mainland; but, to their horror, they at once saw that the tide had come
in, and that a narrow gulf of sea already divided them from the shore.

"There's only one way for it," said Eric; "if we're plucky we can jump
that; but we musn't wait till it gets worse. A good jump will take us
_nearly_ to the other side--far enough, at any rate, to let us flounder
across somehow."

As fast as they could they hurried along down to the place where the
momentarily increasing zone of water seemed as yet to be narrowest; and
where the rocks on the other side were lower than those on which they
stood. Their situation was by no means pleasant. The wind had been
rising more and more, and the waves dashed into this little channel with
such violence, that to swim it would have been a most hazardous
experiment, particularly as they could not dive in from the ledge on
which they stood, from their ignorance of the depth of water.

Eric's courage supported the other two. "There's no good _thinking_
about it," said he, "jump we _must_; the sooner the better. We can but
be a little hurt at the worst. Here, I'll set the example."

He drew back a step or two, and sprang out with all his force. He was a
practised and agile jumper, and, to their great relief, he alighted near
the water's edge, on the other side, where, after slipping once or twice
on the wet and seaweed-covered rocks, he effected a safe landing, with
no worse harm than a wetting up to the knees.

"Now then, you too," he shouted; "no time to lose."

"Will you jump first, Monty?" said Russell; "both of you are better