I went back to the hotel at once, determined to post myself as toLammas-tide; its facts and constitutions, and the beliefs and traditionsthat hung around it. Also to learn the hours of the tides, and the ageof the moon about the time of Lammas-tide. Doubtless I could have foundout all I wanted from some of the ministers of the various houses ofreligion which hold in Cruden; but I was not wishful to make public,even so far, the mystery which was closing around me. My feeling waspartly a saving sense of humour, or the fear of ridicule, and partly agenuine repugnance to enter upon the subject with any one who might nottake it as seriously as I could wish. From which latter I gather thatthe whole affair was becoming woven into the structure of my life.
Possibly it was, that some trait, or tendency, or power which wasindividual to me was beginning to manifest itself and to find its meansof expression. In my secret heart I not only believed but knew that someinstinct within me was guiding my thoughts in some strange way. Thesense of occult power which is so vital a part of divination was growingwithin me and asserting its masterdom, and with it came an equallyforceful desire of secrecy. The Seer in me, latent so long, was becomingconscious of his strength, and jealous of it.
At this time, as the feeling of strength and consciousness grew, itseemed to lose something of its power from this very cause. Gradually itwas forced upon me that for the full manifestation of such faculty asI might possess, some kind of abstraction or surrender of self wasnecessary. Even a few hours of experience had taught me much; for nowthat my mind was bent on the phenomena of Second Sight the whole livingand m
oving world around me became a veritable diorama of possibilities.Within two days from the episode at the Pier head I had had behind me alarger experience of effort of occult force than generally comes to aman in a lifetime. When I look back, it seems to me that all the forcesof life and nature became exposed to my view. A thousand things whichhitherto I had accepted in simple faith as facts, were pregnant withnew meanings. I began to understand that the whole earth and sea,and air--all that of which human beings generally ordinarily takecognisance, is but a film or crust which hides the deeper moving powersor forces. With this insight I began to understand the grand guesses ofthe Pantheists, pagan and christian alike, who out of their spiritualand nervous and intellectual sensitiveness began to realise that therewas somewhere a purposeful cause of universal action. An action which inits special or concrete working appeared like the sentience of nature ingeneral, and of the myriad items of its cosmogony.
I soon learned that Lammas day is the first of August and is so oftenaccompanied by heavy weather that Lammas floods are almost annuallyrecurrent. The eve of the day is more or less connected with varioussuperstitions.
This made me more eager for further information, and by the aid of achance friend, I unearthed at Aberdeen a learned professor who gave meoffhand all the information which I desired. In fact he was so full ofastronomical learning that I had to stop him now and again in order toelucidate some point easily explainable to those who understood histerminology, but which wrapped my swaddling knowledge in a mystery allits own. I have a sneaking friendliness even now for anyone to whom theword 'syzygy' carries no special meaning.
I got at the bases of facts, however, and understood that on the nightof July 31, which was the eve of Lammas-tide, the moon would be full atmidnight. I learned also that from certain astronomical reasons the tidewhich would ostensibly begin its flow a little after midnight would inreality commence just on the stroke. As these were the points whichconcerned me I came away with a new feeling of awe upon me. It seemedas though the heavens as well as the earth were bending towards therealisation or fulfillment of the old prophecy. At this time my ownconnection with the mystery, or how it might affect me personally, didnot even enter my head. I was content to be an obedient item in thegeneral scheme of things.
It was now the 28th July so, if it were to take place at the Lammas-tideof the current year, we should know soon the full measure of thedenouement. There was but one thing wanting to complete the conditionsof the prophecy. The weather had been abnormally dry, and there mightafter all be no Lammas floods. To-day, however, the sky had been heavilyovercast. Great black clouds which seemed to roll along tumbling overand over, as the sail of a foundered boat does in a current, loomed upfrom the west. The air grew closer, and to breathe was an effort. A sortof shiver came over the wide stretch of open country. Darker and darkergrew the sky, till it seemed so like night that the birds in the fewlow-lying coppices and the scanty hedgerows ceased to sing. The bleat ofsheep and the low of cattle seemed to boom through the still air with ahollow sound, as if coming from a distance. The intolerable stillnesswhich precedes the storm became so oppressive that I, who am abnormallysusceptible to the moods of nature, could almost have screamed out.
Then all at once the storm broke. There was a flash of lightning sovivid that it lit up the whole country away to the mountains whichencircle Braemar. The fierce crash and wide roll of the thunder followedwith incredible quickness. And then the hot, heavy-dropped summer rainfell in torrents.
All that afternoon the rain fell, with only a few brief intervals ofglowing sunshine. All night, too, it seemed to fall without ceasing,for whenever I woke--which I did frequently with a sense over me ofsomething impending--I could hear the quick, heavy patter on the roof,and the rush and gurgle of the overcharged gutters.
