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+Project Gutenberg's The Treasure of the Isle of Mist, by W. W. Tarn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Treasure of the Isle of Mist
+
+Author: W. W. Tarn
+
+Release Date: November 23, 2010 [EBook #34410]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE OF THE ISLE OF MIST ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+TREASURE
+OF THE
+ISLE OF MIST
+
+BY
+W. W. TARN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+NEW YORK AND LONDON
+The Knickerbocker Press
+1920
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY
+W. W. TARN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+A FAIRY TALE FOR
+MY DAUGHTER
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  CHAPTER                                 PAGE
+  I.    THE GIFT OF THE SEARCH               1
+  II.   THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE            14
+  III.  THE HAUNTED CAVE                    31
+  IV.   THE URCHIN VANISHES                 47
+  V.    THE OREAD                           88
+  VI.   THE KING OF THE WOODCOCK           111
+  VII.  FIONA IN THE FAIRY-WORLD           131
+  VIII. FIONA FINDS HER TREASURE           181
+
+
+
+
+The Treasure of the Isle of Mist
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE GIFT OF THE SEARCH
+
+
+The Student and Fiona lived in a little gray house on the shores of a
+gray sea-loch in the Isle of Mist. The Student was a thin man with a
+stoop to his shoulders, which old Anne MacDermott said came of reading
+books; but really it was because he had been educated at a place where
+this is expected of you. Fiona, when she was doing nothing else, used
+to help Anne to keep house, rather jerkily, in the way a learned man
+may be supposed to like. She was a long-legged creature of fifteen,
+who laughed when her father threatened her with school on the
+mainland, and she had a warm heart and a largish size in shoes.
+Sometimes they had dinner; sometimes nobody remembered in time, and
+they had sunset and salt herrings, with a bowl of glorious yellow
+corn-daisies to catch the sunset.
+
+It was Anne who saw the old hawker crossing the field behind the
+house, and burst in on the bookroom to inform the Student that he
+wanted buttons. She was met by a patient remonstrance on her ambiguous
+use of language:
+
+"For," said the Student, "if you mean that buttons are lacking to me,
+there may be something to be said for you; but if you mean that I
+desire buttons, then indeed I do not desire buttons; I desire . . ."
+
+Whereon Anne fled, and went out to meet the hawker. The frail old man,
+bending under his pack, was crossing the meadow behind the house,
+brushing his way through the September clover. His white hair was
+uncovered save for the huge umbrella which he carried alike in sun
+and rain; but youth still lingered in his eyes, which were bright as
+the dawn and deep as the sea-caves. Behind him followed a little
+rough-haired terrier, black as jet, his inseparable companion. At the
+door he unslung his pack, and, leaving Anne to select her buttons,
+passed straight through, knocked at the bookroom door, and went in.
+
+The Student wheeled round in his chair and began to grope about.
+
+"Have you seen my spectacles?" he said. "I can't see who you are till
+I put them on, and I can't put them on till you find them for me, for
+I can't see to find them myself unless I have them on. Pardon this
+involved sentence."
+
+The old hawker picked up the missing spectacles and handed them over.
+
+"You wouldn't remember me, in any case," he said. "I last saw you
+twenty-five years ago, when you were trying to dig at Verria. There
+was an old man there, do you remember, being beaten by armed
+Bashi-Bazouks, and you held them up with an empty revolver, and took
+the old man to your camp and nursed him, and you said things to the
+Turkish Governor, and . . ."
+
+"My excavations came to an untimely end," said the Student. "I always
+owed that old man a grudge for being beaten before my tent. Why
+couldn't he have been beaten somewhere else? I should like to meet him
+again and tell him precisely what I thought of his conduct."
+
+"You have done both now," said the hawker. "And it is his turn."
+
+"Impossible," said the Student. "He was as old twenty-five years ago
+as you are now."
