky passage into the inner cave, followed, after a few seconds, by a sound of sobbing and wailing as from a soul in deep distress.