Not until a very late hour were the boys ready to retire, owing to the many exciting topics of conversation, and both were awakened next morning at sunrise by Mr. Jenkins, who said, cheerily:
“Turn out lively, lads, for there is a good deal to be seen from here until we are well through the channel, and the yacht is already under way.”
When they came on deck the Day Dream was opposite the southernmost point of Great Abaco Island, and the singular formation of rock known as the “Hole in the Wall” was in full view.
The schooner was gliding slowly along under the influence of the gentle morning breeze, and Gil and Nelse had a good opportunity of seeing the odd sights, foremost among which was Spanish Wells, the name of the town on St. George’s Key, at the extreme northwest point of the Island of Eleuthera, where the houses are built on raised platforms, like many in the Malay Archipelago.
The mate explained that this singular style of architecture was adopted because of the hermit-crabs, which sometimes come ashore in vast numbers, ravaging the land and entering every building not on stilts.
Then the cocoanut groves, two miles farther along the coast, were seen, the flame-colored and scarlet blossoms serving to form a most gorgeous picture.
A hasty breakfast, and the boys were on deck again to see the “Glass Window,” a curious and perfect arch of limestone eighty-five feet above the surface of the sea. Not many years ago, so Mr. Jenkins said, a pleasure party were dining there, when suddenly a great tidal-wave came rushing in from the ocean, dashed up under the arch, and swept the greater number of the merry-makers away.
Such waves, coming without the slightest warning, are frequent here. The natives call them “rages,” and believe they are caused by storms some distance off on the Atlantic.
Still farther down the coast is New Gregory’s Harbor, where the wonderful cave, extending more than eleven hundred feet under the ground, is located; but, of course, this could not be seen from the schooner.
There were, in fact, so many wonderful things to attract the curious during this run down the chain of islands that the boys actually grew tired of the variety, and in sheer weariness turned their attention to what both seemed to think was the true purpose of the voyage.