+
+"At my age," said the old man, "one grows no older. No one who walks
+the world as I do need ever grow any older. You can walk thirty miles
+on Monday when you are twenty years old; good. If you can do it on
+Monday you can do it on Tuesday; and if on Tuesday, then on Wednesday;
+therefore, by an easy reckoning, you can do it as well at eighty
+years old as at twenty. Thus you never age."
+
+"There's a flaw in that somewhere," said the Student. "I know; it's
+the Heap. How many grains of sand make a heap?"
+
+"How many buttons do you want?" said the hawker. "You saved my life
+once; you shall have all the buttons you want for nothing."
+
+"I thought you couldn't answer my question," said the Student. "But we
+are getting on much too fast; we haven't really begun yet. I suppose
+you came here to sell things? Anne seemed to know you, and she said I
+wanted buttons. I pointed out to her that her statement was either an
+untruth or a truism, and equally objectionable in either sense; and
+now you repeat it, just as I was beginning to consider you quite an
+intelligent person. By the way, who are you?"
+
+"I have a different name in most countries which I visit," said the
+old man. "But by profession I sell buttons--and other things."
+
+"What sort of things?" said the Student.
+
+"I have dreams," said the old man, "dreams and the matter of dreams;
+imaginings of the impossible come true; the wonder of the hills at
+sunrise; the quest of unearthly treasure among the moon-flowers; the
+look in the eyes of a child that trusts you."
+
+The Student took off his spectacles, rubbed his eyes hard, and settled
+his shoulders.
+
+"I desire something very much," he said. "If you can do all that, you
+can give me what I desire."
+
+The hawker frowned.
+
+"You are a scholar," he said, "and I can do nothing for scholars. You
+need no ideal, for you have one. You need no dreams, for your life is
+one. For you, the earth pours out hidden treasure, and the impossible
+comes true day by day. What you desire just now is a long definite
+inscription to settle a controverted point in your favor. And if I
+could give it you, just think how miserable you'd be. Nothing further
+to argue about, there; and several quite happy and contentious
+professors would be reduced to such straits that I don't know what
+crimes you might all commit. You might even take to making money."
+
+"If I wanted money," said the Student, "I should, being an intelligent
+person, at once proceed to make it. Then I should have to live in the
+big house again, instead of letting it, and my precious time would be
+spent in arguing with my gardener and endeavoring to conceal my
+ignorance from my chauffeur. As it is, we live anyhow, and I am
+happy."
+
+"Happiness doesn't score any points in the game," said the hawker.
+"What good do you and your inscriptions do, anyway?"
+
+"That's not my job here," said the Student. "That will come on
+afterwards. Besides, I don't want to do good. I am old-fashioned; why
+should I take my neighbor by the throat and say, 'Let me do good to
+you, or it shall be the worse for you and yours'? Besides, I can't do
+good. You can't dot the wilderness with prosperous homesteads when
+half the years the oats don't ripen till the year after. Besides, I
+do do good; I have let the big house to shooting tenants, and it's
+excellent for their health. Besides seventeen other reasons, which I
+can enumerate if you are able to bear them. Besides, Fiona is fond of
+me."
+
+"Yes," said the old man softly, "that's your real justification. And
+it's a great deal more than I could give you; my hawker's licence
+doesn't cover the big things. How many buttons do you want?"
+
+Fiona came scrambling through the open window, and curled herself up
+on the rug with her head on the Student's knee. The Student stroked
+her hair.
+
+"Tell me what it's all about," she said.
+
+"This gentleman," he said, "once interrupted a very important piece of
+work which I was doing, and I was just about to tell him exactly what
+I thought of him when you interrupted me."
+
+The old hawker had risen and bowed courteously to the girl.
+
+"My dear young lady," he said, "I have been searching my pack for a
+present for your father, and found nothing suitable. But perhaps I
+could find something for you."
+
+Fiona jumped up.
+
+"Have you a hedgehog?" was her question.
+
+"I do not carry them with me, as a general thing," said the old man.
+"No doubt one could be got. But why a hedgehog?"
+
+"I want one for the Urchin," she said. "You see, it's his namesake."
+
+"I see," said the old man, quite gravely. "And who is the Urchin?"
