Free The Survivors of the Chancellor by Jules Verne

the hollow place above the knuckle. The
tide at this time was low, and the ship now lay heeled over
very much to the starboard side, the few points of rock that
emerged in the extreme south of the reef plainly marking the
narrow passage through which she had been forced before
she finally ran aground.
    As soon as Andre had finished his sketch we descended
by a slope as gradual as that by which we had come up, and
made our way toward the west. We had not gone very far
when a beautiful grotto, perfect as an architectural structure, arrested our attention. M. Letourneur and Andre,
who have visited the Hebrides, pronounced it to be a
Fingal's cave in miniature; a Gothic chapel that might form
a fit vestibule for the cathedral cave of Staffa. The basaltic
rocks had cooled down into the same regular concentric
prisms; there was the same dark canopied roof with its interstices filled up with its yellow lutings; the same precision
of outline in the prismatic angles, sharp as though chiseled
by a sculptor's hand; the same sonorous vibration of the air
across the basaltic rocks, of which the Gaelic poets have
feigned that the harps of the Fingal minstrelsy were made.
But whereas at Staffa the floor of the cave is always covered
with a sheet of water, here the grotto was beyond the reach
of all but the highest waves, while the prismatic shafts themselves formed quite a solid pavement.
    After remaining nearly an hour in our newly-discovered
grotto we returned to the Chancellor, and communicated the
result of our explorations to Curtis, who entered the island
upon his chart, by the name Andre Letourneur had proposed.
    Since its discovery we have not permitted a day to pass
without spending some time in our Ham Rock grotto.
Curtis has taken an opportunity of visiting it, but he is too
preoccupied with other matters to have much interest to
spare for the wonders of nature. Falsten, too, came once
and examined the character of the rocks, knocking and
chipping them about with all the mercilessness of a geologist.
Mr. Kear would not trouble himself to leave the ship; and
although I asked his wife to join us in one of our excursions
she declined, upon the plea that the fatigue, as well as the
inconvenience of embarking in the boat, would be more than
she could bear.
    Miss Herbey, only to thankful to escape even for an hour
from her capricious mistress, eagerly accepted M. Letourneur's invitation to pay a visit to the reef, but to her great
disappointment Mrs. Kear at first refused point-blank to
allow her to leave the ship. I felt intensely annoyed, and resolved to intercede in Miss Herbey's favor; and as I had
already rendered that self-indulgent lady sundry services
which she though she might probably be glad again to accept, I gained my point, and Miss Herbey has several times
been permitted to accompany us across the rocks, where
the young girl's delight at her freedom has been a pleasure
to behold.
    Sometimes we fish along the shore, and then enjoy a
luncheon in the grotto, while the basalt columns vibrate like
harps to the breeze. This arid reef, little as it is, compared
with the cramped limits of the Chancellor's deck is like some
vast domain; soon there will be scarcely a stone with which
we are not familiar, scarcely a portion of its surface which
we have not trodden, and I am sure that when the hour of
departure arrives we shall leave it with regret.
    In the course of conversation, Andre Letourneur one day
happened to say that he believed the island of Staffa belonged to the Macdonald family, who let it for the small
sum of £.12 a year.
    "I suppose then," said Miss Herbey, "that we should
hardly get more than half-a-crown a year for our pet little
island."
    "I don't think you would get a penny for it. Miss Herbey;
but are you thinking of taking a lease?" I said laughing.
    "Not at present," she said; then added, with a half-suppressed sigh, "and yet it is a place where I have seemed
to know what it is to be really happy."
    Andre