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She would have gone in by the Needles and so up the Solent."

"Then she is bound for London," said John. "That may be," said Grimkie.

By looking again at the map the reader will see that Grimkie was right. I rather suspect that in making this remark John was actuated, unconsciously perhaps, by a desire to show off his nautical knowledge. But boys when they attempt to say any thing for the purpose of showing how much they know, are very apt to fail of their end, and only show how little they know.

There was a small sail-boat out at a great distance over the water. It lay there apparently motionless, except that there was a slight glittering appearance in the water by the side of it to be seen, which was repeated at regular intervals, like a pulsation. Florence's attention was attracted to this phenomena, which made quite a pretty appearance, and she asked Grimkie what it meant.

"They are becalmed out there," said he, "and have got out their sweeps."

"Their sweeps ?" repeated Florence.

"Yes," said Grimkie; "large oars. There is no wind and they can't get home, and they are trying to work their way back with sweeps.

Like as not it is a party of excursionists from Shanklin, who have gone out for a sail and now can't get home."

After remaining upon the Downs more than an hour, and rambling about over a great many of the higher eminences, and obtaining many different views, each one more extended and grand than the preceding, the party returned to the hotel, as has been already related, where they gave Mrs. Morelle a full account of their excursion.

From their description of what they had seen Mrs. Morelle said she thought she should like the Downs better than the Chine.

"The very first day that is calm I will go up," said Mrs. Morelle, "if you would be willing to go up again to show me the way."

Mrs. Morelle then told John that there was a question to be settled about his room.

"There are two bedrooms, either of which you and Grimkie can have," said she. "One is

a large and convenient one, but has no view, the other is small and inconvenient, but there is. a very pretty lookout from the window."

"Let's go and see the rooms, Grimkie," said John.

So they went. They found the rooms to be just as Mrs. Morelle had described them. The

large one was near Mrs. Morelle's room. It had two windows, but they looked out upon a part of the garden where there was nothing to be seen but trees and shrubbery which grew there pretty close to the house. The other room was up in the second story, almost over the porch which formed the entrance to the hotel. There was only one window to this room, and that was of the kind called a dormer window. It looked out upon the street, and upon the village. You can see this window in the picture, with John looking out of it.

"This is the best room, Grimkie. Let us take this room. We can see all the carriages that come to the hotel, and watch all the people when they are getting out."

"When we are in our room," suggested Grimkie.

"We shall be out of our room almost all the day time rambling about."

“But there may be a rainy day," said John. · "Very well," said Grimkie, "we will take this room."

11

CHAPTER XV.

DOWN THE CHINE.

THE next morning, not long after breakfast, Mrs. Morelle and her whole party set out to go and visit the Chine.

When they reached the entrance Grimkie paid to the girl who served as porter sixpence a piece for the whole party, which made two shillings in all. They all passed through the gate and began to descend a steep staircase which led down into the ravine. Not far from the place where they were going down there was a brook going down, too-only the brook did not descend gently, by degrees, as visitors did, but by one single pitch fell fifty or a hundred feet, into a boiling cauldron below.

As soon as the party had descended a little way, perhaps thirty or forty feet, they came to a platform, and there they stopped to look about them. They found themselves in the midst of vast ravine of the wildest and most irregular form, with precipitous walls, and vast overhanging projections, and peaks, and branching

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chasms, and shelving terraces at various heights, all having the forms belonging to cliffs and chasms of rocks, but yet clothed every where with such a thick covering of vegetation-mosses, lichens, ferns, vines, and climbing plants of every kind, with trees and shrubbery in every angle and on every shelf and ledge, and long trailing plants hanging in festoons from their branches, that the whole scene presented the aspect. of a garden, only the plants and flowers were growing on perpendicular precipices, and on cliffs and chasms of every conceivable fantastic form, instead of upon smooth and level ground.

Down through the centre of the chasm there was a wide and well made pathway, which twisted and turned this way and that, now crossing the brook by a rustic bridge, now ascending a steep bank and getting lost a moment in a thicket, now running along upon the brink of a shelving projection, and now sending off a branch to a seat or a summer house built upon a commanding point which afforded a view of some peculiarly picturesque or striking portion of the chasm.

The party walked along the path very slowly, and examined carefully every thing they saw. They stopped at all the seats, and Florence gathered a number of little sprigs of moss and

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