Importunate above measure grew the question, barely displaced in the full
flood of discovery: Was the unseen habitant familiar here? present here
by some secret, easier ingress? He drew himself up from the water on the
first rock, and, quiet as a watching otter, leant prone, till his
faculties, abroad with wonder and awe, returned to level service. Not a
sound, not a ripple came to disprove his utter solitude.
He slipped back into the water to examine further; a sense of
profanation, not to be shaken off, subdued his spirit, and constrained
him to diffident movement through the exceeding beauty of those jewelled
aisles. Wherever he went play of light and colour encircled him: luminous
weavings that strayed into shadowy angles, investing and adorning with
delicate favours. Slender isles crept away into gloom, extending into
mystery the actual dimensions of the great cavern: these he must enter,
every one, for his thorough satisfaction. More than once the marbling
and stains of the rocks deluded him, so like were they to frescoes--of
battle array in confusion under a fierce winged sunset, of sea-beasts
crouched and huddled, prone and supine, and again of sea-beasts locked
together in strife. He came upon the likeness of a skull, an ill omen
that dealt him a sudden thrill of superstitious fear. It needed close
scrutiny in the vague light to decide that no hand of man had shaped all
these. Once light broke in from above, and he saw overhead a narrow strip
of intense blue, and a white flash from the wing of a passing sea-mew. He
tried to scale the cleft, so to reach the heights of the main island; but
the steep rocks gave no sufficient foothold, and he dropped back into the
water bruised and discomfited. Tunnels and archways there were, too low
and strait to let him pass. Attempting an arch, submerged like the way of
his entrance, his broad shoulders got wedged, and he struggled back,
strangling, spent, and warned against needless hazards.
He never noticed that in the great cavern one after another the rays of
sunlight overhead shifted and withdrew, till twilight, advancing below,
surprised him. His reckoning of time had been lost utterly, charmed out
of him in the vast of beauty and mystery. In a moment he also realised
that the lowest tiers of rocks had vanished below the water. The tide was
rising. Hurriedly he shot away for return, and groped along the dim
passage. The water had risen half-way towards the upper level, so that he
mounted there with no difficulty, and made his way on, through the
entrance cave, through the kelp-curtained cleft, and out again upon the
smooth white sands.
Too late! That he knew by the sound of heavy waves booming from the outer
ravine before his eyes could certify how the tide had made hours'
advance, and was coming in with a strong, resistless swell that would
make short work with the best swimmer alive. He scrambled up to a
shoulder to get a sight of the reefs that had helped him on his way; the
nearest was already gone, and a tumbling whirlpool marked its place.
Except in the slack of the ebb it were madness to make the attempt.
Sunlight still touched the heights, but the quick southern twilight makes
short stand against night. Without question, till daybreak came with
another ebb, on the Isle Sinister must he abide.
To make the best of his case, he sought while daylight lasted after
shell-fish to stay his growing hunger. Then in the dusk he gathered dry
weed and spread it for his couch on a ledge as high above the tide-mark
as he could reach. It was a lateral cleft, as good for his purpose as any
there. But he selected it not wholly with regard to comfort of body; its
high remove above the mysterious footprints lent it best recommendation.
For with growing darkness came a dread upon him; in an access of arrant
superstition he conceived of some unimaginable thing stealing near upon
woman's feet. Reason stood up for a mild human presence if any, but on
ground no better than a quicksand, very lacking in substantial elements.
Whence had those feet come? whither had they gone? He could not imagine a
hiding too fine for his best vigilance, not in the open at least, in
directions that the footprints positively indicated.
As darkness fell, all the tales that had made the place sinister in name
and reputation came thronging his mind, assuming an aspect more grim than
they ever before had worn. The resolution, the firm reason he had relied
on for defence, began to quail before dread odds. What wonder? That day
such an assault against reason had been made, such a breach lay wide and
unrepaired, as left self-possession hard bestead. Then was he faithful to
right worship; he prayed, and mortal terror invested him no longer.