+
+"The Urchin," said the Student, "is a young rascal who is the son of
+my shooting tenant. He plunders my daughter of all her possessions,
+and she abets him in every form of villainy."
+
+"I do try to stop him throwing stones at things," said the girl.
+
+"Here are hedgehogs," said the hawker. "Isn't that lucky, now?"
+
+Past the window came five hedgehogs in a solemn row, two big and
+three little. Behind them, marshalling the procession, walked the
+black terrier, with an eye of happy drollery.
+
+"There's something wrong about those hedgehogs," said the girl. "They
+don't do things like that. I don't think I want a hedgehog any more,
+thank you. How did you make them do that? Is your dog a conjurer?"
+
+"I never harm anything," said the old man, "so that many creatures
+will come to me when I call. But I have better presents than that."
+
+"Choose for her, my friend," said the Student.
+
+The old man began talking to himself in a low voice.
+
+"Youth she has," he said, "and freedom, and the joy of life. Wonder
+also, and dim imaginings of unseen things. And of the things which men
+desire, fame and power are not worth giving, and love is not mine to
+give. I have it. I give you the Search," he said. "The search for the
+treasure of the Isle of Mist. Others have searched for it before; and
+some have found; but the treasure never grows less."
+
+"That's splendid," said the girl. "And when I find the treasure I will
+buy my father seven great books which no one else wants to read, and
+he will be perfectly happy."
+
+"But I did not promise treasure," said the old man. "I promised a
+search."
+
+Fiona's face fell.
+
+"Then am I not to find anything at the end of it?" she asked.
+
+The old man chuckled quietly.
+
+"I did not say that either," he said. "There _is_ a treasure, and you
+shall search for it; and you will find it if you are able. Many there
+are who helped to build it up. Cuchulain and the forgotten heroes who
+fought before Cuchulain; Ossian and the forgotten bards who sang
+before Ossian; Columba and the forgotten saints who died before
+Columba; each has added something to the pile. It is their treasure
+which you shall seek for; that is my gift to you."
+
+"How shall I know where to begin?" asked the girl. "And may I take the
+Urchin with me?"
+
+"Whether you can take the Urchin with you or not depends on his
+capacity to go," said the old man. "And as to beginning, I think you
+will find that the Search will begin itself, independently of you. It
+always does. But I can give you something that will help you," and he
+took out of his pocket a red copper bangle, rudely hammered out with
+some rough implement, which he slipped over her wrist. "That was made
+long ago," he said, "made by men to whom metal was a new toy, men who
+perhaps were nearer to the heart of things than we are."
+
+"You will stay and have some dinner, will you not?" said the Student.
+"At least, if this is a dinner night. Fiona, is this a dinner night?"
+
+"I have my doubts," said the girl. "Oat cake and honeysuckle, I
+expect."
+
+"And what better?" said the old man. "But I fear I could not dine with
+you, were it ortolans and Tokay. For I may never eat beneath a roof.
+The open moor is my dining hall, and the stars serve me. And the long
+white road is calling me even now. But I think that before the
+treasure is found you will see me again."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE
+
+
+"Man," said the Student, "is a weird creature. He dimly remembers that
+he began his evolution, not as a pair, but as a horde; and to the
+horde he still seeks, forming huge crowds during his working days, and
+on his holidays merely transferring the same crowds in their totality
+to some other place, accompanied by a great deal of purposeless noise.
+Apart from his crowd he apparently feels chilly, and without noise
+unhappy. Nothing is more striking to the reflective mind than the
+abdication of civilization in the face of meaningless noises."
+
+"Daddy," said Fiona, "I want your advice on the matter of treasure
+hunting. For if two go together, they don't make a crowd, and they
+needn't make a noise."
+
+"Quote correctly," said the Student. "What Homer said was, that if you
+and I went to look for a treasure, I, being a mere man, would find it
+at once by logical processes of induction and deduction, while you,
+being a superior woman, were losing yourself in the quicksands of the
+intuitive short cut."
