The Mystery of the Sea

o be enmeshing me. The more I thought, the more I was puzzled; for the strangest thing of all to me was that I understood part of what seemed to be a

med to know him as a man of gold, sterling throughout. It was not merely that his hair was red gold and that his eyes might fairly be called golden, but his whole being could only be expressed in that way; so that when Gormala spoke, the old rhyme seemed at once a prime factor in the group of three powers which had to be united before the fathoming of the Mystery of the Sea. I accordingl

nt relationships between Gormala, Lauchlane Macleod, Lammas-tide, the moon and the secrets of the sea revo

to think of Gormala. The thought came accompanied by a sense of oppression which was not of fear, but which was certainly of uneasiness. Was it possible that the woman had in some way, or to some degree, hypnotised me. I remembered with a slightly nervou

t at once and joined her, and instinctively we turned our st

u disappear t

er face were set; I knew it was no use following

ses which you told me?" Her ans

alone can tell; until

made

as aud as the rocky foundat

tinct note of pride in her answer. Such a note as mig

ng years foresaw the passing o' mony a one. That Gormala who throughout the islands of the west was known and feared o' all men; that Gormala whose mither's mither, and mither's mither again, away back into the darkness o' time when coracles crept towards the su

g of the meaning, or you would no

een, and to that inner e'e which tell

s-tide was near at hand?" The grim w

ken of the Lammas floods, which be

added as an afterthought, explanatory of my ignorance. Gormala was clever enough to take advantage of having

ane Macleod grew sma' in

f ripe corn." Then it struck me that I had not as yet told her or any one else of what I

n the glances o' their een. Did I no see yer een look near an' far as quick as thocht? But what saw ye after, when ye looked rapt

n." She made a sound which was almost a cry, and which recalled me to myself as I looked at her. She was ablaze. Sh

Seer. Gowden corn, and gowden moon, and gowden sea! Aye! an' I see it now, backie-bird that I hae been; the gowden mon i

days thereof, when be Lammas and what it means to them that hae faith. See what the

r word she tur

btless I could have found out all I wanted from some of the ministers of the various houses of religion which hold in Cruden; but I was not wishful to make public, even so far, the mystery which was closing around me. My feeling was partly a saving sense o

nly believed but knew that some instinct within me was guiding my thoughts in some strange way. The sense of occult power which is so vital a part of divination was growing within

ities. Within two days from the episode at the Pier head I had had behind me a larger experience of effort of occult force than generally comes to a man in a lifetime. When I look back, it seems to me that all the forces of life and nature became exposed to my view. A thousand things which hitherto I had accepted in simple faith as facts, were pregnant with new meanings. I began to understand that the whole earth and sea, and air-all that of which human beings generally ordinarily

ompanied by heavy weather that Lammas floods are almost annually recurren

sired. In fact he was so full of astronomical learning that I had to stop him now and again in order to elucidate some point easily explainable to those who understood his termin

gin its flow a little after midnight would in reality commence just on the stroke. As these were the points which concerned me I came away with a new feeling of awe upon me. It seemed as though the heavens as well as the earth were bending t

vercast. Great black clouds which seemed to roll along tumbling over and over, as the sail of a foundered boat does in a current, loomed up from the west. The air grew closer, and to breathe was an effort. A sort of shiver came over the wide stretch of open country. Darker and darker grew the sky, till it seemed so like night that the birds in the few

country away to the mountains which encircle Braemar. The fierce crash and wide roll of the thund

emed to fall without ceasing, for whenever I woke-which I did frequently with a sense over me of something i

ains of the western coast and its rocky islands. Two whole days there were of such rain, and then there was no doubt as to the strength of the Lammas floods this year. All the wide uplands of Buchan were glistening with runnels of

remarkable exactness. In theatrical parlance 'the stage was set' and all ready for the action which was to come. As the hours wore on, my uneas

untains were so saturated with wet that many days must elapse before they could cease to send their quota to swell the streams. The mountain valleys were generally lakes in miniature. As one went through the country the murmur or rush of falling water was forever in the ears. I suppose it was in my own case partly because I was concerned in the mere exis