Page:Adrift in the Pacific, Sampson Low, 1889.djvu/47

Rh These birds only haunt the antarctic ocean. They were strutting about in dozens, flapping their tiny wings, which they use for swimming instead of flying.

It was then ten o'clock. Exhausted and hungry, Briant thought it best to have something to eat before attempting the ascent of the promontory, which raised its crest some 300 feet above the sea. And he sat down on a rock out of reach of the rising tide, which had begun to gain on the outer ridge of reefs. An hour later he would not have been able to pass along the foot of the cliff without running the danger of imprisonment by the flood. But there was nothing to be anxious about now, and in the afternoon the ebb would leave the passage dry.

While the food satisfied his hunger, the halt gave rest to his limbs, and he began to give the rein to his thoughts on matters in general. Alone, and far from his companions, he coolly reviewed the situation, resolving to do his best for the good of all. Then he thought of his brother Jack, whose health caused him much anxiety. It seemed to him that Jack must have done something serious — probably before his departure — and he decided to question him so closely that he would have to con- fess. For one hour Briant sat and thought, and rested himself. Then he shut up his bag, threw it over his shoulder, and began to climb the rocks.

The cape ended in a narrow ridge, and its geology was remarkable. It was a mass of metamorphic rock quite detached from the cliff, and differing from it completely in structure; the cliff being composed of calcareous stratifications similar to those of La Manche in the west of Europe.

Briant noticed that a narrow gorge cut the promontory off from the cliff, and that the breach extended northwards out of sight. But the promontory, being at least 100 feet higher than the neighbouring heights, would afford an extensive view.

The ascent was not easy. He had to climb from one rock to another, the rocks being often so large that he