+
+"Sir," said the girl, "your word is law to me. Therefore deduce."
+
+"Persiflage," said the Student, "is not to be encouraged in young
+children. Remember that if you were to force me to do so I might come
+with you, and then I should see exactly how you bungled the thing."
+
+"But that's what I want you to do, daddy," said Fiona.
+
+"I don't," said the Student. "Though treasure hunting is quite an
+ancient and respectable amusement. For treasure, some have descended
+the crater of Popocatapetl; some have dived at Tobermory; some have
+dug in Kensington Gardens. Alexander found a treasure at Persepolis,
+and Essex lost another in Cadiz harbor. The treasure of the Incas lies
+hid in a Peruvian ravine, known but to two Indians at a time; the
+plunder which Alaric took from Rome is still beneath the river which
+he diverted to guard it. No one has ever found the hoard of Captain
+Kidd, or the gold carried in the Venetian galleon which sailed with
+the Armada and went on the rocks in this loch. The pursuit of treasure
+is, therefore, no doubt, for the young, a legitimate pastime."
+
+"Daddy," said Fiona, "did one of the Armada ships really go ashore
+here?"
+
+"Yes, my dear," said the Student. "She was a great Venetian, called
+after the Madonna of the Holy Cross, and she carried the doubloons
+contributed by the Church."
+
+"That's not the treasure the old man meant," said the girl.
+
+"It is not," said the Student. "We know all about the Venetian ship.
+The crew were mostly knocked on the head, but the captain brought the
+doubloons ashore and hid them. He himself was saved by my ancestor for
+the time being, to whom he gave a map showing the place in the cave in
+which the treasure was hidden. He never came back for it. So far,
+everything proceeded on approved lines. Unhappily, my ancestor was a
+careless sort of person, and gambled the plan away. We never heard any
+more of it. It is, however, a family tradition that there was nothing
+on the plan to identify the cave; and as this coast, and the islands
+in the loch, are honeycombed with caves, it would be of little use if
+we had it. No one knows whereabouts the galleon went ashore. On calm
+nights her officers may be seen swimming round the cliffs, keeping
+guard still over their holy gold. Angus MacEachan saw one once, and
+tried to speak to him; but he turned into a seal, and just looked at
+Angus with large patient eyes; and Angus' boat was wrecked the week
+after."
+
+"And did you never search for the gold, daddy?" asked Fiona.
+
+"Never, my dear," he said. "In the first place, it would mean a minute
+examination of some 170 caves. In the second place, half of the caves
+are not mine. In the third place, it is not the kind of treasure I
+want. In the fourth place, I haven't time. In the fifth place, I am
+morally certain it is not there now. In the sixth place, the
+Government would claim it as treasure-trove. And in the seventh and
+last place, I never thought about it till you asked me."
+
+"I'm not getting any further with _my_ treasure hunting, daddy," said
+Fiona. "Let's go out together and start."
+
+"My dear," said the Student, "it's your search, not mine. It's no use
+my trying to come with you. And I have a fancy that it won't begin
+like that."
+
+"Can you tell me how to begin then, daddy?" she asked.
+
+"I suppose by taking no notice of it," he said. "It was to begin
+itself, wasn't it? And I have an uncomfortable suspicion that you hunt
+this kind of treasure by turning round and going the other way. So I
+think you'd better run out and find the Urchin, and I'll get back to
+my inscriptions."
+
+The Urchin was Fiona's principal ally; a troublesome ally, owing to
+his propensity for throwing stones. She found him now on the shore,
+steadily bombarding a shore lark, that would move a little way out of
+range and then sit down again, affording a splendid target. Luckily
+the enthusiasm of the persecutor in pursuit was well matched by the
+inaccuracy of his aim.
+
+"Urchin," she called out, "if you hurt that bird the Little People
+will take you; I thought I'd knocked that into you all right, even if
+you _are_ English and slow in the uptake."
+
+"All right," said the Urchin with a grin. "We conquered you, anyway."
+
+"As a matter of fact," said the girl, "it was we who annexed you. If
+your people were as bad shots as you, Urchin, it must have been quite
+easy. You can't hit a bird sitting."