Though faulty, ignorant, superstitious, the young fisher was, a rare
sincerity ruled his spirit, an essential quality if prayer be to any
purpose, even great in efficacy by its own intrinsic value.
As, crossing himself, he lay down and turned to sleep, plainly above the
surf the Warders returned him the sound of a far-off bell--of three bells
tolling together. He knew the voice of the House Monitory. Most
comfortable was it, an expression of human commiseration extended to him,
of special virtue also, he believed, to succour souls against leaguers of
darkness. All night he knew, aloft on the cliff in the desolate bell
tower, a monitress would serve each bell, and two would wait on a
beacon-light, and the prayers of the five would not cease for souls of
the living and souls of the dead, victims to fell powers of the sea. Ah,
blessed bells! And ah, dear saints whose names they bear!--St. Mary, St.
Margaret, St. Faith! The House Monitory prays to the dear saints; but the
simple, the ignorant, who go most in peril of that dangerous coast, when
they bless three names--St. Mary's, St. Margaret's, St. Faith's--do not
discriminate consciously between the saints whose influence lives in
heaven, and the bells that ring in evidence of how that influence lives
on earth. He fell asleep.
The tide came in, crept up the sand, blotted out footprints and weeds,
covered anemone pools and boulders, reached the full, turned and ebbed
back again. The moon rose, and as she mounted the dark clear-cut shadows
of the rocks shrank. The lad slept the dreamless sleep of healthful
weariness, till midnight was long past, and a wide stretch of sand lay
bare again. Then in her course the moon put back the shadows that had
covered his face; his breathing grew shorter; he stirred uneasily, and
woke.
Looking down, he saw the sand bared of the sea, white and glistening in
the moonlight. Quite distinct came the even stroke of the bells. The
night wind had chilled him, half naked as he was, so he crept from his
niche and dropped to the sands below, to pace away numbness. Only a few
steps he took; then he stood, and not from cold he trembled. A line of
footprints crossed the sand, clear and firm, and so light, that the
dainty sand-wrinkles were scarcely crushed out beneath them. And now the
mark of the heel is nearest the sea.
He knelt down to peer closer, stretched a hand, and touched one
footprint. Very fact it was, unless he dreamed. Kneeling still, he
scanned the broken lights and shadows that clung round the margin of
rock-girt sand. Ha! there in the shadow moves something white; it is
gliding half hidden by boulders. A human figure goes there at ease,
rising, stooping, bending to a pool. Long it bends, then with a natural
gesture of arms flung up, and hands locked upon the nape, steps out into
the full moonlight, clear to view.
The kneeling boy thrills to the heart at the beautiful terror. Whiter
than the sands are the bare, smooth limbs, and the dark, massed hair is
black as are the night-shadows. Oh! she comes. Does she see? does she
care? The light, swift feet bring her nearer, straight on, without a
falter. Her shadow falls upon him, and she stays and stands before him,
beautiful, naked, and unabashed as a goddess.
Could she be one of God's creatures? No! Yet because she was shaped like
a woman, youthful pudicity, strong in the boy, bent his head, lowered his
eyes to the ground. He felt a shame she could not know, for her shadow
moved, her white feet came within the range of his lowly vision. Perfect
ankles, perfect feet, foam-white, wonderfully set! When the Evil One
wrought in human shapes, surely his work was ever flawed as to feet!
Still kneeling, he lifted his head, encountered her gaze, and made the
sign of the cross. She met his eyes with a merciless smile, but before
the sign stepped back uneasily; yet her beauty remained unblighted. Then
must it be that a sea-witch could be young and fair, of loveliness
innate, not spell-wrought to ensnare him. He dreaded her none the less,
afraid as never he had been in his life before.
And yet, because his eyes were steady to meet hers, she read such
defiance as she would not suffer. She clapped her hands together, and
laughed in cruel triumph till echoes sprang.
'You are a dead man. Do you know?'