The next day was one of unmitigated gloom. The rain poured downceaselessly. There was little wind, just sufficient to rollnorth-eastwards the great masses of rain-laden clouds piled up by theGulf Stream against the rugged mountains of the western coast and itsrocky islands. Two whole days there were of such rain, and then therewas no doubt as to the strength of the Lammas floods this year. All thewide uplands of Buchan were glistening with runnels of water wheneverthe occasional glimpses of sunshine struck them. Both the Water ofCruden and the Back Burn were running bank high. On all sides it wasreported that the Lammas floods were the greatest that had been known inmemory.
All this time my own spiritual and intellectual uneasiness wasperpetually growing. The data for the working of the prophecy were allfixed with remarkable exactness. In theatrical parlance 'the stage wasset' and all ready for the action which was to come. As the hours woreon, my uneasiness changed somewhat and apprehension became merged in acurious mixture of superstition and exaltation. I was growing eager tothe coming time.
The afternoon of July 31 was fine. The sun shone brightly; the air wasdry and, for the time of year, cool. It seemed as though the spell ofwet weather was over and that fiery August was coming to its own again.The effects of the rainstorm were, however, manifest. Not only was everyrill and stream and river in the North in spate but the bogs of themountains were so saturated with wet that many days must elapse beforethey could cease to send their quota to swell the streams. The mountainvalleys were generally lakes in miniature. As one went through thecountry the murmur or rush of falling water was forever in the ears. Isuppose it was in my own case partly because I was concerned in the mereexistence of Lammas floods that the whole of nature seemed so insistenton the subject. The sound of moving water in its myriad gamut was soperpetually in my ears that I could never get my mind away from it. Ihad a long walk that afternoon through roads still too wet and heavy forbicycling. I came back to dinner thoroughly tired out, and went to bedearly.
CHAPTER V
THE MYSTERY OF THE SEA
I do not remember what woke me. I have a vague idea that it was a voice,but whether outside the house or within myself I know not.
It was eleven o'clock by my watch when I left the Kilmarnock Arms andtook my way across the sandhills, heading for the Hawklaw which stoodout boldly in the brilliant moonlight. I followed the devious sheeptrack amongst the dunes covered with wet bent-grass, every now and againstumbling amongst the rabbit burrows which in those days honeycombed thesandhills of Cruden Bay. At last I came to the Hawklaw, and, climbingthe steep terraced edge near the sea, sat on the top to breathe myselfafter the climb.
The scene was one of exquisite beauty. Its natural loveliness wasenhanced by the softness of the full yellow moonlight which seemed toflood the heavens and the earth alike. To the south-east the bleakpromontory of Whinnyfold stood out stark and black as velvet and therocks of the Skares were like black dots in the quivering sea of gold. Iarose and went on my way. The tide was far out and as I stumbled alongthe rude path above the waste of boulders I had a feeling that I shouldbe late. I hurried on, crossed the little rill which usually onlytrickled down beside the fishers' zigzag path at the back of Whinnyfoldbut which was now a rushing stream--again the noise of falling water,the voice of the Lammas floods--and took the cart track which ran hardby the cliff down to the point which looked direct upon the Skares.
When I reached the very edge of the cliff, where the long sea-grassand the deep clover felt underfoot like a luxurious carpet, I was notsurprised to see Gormala seated, looking out seawards. The broad trackof the moon lay right across the outmost rock of the Skares and fallingacross some of the jagged rocks, which seemed like fangs rising fromthe deep water as the heave of the waveless sea fell back and the whitewater streamed down, came up to where we stood and seemed to bathe boththe Seer-woman and myself in light. There was no current anywhere, butonly the silent rise and fall of the water in the everlasting movementof the sea. When she heard me behind her Gormala turned round, and thepatient calmness of her face disappeared. She rose quickly, and as shedid so pointed to a small boat which sailing up from the south was nowdrawing opposite to us and appeared to be making a course as close toshore as possible, just clearing the outer bulwark of the Skares.
"Look!" she said, "Lauchlane Macleod comes by his lanes. The rocks arearound him, and his doom is at hand!"
There did not appear any danger in such a course; the wind was gentle,the tide was at the still moment between ebb and flow, and thesmoothness of the water beyond the rock seemed to mark its great depth.