+
+"Can't I?" said the Urchin. "You watch." Another fling, and horrors!
+the shore lark rolled over, twittering helplessly and miserably.
+
+Fiona was across the rocks like a young goat; and when the Urchin,
+contrite but defiant, arrived, she had the wounded bird in her hands
+and was holding it to her breast, feeling gently for its hurt. It lay
+quite still, panting, and watching her with quick bright eyes.
+
+"Broken wing," she said. "I believe it will mend. Urchin, you are a
+mere beast. You'd better go home; I don't want ever to see you again."
+
+The Urchin turned scarlet.
+
+"That's just like a girl," he said. "First you tell me I can't hit the
+old bird, which is the same thing as telling me to hit it; and then
+when I do hit it you turn round on me and call names; and all the time
+you're just as bad as I am." And the Urchin turned and stalked off,
+an heroic figure with the mien of a Marcus Curtius about to save his
+country by leaping into the gulf. Unhappily there was a real gulf, and
+the boy, head in air, rolled neatly into it, and emerged from between
+two rocks, dripping and no longer heroic, rubbing a torn stocking and
+a scraped shin.
+
+It was too much for Fiona's gravity.
+
+"Urchin," she called, "come back here, _quick_." And as the unhappy
+Urchin stood in doubt, hither and thither dividing the swift mind, she
+slid over the rocks and caught him. "My fault," she said, "and I'm
+sorry all the way through. Now I'll mend you first, and then we must
+mend the bird."
+
+"And then what'll we do?" said the boy. "Let's do something harmless
+for a bit, hunt for shells or shrimps or . . ."
+
+"Treasure," suggested Fiona, rather shyly. And by the time they had
+reached the house, and she had repaired the Urchin, and disposed the
+wounded bird as comfortably as possible, the boy had been put in
+possession of the essential facts of the case.
+
+"Mar-vellous," was the Urchin's comment. "Now, don't you see, Fiona?
+you can have your treasure when we find it, and I'll have the Spanish
+treasure when we find it, and there we both are. I want lots and lots
+and lots of those doubloons."
+
+"What for?" said Fiona.
+
+"Gun," said the Urchin. "Donald Ruadh has an old gun which he would
+sell me for two pounds. He says one barrel shoots all right sometimes.
+And I would use the rest of the doubloons to buy cartridges, and then
+I could kill curlews."
+
+"You little wretch," said the girl. "You won't kill my curlews while
+I'm about. And anyhow your old gun would probably blow you up first.
+And anyhow you haven't got the doubloons yet. And they're not yours if
+you do find them."
+
+"Whose would they be?" asked the Urchin.
+
+"I suppose my father's," said Fiona. "But it depends on which cave
+they were in."
+
+"Come on, then," said the boy. "I'm going to ask him for them."
+
+The Student took the interruption good-humoredly.
+
+"I am in the second century," he said. "Doubloons have not yet been
+coined. As to these doubloons, I am quite sure they are not there,
+wherever 'there' may be; but if they are there, I have no objection to
+the Urchin fighting the Government for them. Urchin, would you like a
+deed?"
+
+And, to the delight of the Urchin, the Student proceeded to make out a
+document, which called on all men to know that the said Student
+thereby assigned to the said Urchin all the estate, right, title, and
+interest, if any, of the said Student in and to a certain treasure of
+doubloons or other coins once carried in the galleon called _Our Lady
+of the Holy Cross_ were the same a little more or less ("all good
+deeds get that in somewhere," said the Student) to hold to the said
+Urchin and his heirs ("but I don't suppose the heirs will see much of
+it") to the intent that he might become a wiser and a better Urchin
+and not interrupt the said Student any more when he wanted to work.
+This being done, the Student signed his name at the end, made a
+beautiful blot of hot red sealing wax and put his signet ring on it,
+and made Fiona sign her name as witness ("which is probably not
+legal," he explained cheerfully); then he handed over the deed to the
+rejoicing Urchin, with the remark that it was quite as good as many
+lawyers' deeds, and drove the pair of them out of the bookroom.