He stood and fronted her boldly now, recovering faith, most needful for
the encounter. By what he could see of her face it was cruel and cold as
death itself, and the gleam of her eyes was like the keen, sharp glitter
of a treacherous sea. For he had not seen, when his eyes had been on the
ground, on her feet, a flash of wonder and pity, for one instant
softening. Wonder at his large-limbed youth remained covert; but his
defiant eyes, his gesture, had routed pity.
'Your bones shall lie apart,' she cried. 'I will choose a fair nook for
you in the great sea sepulchre. All the bones of other wretches who have
perished among these rocks lie piled in a common heap--piled high! But
you alone of many a score having set foot alive in this my garden--by
strength, or courage, or cunning--no matter how, your momentary success
shall receive some recognition. Maybe, if I remember, when your skull is
white and bare, I will crown it with sea-blossom now and then; and
whenever I pass by, cast you a tribute of coral, till the hollows of your
ribs are overfilled.'
He felt that she had the power to make good her taunting words.
'I have faced death before now,' he answered simply.
She was angered, and hated him, because he stood upright before her, with
eyes that did not waver, and words like proud disdain. She longed to
abase him before she compassed his death.
'How shall I take the forfeit? Shall I bid sea-serpents crawl from the
ooze of the deep to crush out your life in scaly folds; or set a watch of
sharks about my garden to tear your live limbs piecemeal when you venture
hence; or make the waves my agents to toss you and wrestle with you, to
batter out all comeliness of form, and break your bones as reeds beneath
the gale?'
Look, tone, gesture, drove home the full horror of her words. Brave as
the boy was, the blood forsook his cheek, a momentary tremor passed, and
involuntarily his eyes turned to the eastern sky, whereunder lay a
well-known shore, and his home, and the grey-haired couple, who, bereft
of him, would go to the grave sorrowing. They faced each other in
silence, as two wrestlers mark each the other's strength. A strangely
unequal pair! The tall lad, long-limbed, muscular, broad-chested, the
weight of whose finger was stronger, than her full-handed might, knew he
was powerless, knew at least that no physical strength could prevail
against the young witch; she, slender, smooth-limbed, threatened him with
torture and death, strong in witch-might and witch-malice.
Keen-eyed, she had seen that he quailed, and softening, was half minded
to forgive his trespass.
'Kneel again and pray for your life; perchance I yet may grant it you.'
Should his christened body grovel to her, a witch? A ring of scorn was in
his answer.
'Not to you,' he said; 'I kneel and pray only when I love and fear.'
She hated him again: he meant that her he hated and despised.
'Fool!' she cried, raging, 'you defy me? Do you not know that you are
wholly in my power?'
'Not wholly--no. Though, because I have done amiss, my life be given into
your hands, my soul is in God's.'
She put her hands to her brow suddenly, as though she had received a
blow. She stood quite silent. Then she looked about her as though she
sought vaguely for something she could not find. Anger had passed away.
'Your soul!' she said, on a note of wonder. 'Your soul!' she repeated,
and broke into a scornful laugh. 'Ay, I remember something: I had a soul
once; but it is gone--dead. I gave it in exchange for sea-life,
sea-power, sea-beauty. I drank of the nepenthe cup, and in it my past was
washed out and my soul was drowned.'
'Wretched creature!' he cried, 'better for you had it been your
death-draught.'
She read in his face horror, pity, loathing, and longed with her whole
being to abase him lower than she was in his eyes. Better than to slay
outright would it be to break down the self-respect that would not stoop
before her even to escape death. Oh, but she would try for very perfect
revenge; not by quick death, cheap and insufficient; not by captivity and
slow death--no, not yet. He should live, yes--and go free, and then she
would conquer him body and soul; biding her time, plotting, waiting in
patience, she would so make her triumph full, complete, absolute, at
last.
Involuntarily she had drawn away into the shadow of the rocks, leaving
the lad standing alone in the moonlight. She saw that his lips moved. He
was praying silently, unmindful of her. With her dark brows drawn
together and a smile of scorn she wove cunning plans for his ruin.
