These mad leaps and plunges were repeated again and again, becoming each time less in height and violence, until at last they ceased.
It was some time, however, before the agitation in the water came to an end. Great waves rushed booming along the shore, dashing wildly up the face of the cliffs, sending clouds of spray flying over their summits far inland.
But after a while the commotion subsided, the sea became smooth on the surface, and there remained only a gentle heaving, as from a ground swell.
And there, at a little distance from the shore, the cause of all this disturbance was plainly to be seen--an immense, egg-shaped mass many hundreds of feet in length, floating as lightly and buoyantly upon the still-heaving water as if it had been an immense football.
Seldom, perhaps, have there been seen three people more puzzled and amazed than the little group who had witnessed the tremendous advent of the wondrous 'meteorite'--for such it appeared to be--and now stood gazing at it in helpless astonishment as it floated quietly in the sea only a short distance from the shore.
It was some time before either Jack or Gerald spoke, and when they at last found speech, they had little to say beyond vague, incoherent exclamations.
Presently an impulse came upon them to run down the path which led to the shore, thinking that they might get a better view from there of this extraordinary new arrival from the realms above. Perhaps a closer look might yield some clue as to the nature of the strange visitor.
But a nearer view did not help them much. All that they could see, when they arrived on the sandy margin, was what they had already seen from above--and that was a huge mass composed of some material not heavy enough to sink, and--as a natural consequence--light enough to float.
What could it be? It was, presumably, a meteorite--so Armeath pronounced--but of what kind? Who had ever heard of a meteorite of such a size, and above all, of a material light enough to float in water?
'Don't you wish you had gone in to your supper, Jack?' Gerald asked mischievously. 'Had you done so you would not have witnessed this wonder.'
'It's all very well to pretend to joke about it,' returned Jack, affecting to grumble; 'but it's rather serious, you know. The giddy thing might have hit one of us a nasty crack on the head, or something worse. This all comes of your busying yourself about what doesn't concern you, Gerald. You've bothered about the stars above us so long that, as you can't get up to them, one of 'em's come down to pay a visit to you.'