+
+"Good," said the Urchin. "Now I've a treasure just the same as you."
+
+"If we find them," said Fiona.
+
+"Well, let's go and start hunting for them at any rate," said the boy.
+
+"Pardon me," said the shore lark, "if I interrupt; but you might be
+the better of a few hints."
+
+Fiona dropped on her knees and took the little bird in her hands
+again.
+
+"So you can talk," she said. "That's jolly. You've a first-rate chance
+of returning good for evil, and making us feel worms."
+
+"Don't talk of worms," said the shore lark, "you have entirely omitted
+to provide me with any. Send him to get some, and I'll tell you
+something. He can't understand what I'm saying, anyhow."
+
+"Urchin," said the girl, "he's asking for worms. Go and get him some."
+
+"One would think you and he could talk to each other," said the boy.
+"Silly, I call it, going on like that. I suppose that's what girls
+do."
+
+"Urchin," said Fiona, "when you and I have a row, what happens?"
+
+"_You_ happen," said the Urchin. "You've three years' pull; 'tisn't
+fair; just like a girl, to go and have three years' pull of a chap."
+
+"Stop grousing," said the girl, "and get me the worms, there's a dear
+little boy."
+
+The Urchin flung the nearest book at her, missed as usual, and, having
+thus made his honor white, departed, declaring in simpler language
+that the love of worms was the root of all evil.
+
+"I can't tell you much," said the shore lark, "but one sometimes picks
+up things, hopping about, and I heard you say treasure. If you mean
+the Venetian ship, don't start without consulting the finner. He is
+very old, and I believe that he knows everything that happens in this
+loch."
+
+"I don't really mean that," said Fiona. "That's half a jest. I mean my
+own search, the search for the treasure of the Isle of Mist."
+
+"We have all heard of it," said the shore lark, "and we all know that
+you cannot find it by looking for it. All I can tell you is this: the
+curlews have a tradition that the last man who found it went up a
+hill. That is what they tell each other when they call in the spring;
+and I believe they know."
+
+"They are like the spirits of the hills themselves," said Fiona.
+"Tell me why it is I can understand you."
+
+"I have no idea," said the shore lark. "I am only a little bird, and I
+don't know very much. I chanced speaking to you because I wanted
+worms."
+
+The girl slipped across into the bookroom.
+
+"Daddy," she said, "come back out of the second century, and tell me
+why I can understand the shore lark."
+
+The Student looked up with a patient smile in far-away eyes.
+
+"It isn't time to come back yet," he said. "And I have not fully
+grasped your meaning. You appear to refer to some conversation with
+some bird. There are precedents, of course. For instance, the
+philosopher Empedocles, having been a bird himself in a former life,
+remembered their speech; he ended by leaping into Ætna. Siegfried
+also, having bathed in the blood of Fafnir, followed the voice of a
+bird of the wood; he ended by losing his love and his life. There was
+once a sailor who took the advice of a parrot, and was hanged. Birds
+are light-minded, as the poet Aristophanes discovered; and it would
+seem that little good comes of talking to them."
+
+"My shore lark is a darling," said Fiona. "And I don't intend to be
+hanged."
+
+"That," said the Student, "is as Providence pleases. One never knows,
+as my poor ancestor said when he fell into a bear-trap and found the
+bear there before him."
+
+"O daddy," said the girl, "did he really? And what happened?"
+
+"This ancestor of mine," said the Student, "was a very strong man. If
+he had not been, someone else would have killed him first, and he
+would not have been my ancestor; the other man would have been someone
+else's ancestor, so to speak. Being a very strong man, he naturally
+killed the bear. He must have, or he would not have lived to be my
+ancestor. In those days everyone lived in caves, and he lived in a
+cave too; and he always killed the other man, sometimes fairly,
+sometimes, I regret to say, otherwise. He courted my ancestress by
+knocking her down from behind with the blunt end of a stone ax, a
+method which I do not defend; but when her senses returned she told
+him he had acted like a man, and they became a most devoted couple.