Swiftly she chose her line: for a witch confident, audacious, subtle, it
was a game easy and pleasant to play.
Again the boy saw her stand before him. Her face was mild, her voice low
and gentle.
'Tell me your name.'
'Christian.'
She threw back her head with an uneasy movement, but recovering
instantly, resumed her part.
'How came you here? and why?' Though not to be lightly reassured, he told
her frankly. Her dark eyes were intent upon his face; then they dropped,
and then she sighed, again and again. Her breast was heaving with a storm
of sighs.
'Oh!' she broke out, with a voice of passionate grief. 'Oh, shame! you,
who have the wide world whereon you may range, you will not leave me this
one poor shred of land. A greedy breed it is dwelling ashore, that must
daily be rifling the sea of its silver lives, of its ruddy thickets, and
will yield no inch in return. And you have outpassed your fellows in
greed--you have owned it--you have boasted. Ah! I grant your courage and
strength excellent, taken by the measure of the land; but, oh, the
monstrous rapacity!'
Her voice broke with indignation. She turned aside and surveyed the
moon-white level. Soon she resumed in a quick, low whisper.
'How can I let him go? How can I? Oh dear, fair garden-close, mine, mine,
all mine alone till now--if your shining pools never mirror me again, if
your sands take the print of my foot never again--oh no--I
cannot--no--no--'
Swift pity responded as her lament sank away to a moan.
'Never think so! One brief trespass made in ignorance is all you have to
resent--is all you shall have: not a soul shall have word by me of your
favoured haunt. Moreover,' he added and smiled, 'I know no man who could
win here, were he minded to more strongly than I.'
She smiled back. 'Then go in peace.' She passed him by to follow the sea.
This sudden grace struck him dumb. All too briefly glanced and worded was
it for his satisfaction. So fair at heart she was too. A first young
flicker of male worship kindled in the boy's eyes as he turned to look
after her going.
She halted, facing, and lifting her hand to him.
'Your boat was broken, you say,' she said as he came. 'I tell you, your
peril will be more extreme when you try the reefs again for an outlet,
except you have a pilot of me.'
'You!' he said.
'Not I,' she laughed. 'The guide that I shall send will be a gull pure
white, whose flight you shall follow. I have trusted you; do you trust
me?'
'I will, I will.'
'A strict promise! Though you seem to be going upon certain death, you
will trust and follow?'
'I will trust and follow, on my word, strictly kept as the oaths of the
many.'
'Your pilot you will know by his call. Listen: "Diadyomene! Diadyomene!"'
she shrilled like a sea-bird. 'It is my name--Diadyomene--of a good
signification for you. I hold your promise; when you hear "Diadyomene"
you are pledged to follow.'
She waited for no answer; with a gesture of farewell was away for the
sea, from the moon-white sand springing into the shadows over the harsh
interval of boulders. The vista let a vague moving shape show, lessening
as she sped across the desolate chasm without. One strip of moonlight lay
half-way, at the edge of the retreating sea. There a swift silver-white
figure leapt clear, with dark hair flying an ineffectual veil, with arms
rising wide in responsive balance to the quick free footing. It was
gone--gone utterly--a plunge beyond restored her to her sea.
Christian stood motionless long after she had disappeared, so long that
the moon paled, that dawn quickened in the east, that day spread wide.
Responding to the daylight, broad awake rose reason to rebuke his senses
for accepting fair words and a fair shape as warranty for fair dealing.
And till midday reason domineered; while he abode the slack, while he
battled for shore, while he mended and launched, while the cry
'Diadyomene! Diadyomene!' swept down on white wings, went before,
shifted, wheeled; while, so guided, reefs and breakers threatened close
on every hand, fell behind and left him scatheless.
Oh, safe upon the waveless blue reason fell prostrate, abashed; and the
heart of Christian, enfranchised, leapt high in exultation, so that with
laughter, and glad praise, and proud and happy calls of farewell, he set
sail for home and was carried away from the Isle Sinister.