Behind rose a tall bulwark of perpendicular cliffs, their scarped and rugged surface ornamented with a drapery of lichens and climbing plants, which found foothold in every nook and cranny.

I had caught the sea in one of its gayest humors and, as I bathed my hands in the frothing white water, I found it hard to conceive that it had its terrible moods too, although I knew that at times this coast was subject to fearful storms, and the great foam capped billows rushed in with a force that threatened to lay low the proud rocks themselves.

My comrades laughed good humouredly at my new found pleasure and I followed them slowly along the edge of the water, noting with interest the many varieties of sea weed and shells that strewed the sands, the little crabs that scuttled away at our approach as fast as their tiny feet would carry them and all the strange marine plants and animals that I now encountered for the first time.

Arriving at last at a miniature bay or inlet, in front of which a line of sunken rocks formed a natural breakwater, Jimmy proposed a swim.

“It would be just splendid,” he said. “It is not a bit cold and it would be the first bath of the season.

“But we have no towels or bathing dresses!” I objected.

“What does that matter?” replied the Duke. “We can easily run about and get dry, and as for bathing dresses, there is no one else about – and I suppose you don't mind us seeing you,” he added, with a laugh at me.

I smiled in turn and there being no further opposition, the proposal was carried. Slowly and deliberately, as if by silent and mutual consent, the four of us set to pulling away individual articles of clothing from our bodies. Bob spread wide the open front of his breeches, exposing the great mound of his pubic region pushing through the fork of his undershorts, and then he pulled his fine white shirt up and over the grand expanse of his lovely chest. Jimmy lay upon the sand to slide his pants down over his hips and legs, revealing his white inner thighs and the pouch of his genitals with lascivious glee.