CHAPTER XIV.
THE MARRIAGE SCENE.
By riding across the small lagoon that lay beside Cloud Island to the inward side of the bay, and then eastward some twelve miles toward an island that was little frequented, the last of the chain on this horn of the crescent, one came under the highest and boldest facade of cliffs that was to be found in all that group.

It was here that Caius chanced to wander one calm mild day in early March, mild because the thermometer stood at less than 30 deg.

below the freezing point, and a light vault of pearly cloud shut in the earth from the heaven, and seemed, by way of contrast with other days, to keep it warm.

He had ridden far, following out of aimless curiosity the track that had been beaten on the side of the bay to this farthest island.

It was a new road for him; he had never attempted it before; and no sooner had he got within good sight of the land, than his interest was wholly attracted by the cliffs, which, shelving somewhat outward at the top, and having all their sides very steep and smooth, were, except for a few crevices of ice, or an outward hanging icicle, or here and there a fringe of icicles, entirely free from snow and ice.