rugged and broken surface.

"By this time they were near the opposite shore, and Herbert looked up
with dread at the great cliffs that rose perpendicularly out of the water,
which heaved slowly and heavily, with an appearance of immense depth,
against them. Their black jagged sides had huge holes, into which the sea
rushed--far into the dark--with a muffled roar; and large protuberances of
rock, bare and threatening. Numberless shadows lay on their faces; and
here and there from their tops trickled little steams, plashing into the
waves at their feet. Passing through a natural arch in a rock, lofty and
narrow, called the Devil's Bridge, and turning a little promontory, they
were soon aground on the beach.

"When the captain had finished his business, they had some dinner at the
inn; and while the two men drank their grog, Herbert was a delighted
listener to many a sea story, old and new. How the boy longed to be a
sailor, and live always on the great waters! The blocks and cordage of the
fast-rooted flagstaff before the inn, assumed an almost magic interest to
him, as the two sailors went on with their tales of winds and rocks, and
narrow escapes and shipwrecks. And how proud he was of the friendship of
these old seafarers!

"At length it was time to return home. As they rowed slowly along, the sun
was going down in the west, and their shadows were flung far on the waves,
which gleamed and glistened in the rich calm light. Land and sea were
bathed in the blessing of heaven; its glory was on the rocks, and on the
shore, and in the depth of the heaving sea. Under the boat, wherever it
went, shone a paler green. The only sounds were of the oars in the
row-locks, of the drip from their blades as they rose and made curves in
the air, and the low plash with which they dipped again into the sea;