The Mystery of the Sea

s call "beautifyings" should not be done until I should be on the spot myself next year, to be consulted about everything. Every day I went over to see the place and become familiar with it befor

booths, could be had almost everything required for the needs or comfort of life such as it can be on a fishing boat. Fruit and all sorts of summer luxuries were abundant. Being Saturday the boats had retu

prelude to many of the manifestations of the power of Second Sight. This used to be just as if something within me was groping

on or "roup" was on the "Dutch" plan; an extravagant price, according to his own idea, being placed on each article, and the offer decreasing in defa

e year, in the Gaelic for them as has na got the English, an' in good English for them as has. How much for the twal volumes, wantin' but three? Not a bawbee less than nine shellin', goin' goin'. Wha says eight shellin' for the lot. Seven shellin' an' no less. Goin' for six. Five shellin' for y

tly been using his time well, for the cart was almost empty. He was just putting up the last article, an old oak chest which up to now he had used as a sort of table on which to display the object for sale. An old oak chest has always charms for me, and I was about furnishing a house. I stepped over, opened the lid an

ck is a fine aud one and you can easy fit a key. Moreover the contents, be they what they may, are yours also. See! aud letters in some foreign tongue-French I think. Yellow in age an' the ink faded. Somebod

er where first I had met Lauchlane Macleod, and the moving life which then had environed him. I felt coming over me that strange impalpable influence or tendency which had been a part of my nature in the days immediately before

s will be sold for a guin

e of such a price seemed startled into momentary comparative silence. He quickly reco

any way the appearance of the man in the ghostly procession. But there was n

598 and 1610. The letters, of which there were eight, were of manifest unimportance, short notes directed: "Don de Escoban" and merely arranging meetings. Then there were a number of loose pages of some printed folio, used perhaps as some kind of tally or possibly a cipher, for they were marked all over with dots. The lot was completed by a thin, narrow strip of paper covered with figures-possibly som

s mixed up in perpetually recurring images with the beginning of my Second Sight and the death of Lauchlane Macleod. Again, and again, and again, I saw with the eyes of memory, in fragmentary fashion, the grand form of the fisherman standing in a blaze of gold, and later fighting his way

cognizance, myself amongst the rest. Here I stopped, suddenly arrested by the thought that it was Gormala herself who had set my mind working in thi

ters of the Doom may be many and various, and though they may have to g

ablaze with red and gold; great masses of cloud which had rolled up seemed like huge crimson canopies looped with gold over the sun throned on the western mountains. I w

at a glori

uty o' the warld it fadeth into na

nion of things generally." He deliberately sto

i' the morn. They seem to no ken that it has to traverse one half o' the warld ere it returns; and that the averages of fine and foul, o' light and dark hae to be aye maintained. It may be that the days o' fine follow ane anither fast; or that the foul times linger likewise. But in the end, the figures of fine and foul tottle up, in accord wi' their ordered sum. What use is it, then, to no tak' heed o' fac's? Weel I ken, that the fac' o' the morrow will differ sair frae the fac's o' this nicht. Not in vain hae I seen the wisdom and glory o' the Lord in sunsets an' dawns wi'oot learnin' the lessons that they teach. Mon, I tell ye that it's all those glories o' pomp and pageantry-all the lasceevious luxuries o' colour an' splendour, that are the forerinners o' disaster. Do ye no see the streaks o' wind

ered, "I hope I sha

et may hae thegither!" And so my philosophical egoist moved homewards, blissfully unconscious of the f

dashes here and there to keep his flock headed in the right direction. Presently I saw the h

s was that it became a disturbing influence. To-day, perforce, because it was fine, I had to expect that it would end badly. About noon I walked over to Whinnyfold; it being Saturday I knew that the workmen would have gone away ea

on rocks and shore was at variance with the silence over the sea; the sheep and cattle were so quiet that now and again the "moo" of a cow or the bleat of a sheep seemed strangely single. As I stood looking out seaward there seemed to be rising a cold wind; I could not exactly feel it, but I knew it was there. As I came down the path over the beach I thought I heard some one calling-a faint far-away sound. At first I did not heed it, as I knew it could not be any one calling to me; but when I found it continued, I

inrush of waves, which though not much at present were gathering force every instant, that the storm which the shepherd had predicted was coming fast upon us. In such case every moment was precious. Indeed it might mean life; and so in breathless haste I scrambled over the rocks. Behind the main body of the Sand Craigs are two isolated rocks whose tops are just uncovered at high tide, but which are washed with every wave. The near one of these is at low water not separated from the main mass, but only joined by a narrow isthmus a few feet long, over which the first waves of the turning tide rush vigourously, for it is in the direct sweep of the flowing tide. Beyond this, some ninety or a hundr

n. One was stout and elderly, the other young and tall and of exceeding beauty. The elderly one was in an almost frantic condition of fright; but the younger one, though her face was deadly pale-and I could see from the anxious glances which she kept casting round her that she was far from at ease-was outwardly calm. For an instant there was a curious effect as her pale face

s gone off amongst thos

ng tight to me whilst I held the younger one and the rising waves washing round our feet. For a moment or two I considered the situation, and then asked them if either of them could swim. The answer was in the negative. "Then," I said decisively, "you must leave yourselves to me, and I shall swim across with each of you in turn." The old lady groaned. I pointed out that there was no other way, and that if we came at once it would not be difficult, as the distance was short and the waves were not as

ong cord, and then we could pull each other a

e coming wave had rolled on she pointed to a short piece of rope tied round a jutting piece of rock; its loose end swayed to and fro with every wave. I jumped for it at once, for I saw a possible way out of our difficulty; even if the rope were short, so was the distance, and its strands ravelled might cover the width of the chann

rushing over our feet and the old lady beside us groaning and moaning and imploring us to hasten. Mostly she addressed herself to me, as in some way the deus ex machina and thus superior to the occasion wh

nd endearment. Once the girl stopped as a wave bigger than the rest broke over her feet. The old lady tried to still

I signed to the old lady to slide into the sea which, assisted by the girl, she did very pluckily. She gasped and gurgled a good deal and clutched the loop with a death grip; but I kept a steady even strain on the rope whose strength I mistrusted. In a few seconds she was safely across, and I was pulling her up by the hands up the rock. When she was firmly fixed I gave her the loose end of the cord to hold and swam back with the loop. The girl did not delay or give any trouble. As she helped me up the rock I could not but notice what strength she had; her grip of my wet hand was firm and strong, and there was in it no quiver of anxiety. I felt that she had no care for herself, now that her companion was safe. I signalled to the old lady to be ready; the girl slipped into the water, I going in

As I held her by the shoulder, a wave sweeping over the rock took us, and in my sudden effort to hold her I to

n the other one is a fully clothed woman, there is little to waste of strength or effort. So I swam as I had never done, and brought her

t it for all the worl

wanted to know its appearanc

ut to me to come back, not to mind, that she would rather lose it a thousand times than have me run any risk, and so forth; things mightily pleasant to hear when spoken by such lips. For myself I had only exultation. I had got off both the women without accident, and the sea was as yet

lady pressed it to her lips, and turn

mine. Thank you that you have saved our lives; and that you have saved this for me."

wet face to mine, was