THE MINISTERS OF THE DOOM
When at last I looked around me I was not surprised at anything I saw;
not even at the intense face of Gormala whose eyes, bright in the full
moonlight, were searching my face more eagerly than ever. I was lying on
the sand, and she was bending over me so closely that her face almost
touched mine. It was evident, even to my half-awake sensibilities, that
she was listening intently, lest even a whispered word from me should be
missed.
The witch-woman was still seemingly all afire, but withal there was
manifested in her face and bearing a sense of disappointment which
comforted me. I waited a few minutes until I felt my brain clear, and
my body rested from the intolerable strain which it had undergone in
carrying that terrific burden from Whinnyfold.
When I looked up again Gormala recognised the change in me, and her own
expression became different. The baleful glitter of her eyes faded,
and the blind, unreasoning hate and anger turned to keen inquiry. She
was not now merely baffled in her hopes, and face to face with an
unconscious man; there was at least a possibility of her gaining some
knowledge, and all the energy of her nature woke again as she spoke:
"So ye are back wi' the moon and me. Whither went ye when ye lay down
upon the sand. Was it back ye went, or forrart; wi' the ghaists into the
Holy Well and beyond in their manifold course; or back to their comin'
frae the sea and all that could there be told? Oh! mon, what it is to me
that any ither can gang like that into spirit land, and me have to wait
here by my lanes; to wring my hands an' torture my hairt in broken
hopes!" I answered her question with another:
"How do you mean that ghosts go into the well and beyond?" Her answer
was at the first given in a stern tone which became, however, softer, as
she went on.
"Knew ye not, that the Lammas Floods are the carriers o' the Dead; that
on Lammas nicht the Dead can win their way to where they will, under the
airth by wherever there is rinnin' watter. Happy be they that can gain a
Holy Well, an' so pass into the bowels o' the airth to where they list."
"And how and when do they return?"
"Dinna jest wi' Fate an' the Dead. They in their scope can gang and
return again; no een, save your ain, o' man or Seer has seen the method
o' their gangin'. No een, even yours, can see them steal out again in
the nicht, when the chosen graves that they hae sought hae taken from
them the dross o' the airth." I felt it was not wise to talk further, so
without a word I turned and walked home by the sheep tracks amongst the
sand hills. Now and again I stumbled in a rabbit hole, and as I would
sink forward the wet bent would brush against my face.
The walk back in the dark dawn seemed interminable. All this time
my mind was in a turmoil. I did not even seem to remember anything
definitely, or think consecutively; but facts and fancies swept through
my mind in a chaotic whirl. When I got to the house, I undressed quickly
and got into bed; I must have instantly fallen into a deep sleep.
Next afternoon I walked by the shore to Whinnyfold. It was almost
impossible to believe that I was looking at the same place as on last
night. I sat on the cliff where I had sat last night, the hot August
sun and the cool breeze from the sea being inconceivably soothing. So I
thought and thought.... The lack of sufficient sleep the night before
and the tired feeling of the physical strain I had undergone--my
shoulders still ached--told upon me, and I fell asleep.
When I waked Gormala stood in front of me.
After a long pause she spoke:
"I see that ye remember, else would ye ha' spoken to me. Will ye no tell
me all that ye saw? Then, wi' your Seer's een an' my knowledge o' the
fact we may thegither win oot the great Secret o' the Sea." I felt
stronger than ever the instinctive conviction that I must remain keenly
on guard with her. So I said nothing; waiting thus I should learn
something, whether from her words or her silence. She could not stand
this. I saw her colour rise till her face was all aglow with a red flush
that shamed the sunset; and at last the anger blazed in her eyes. It was
in a threatening tone which she spoke, though the words were themselves
sufficiently conciliatory:
"The Secrets o' the Sea are to be won; and tae thee and me it is given
to win them. What hae been is but an earnest of what will be. For ages
ithers have tried to win but hae failed; and if we fail too for lack o'
purpose or because ye like me not, then to ithers will come in time the
great reward. For the secrets are there, and the treasures lie awaiting.
The way is open for those to whom are the Gifts. Throw not away the
favour of the Fates. For if they be kind to give where they will, they
are hard to thwart, and their revenge is sure!" I must confess that her
words began to weaken my purpose. In one way inexorable logic was on
her side. Powers such as were mine were surely given for some purpose.
