THE ISLES OF ST. MAGDALEN.
The schooner went out into the night and sailed for the north star. The
wind was strong that filled her sails; the ocean turbulent, black and
cold, with the glittering white of moonlight on the upper sides of the
waves. The little cabin in the forecastle was so hot and dirty that to
Caius, for the first half of the night, it seemed preferable almost to
perish of cold upon the deck rather than rock in a narrow bunk below.
The deck was a steep inclined plane, steady, but swept constantly with
waves, as an incoming tide sweeps a beach. Caius was compelled to crouch
by what support he could find, and, lying thus, he was glad to cover
himself up to the chin with an unused sail, peeping forth at the gale
and the moonlight as a child peeps from the coverings of its cot.
With the small hours of the night came a cold so intense that he was
driven to sleep in the cabin where reigned the small iron stove that
brewed the skipper's odorous pot. After he had slept a good way into the
next day, he came up again to find the gale still strong and the
prospect coloured now with green of wave and snow of foam, blue of sky
and snow of winged cloud. The favourable force was still pushing them
onward toward the invisible north star.
It was on the evening of that day that they saw the islands; five or six
hilly isles lay in a half-circle. The schooner entered this bay from the
east. Before they came near the purple hills they had sighted a fleet of
island fishing boats, and now, as night approached, all these made also
for the same harbour. The wind bore them all in, they cutting the water
before them, gliding round the point of the sand-bar, making their way
up the channel of the bay in the lessening light, a chain of gigantic
sea-birds with white or ruddy wings.
All around the bay the islands lay, their hills a soft red purple in the
light of a clear November evening. In the blue sky above there were
layers of vapour like thin gray gossamers, on which the rosy light
shone. The waters of the bay were calmer than the sea outside, yet they
were still broken by foam; across the foam the boats went sweeping,
until in the shadow of the isles and the fast-descending night they each
furled their sails and stopped their journey. It was in the western side
of the bay that the vessels lay, for the gale was from the west, and
here they found shelter; but night had descended suddenly, and Caius
could only see the black form of the nearest island, and the twinkling
lights that showed where houses were collected on its shore. They waited
there till the moon rose large and white, touching the island hills
again into visible existence. It was over one small rocky island that
she rose; this was the one that stood sentry at the entrance of the bay,
and on either side of it there were moon-lit paths that stretched far
out into the gulf. On the nearer island could be seen long sand reaches,
and dark rounded hills, and in a hollow of the hills the clustered
lights. When the moonlight was bright the master of the schooner lowered
a boat and set Caius and his traps ashore, telling him that some day
when the gale was over he could make his way to the island of Cloud. The
skipper said that the gale might blow one day, or two, or three, or
more, but it could not blow always, and in the meantime there was
entertainment to be had for those who could pay for it on the nearer
isle.
When Caius stood upon the beach with his portmanteaus beside him, some
half a dozen men clustered round; in their thick garments and mufflers
they looked outlandish enough. They spoke English, and after much
talking they bore his things to a small house on the hillside. He heard
the wind clamour against the wooden walls of this domicile as he stood
in its porch before the door was opened. The wind shouted and laughed
and shook the house, and whistled and sighed as it rushed away. Below
him, nearer the shore, lay the village, its white house-walls lit by the
moonlight, and beyond he could see the ships in the glittering bay.
When the door opened such a feast of warmth and comfort appeared to his
eyes that he did not soon forget it, for he had expected nothing but the
necessaries of life. Bright decoration of home-made rugs and ornaments
was on all sides, and a table was laid.
They were four spinsters of Irish descent who kept this small inn, and
all that good housewifery could do to make it comfortable was done. The
table was heaped with such dainties as could be concocted from the
homely products of the island; large red cranberries cooked in syrup
gave colour to the repast. Soon a broiled chicken was set before Caius,
and steaming coffee rich with cream.
To these old maids Caius was obliged to relate wherefore he had come and
whither he was bound. He told his story with a feeling of self-conscious
awkwardness, because, put it in as cursory a manner as he would, he felt
the heroism of his errand must appear; nor was he with this present
audience mistaken. The wrinkled maidens, with their warm Irish hearts,
were overcome with the thought that so much youth and beauty and
masculine charm, in the person of the young man before them, should be
sacrificed, and, as it seemed to them, foolishly.
The inhabitants of Cloud Island, said these ladies, were a worthless
set; and in proof of it they related to him how the girls of The Cloud
were not too nice in their notions to marry with the shipwrecked sailors
from foreign boats, a thing they assured him that was never done on
their own island. Italian, or German, or Norwegian, or whoever the man
might be, if he had good looks, a girl at The Cloud would take him!
And would not they themselves, Caius asked, in such a case, take pity on
a stranger who had need of a wife?
Whereat they assured him that it was safer to marry a native islander,
and that no self-respecting woman could marry with a man who was not
English, or Irish, or Scotch, or French. It was of these four latter
nationalities that the native population of the islands was composed.
But the ladies told him worse tales than these, for they said the devil
was a frequent visitor at Cloud Island, and at times he went out with
the fishers in their boats, choosing now one, now another, for a
companion; and whenever he went, there was a wonderful catch of fish;
but the devil must have his full share, which he ate raw and without
cleaning--a thing which no Christian could do. He lived in the round
valleys of the sand-dune that led to The Cloud. It was a convenient
hiding-place, because when you were in one valley you could not see into
the next, and the devil always leaped into the one that you were not in.
As to the pestilence, it was sent as a judgment because the people had
these impious dealings with the Evil One; but the devil could put an end
to it if he would.
It was strange to see the four gray-haired sisters as they sat in a row
against the wall and told him in chiming sentences these tales with full
belief.
"And what sort of a disease is it?" asked Caius, curious to hear more.
"It's the sore throat and the choke, sir," said the eldest sister, "and
a very bad disease it is, for if it doesn't stop at the throat, it flies
direct to the stomach, sir, and then you can't breathe."
Caius pondered this description for a few moments, and then he formed a
question which was to the point.
"And where," said he, "is the stomach?"
At which she tapped her chest, and told him it was there.
He had eaten somewhat greedily, and when he found that the linen of his
bed was snow-white and the bed itself of the softest feathers, he lay
down with great contentment. Not even the jar and rush of the wind as it
constantly assaulted the house, nor the bright moonlight against the
curtainless window, kept him awake for a moment. He slept a dreamless
sleep.