"Well, Len," said Winslow, "you seem to know everything about this grand old Basin: what is the meaning of Blomidon?"
"Blow-me-down, sir," answered Len, laconically.
The boat was under light sail, as the wind was fresh, and the early tide was driving them along rapidly. Frequent gusts of wind seemed to sweep down upon them from the mountain, literally falling upon the sails. One of these gusts struck the boat just as Len answered Winslow's question. The effect was startling and strange as the squall whirled about them without a sign of its coming.
"I understand your meaning, Len," said Winslow, after the boat had recovered and the wind had passed.
Len made no reply, but kept on the alert, sheet in hand and tiller free.
Blomidon cast a dark shadow to-day which the little boat was now darting through under the great bluffs. They soon sailed into smoother water and glided along steadily near the shore. Their course lay just outside the tide "rips," which roared and foamed where eddy and tide passed each other. The tide was rising rapidly and in a few hours would be sixty feet deeper, all the water pouring into the Basin between Blomidon and the opposite shores of Partridge Island, five miles distant.
Len pointed out the long line of beach formed of gravel and stone thrown up beyond the highest tides by the action of the surf. Behind this "sea-wall," many yards in extent, were the excavations made by the treasure hunters after Captain Kidd's hidden money.
Passing southward, they cut across from point to point the magnificent curve of "Big Eddy," after having examined for some time Amethyst Cove, so famous for the quality and quantity of its amethyst veins.
Their destination was Indian Springs, where it was possible to observe the junction of red sandstone and the overlying trap which had been forced up and poured over the earth during a great internal disturbance.
Leaving Len to look after the boat, Winslow spent the greater part of the day alone. He had proceeded along the shore for several miles, fully absorbed by his investigations, when he saw by the height of the tide that it was time for him to return to the boat. The formation of the red sandstone yet drew him onward till he saw, about half a mile ahead of him, that the face of the bluff was almost perpendicular to the beach, and that the waves of the tide were washing against the face of the rock, thus cutting off farther passage. As he stood examining the elevated rocky shore on which he now stood, he heard a voice below him, and turning he saw a young woman who had just risen into view from behind a large boulder.