Might I not be wrong in refusing to use them. If the Final Cause of
my powers were purposeful, then might not a penalty be exacted from
me because I had thwarted the project. Gormala, with that diabolical
cunning of hers, evidently followed the workings of my mind, for her
face lit up. How she knew, I know not, but I do know that her eyes never
left mine. I suppose it may be that the eyes which have power to see
at times the inwardness of things have some abnormal power also of
expressing the thoughts behind them. I felt, however, that I was in
danger. All my instincts told me that once in Gormala's power I should
rue it, so I spoke out on the instant strongly:
"I shall have nothing to do with you whatever. Last night when you
refused to help me with the wounded man--whom you had followed,
remember, for weeks, hoping for his death--I saw you in your true
colours; and I mean to have nothing to do with you." Fierce anger blazed
again in her eyes; but again she controlled herself and spoke with an
appearance of calm, though it was won with great effort, as I could see
by the tension of her muscles:
"An' so ye would judge me that I would not help ye to bring the Dead to
life again! I knew that Lauchlane was dead! Aye! and ye kent it too as
weel as I did masel'. It needed no Seer to tell that, when ye brocht him
up the rocks oot o' the tide. Then, when he was dead, for why wad ye
no use him? Do the Dead themselves object that they help the livin' to
their ends while the blood is yet warm in them? Is it ye that object to
the power of the Dead? You whose veins have the power o' divination of
the quick; you to whom the heavens themselves opened, and the airth and
the watters under the airth, when the spirit of the Dead that ye carried
walked beside ye as ye ganged to St. Olaf's Well. An' as for me, what
hae I done that you should object. I saw, as you did, that Lauchlane's
sands were run. You and I are alike in that. To us baith was given to
see, by signs that ages have made sacred, that Fate had spoken in his
ears though he had himself not heard the Voice. Nay more, to me was only
given to see that the Voice had spoken. But to you was shown how, and
when, and where the Doom should come, though you yersel' that can read
the future as no ither that is known, canna read the past; and so could
na tell what a lesser one would ha' guessed at lang syne. I followed the
Doom; you followed the Doom. I by my cunnin'; you when ye waked frae yer
sleep, followin' yer conviction, till we met thegither for Lauchlane's
death, amid Lammas floods and under the gowden moon on the gowden sea.
Through his aid--aye, young sir--for wi'oot a fresh corp to aid, no Seer
o' airth could hae seen as ye did, that lang line o' ghaists ye saw last
nicht. Through his aid the wonders o' the heavens and the deep, o' airth
and air, was opened till ye. Wha then be ye that condemn me that only
saw a sign an' followed? Gin I be guilty, what be you?"
It would be impossible to describe the rude, wild, natural eloquence
with which this was spoken. In the sunset, the gaunt woman seemed to
tower above me; and as she moved her arms, the long shadows of them
stretched over the green down before us and away over the wrinkled sea
as though her gestures were, giant like, appealing to all nature.
I was distinctly impressed, for all that she said was quite true. She
had in reality done nothing that the law would call wrong. Lauchlane's
death was in no possible way due to any act of hers. She had only
watched him; and as he did not even know that she watched he could not
have been influenced in any way by it or by her. As to my own part! Her
words gave me a new light. Why had I risen in the night and come out to
Whinnyfold? Was it intuition, or a call from the witch-woman, who in
such case must have had some hypnotic influence over me? Or was it----?
I stood appalled at the unspoken thought. Could it be that the powers
of Nature which had been revealed to me in the dread hour had not only
sentience but purpose!
I felt that my tone was more conciliatory as I answered her:
"I did not mean to blame you for anything you had done. I see now that
your wrong was only passive." I felt that my words were weak, and my
feeling was emphasised by the scorn of her reply:
"My wrang was only passive! My wrang! What wrang hae I done that you
should sit in judgment on me. Could I hae helpit it when Lauchlane met
his death amang the rocks in the tide. Why you yoursel' sat here beside
me, an' ye no helpit him or tried to, strong man though ye be, that
could carry his corp frae here to St. Olaf's Well; for ye kenned that no
livin' arm could aid him in that hour o' doom. Aye! laddie, the Fates
know their wark o'er weel to hae ony such betterment o' their plans! An'
div ye think that by any act o' yer ain, or by any refusal o' act or
speech, ye can baffle the purpose o' the Doom. Ye are yet young and
ye must learn; then learn it now whiles ye can, that when the Word is
spoken all follows as ordained. Aye! though the Ministers o' the Doom be
many an' various, an' though they hae to gather in ane from many ages
an' frae the furthermost ends o' the airth!"
Gormala's logic and the exactness of her statement were too much for me.
I felt that I owed her some reparation and told her so. She received it
in her gaunt way with the dignity of an empress.
But there her dignity stopped; for seeing that she had got a lever
in her hands she began at once, womanlike, to use it. Without any
hesitation or delay she asked me straightly to tell her what I had seen
the night before. The directness of her questioning was my best help; my
heart hardened and my lips closed. She saw my answer before I had spoken
it, and turned away with an eloquent, rugged gesture of despair. She
felt that her last hope was gone; that her last bolt had been sped in
vain.
With her going, the link with last night seemed to break, and as she
passed up the road the whole of that strange experience became dimmer
and dimmer.
I walked home by Cruden sands in a sort of dream. The chill and strain
of the night before seemed to affect me more and more with each hour.
Feeling fatigued and drowsy I lay down on my bed and sank into a heavy,
lethargic sleep.
The last thing I remember is the sounding of the dinner-gong, and a dim
resolution not to answer its call....
* * * * *
It was weeks after, when the fever had passed away, that I left my bed
in the Kilmarnock Arms.