All at once the boat seemed to stand still,--we were too far off to heara sound even on such a still night. The mast bent forward and brokeshort off, the sails hung limp in the water with the peak of the lugsail sticking up in a great triangle, like the fin of a mammoth shark. Afew seconds after, a dark speck moved on the water which became agitatedaround it; it was evident that a swimmer was making for the land. Iwould have gone to help him had it been of use; but it was not, theouter rock was half a mile away. Indeed, though I knew it was no use,I was yet about to swim to meet him when Gormala's voice behind mearrested me:
"Do ye no see that gin ye meet him amid yon rocks, ye can, when the tidebegins to race, be no help to any. If he can win through, ye may helphim if ye bide here." The advice was good and I stayed my feet. Theswimmer evidently knew the danger, for he hurried frantically to winsome point of safety before the tide should turn. But the rocks of theSkares are deadly steep; they rise from the water sheer everywhere,and to climb them from the sea is a hopeless task. Once and again theswimmer tried to find a chink or cranny where he could climb; but eachtime he tried to raise himself he fell back into the water. Moreover Icould see that he was wounded, for his left hand hung idle. He seemed torealise the hopelessness of the task, and turning, made desperately forthe part where we stood. He was now within the most dangerous spot inthe whole region of the Skares. The water is of great depth everywhereand the needlepoints of rocks rise almost to the very surface. It isonly when the waves are rough at low water that they can be seen at all,when the dip of the waves leaves them bare; but from the surface incalm weather they cannot be seen as the swirl of the tide around themis invisible. Here, too, the tide, rounding the point and having thecurrent broken by the masses of the great rock, rolls with inconceivablerapidity. I had too often watched from the headland where my home was tobe the set of the tide not to know the danger. I shouted as loudly as Icould, but for some reason he did not hear me. The moments ere the tideshould turn seemed like ages; and yet it was with a sudden shock that Iheard the gurgle of moving water followed by the lap, lap, lap, gettingquicker each second. Somewhere inland a clock struck twelve.
The tide had turned and was beginning to flow.
In a few seconds the swimmer felt its effects, though he did not seem tonotice them. Then he was swept towards the north. All at once there wasa muffled cry which seemed to reach slowly to where we stood, and theswimmer rolled over for an instant. It was only too apparent what hadhappened; he had struck his arm against one of the sunken rocks andinjured it. Then he commenced a mad struggle for life, swimming withouteither arm in that deadly current which grew faster and faster everymoment. He was breathless, and now and again his head dipped; but hekept on valiantly. At last in one of these dips, borne by the momentumof his own strength and the force of the current, he struck his headagainst another of the sunken rocks. For an instant he raised it, and Icould see it run red in the glare of the moonlight.
Then he sank; from the height where I stood I could see the body rollover and over in the fierce current which made for the outmost point tothe north-east of the promontory. I ran over as fast as I could, Gormalafollowing. When I came to the rock, which here shelved, I plunged in andafter a few strokes met by chance the body as it rolled upward. With adesperate effort I brought it to land.
The struggle to lift the body from the water and to bear it up the rockexhausted me, so that when I reached the top of the cliff I had to pausefor a few seconds to breathe hard. Since the poor fellow's struggle forlife had begun I had never for an instant given the prophecy a thought.But now, all at once, as I looked past the figure, lying limp before mewith the poor arms twisted unnaturally and the head turned--away pastthe moonlit sea and the great, golden orb whose track was wrinkled overthe racing tide, the full force of it burst upon me, and I felt a sortof spiritual transformation. The air seemed full of fluttering wings;sea and land alike teemed with life that I had not hitherto dreamedof. I fell in a sort of spiritual trance. But the open eyes were uponme; I feared the man was dead, but Briton-like I would not acceptthe conviction without effort. So I raised the body to my shoulders,determined to make with what speed I could for Whinnyfold where fire andwilling hands could aid in restoration. As I laid the limp body acrossmy shoulders, holding the two hands in my right hand to steady theburden whilst with the left I drew some of the clothing tight, I caughtGormala's eye. She had not helped me in any possible way, though morethan once in distress I had called to her. So now I said angrily:
"Get away woman! You should be ashamed of yourself never to help atsuch a time," and I took my way unaided. I did not heed at the timeher answer, spoken with a certain measure of deprecation, though itafterwards came back to me:
"Am I to wark against the Fates when They have spoken! The Dead are deadindeed when the Voice has whispered in their ears!"
Now, as I passed along with the hands of the dead man in mine--the trueshell of a man whose spirit could be but little space away whilst thestill blood in the veins was yet warm--a strange thing began to happen.The spirits of earth and sea and air seemed to take shape to me, and allthe myriad sounds of the night to have a sentient cause of utterance. AsI panted and struggled on, my physical effort warring equally with thenew spiritual experience so that nothing remained except sentience andmemory, I could see Gormala walking abreast me with even steps. Her eyesglared balefully with a fierce disa