+This was partly due, no doubt, to the fact that he never saw the
+meaning of the things she said; she took good care that he shouldn't,
+for though slow of wit he was handy with his ax. Their life I think
+must have been very happy till one day he found a red stone which he
+could heat and shape with his ax, and he hammered out that copper
+bracelet you're wearing; and then came the deluge, for metal meant
+magic then, as you know. Next day my ancestress found him conversing
+with the local vulture; within a week he was giving exhibitions in the
+other caves with the vulture's assistance; in a month he had become
+the tribal god; and about two years after, owing to the persistent
+failure of some of his magic to come off, he was, for a brief moment,
+the tribal banquet. Now you know what comes of talking to shore
+larks."
+
+"Daddy," she said, "you can't know if that's true or not, can you?"
+
+"It may not all be what _you_ call true," said the Student, "but it's
+true in quite a lot of ways. It's true psychologically, and
+anthropologically, and palæethnologically; and that does to start
+with. And I certainly _had_ ancestors. And there _is_ a bracelet. And
+you _were_ talking strange words about a shore lark. And you must
+really take care, my dear daughter; for you _ought_ now to become a
+tribal priestess, and be hurled from a high place into the sea the
+first season that the herring fail."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE HAUNTED CAVE
+
+
+A sunlit sheet of sea, violet and azure, clothed in slender cloud
+shadows and heaving gently to the long Atlantic ground-swell. Up
+through the calm water, to meet the eye of the gazer, came the green
+clearness of stone, and blinks of unveined sand showing white between
+the brown tangled blades of the great oar-weed; and you might see a
+school of little cuddies, heads all one way, playing hide and seek in
+the sea forest, and caring no whit for the clumsy armored crab beneath
+them, who crawled sideways, a laborious patch of color in the
+shimmering transparency. Up out of the deep water the gray rocks rose
+clear and fine, a mass of platforms and pinnacles, roughened with
+barnacles and tufted with dulse, whose crimson leaves floated and
+swung in the white foam of the lisping swell; and above the rocks and
+beyond the sea's reach the cliff stood up black, showing all the
+strata that had gone to the making of it outlined with little patches
+of coarse grass. On one such patch grazed without concern a sheep
+which had slipped over, happy in her ignorance of the fact that she
+could never be drawn up again alive; the wiser raven overhead was
+clanging away with short barks to tell his mate. On a ridge on the
+cliff side sat a pair of young scarfs, almost invisible save when they
+twisted their long necks about like two snakes, trying to make up
+their minds to follow their mother, who had just flopped clumsily into
+the water, feet first, and had turned there and then into a miracle of
+easy grace, as she used her head to dash the spray over her back. Out
+at sea a solan rose steadily in a sweeping spiral, the white and black
+of him glittering in the sun; suddenly he checked, reversed engines,
+and fell plump like an inverted cross, his long raking wings clapping
+to as he struck the water; a moment, and he was up, and there sat,
+choking and gobbling over his fish, ere he rose again in his majestic
+rings.
+
+The two children had grounded their boat on a little pebble beach
+between the rocks, and were sitting on a big tuft of sea pinks,
+munching handfuls of the sweet dulse and watching the solan at his
+fishing. They were by way of fishing themselves, but the afternoon was
+as yet too early and too clear for them. The Urchin had a pile of
+stones beside him, and was apparently trying to see how many times in
+twenty he could miss a large and obvious spur of rock. Fiona had a
+book of poetry, and was making intermittent efforts to read; but the
+world was too full of things to give poetry a fair chance.
+
+The Urchin threw his last stone away.
+
+"Silly sitting here," he said; "come and explore."
+
+So, scrambling and sliding, the two made their way across the rocks,
+stopping at every rock pool to raise its fringe of weed with careful
+hands and investigate the wonder of the little world below; sea
+flowers of every hue, white and green, gray and orange, purple and
+white and gray and purple again, some smooth and satisfied, others
+with tentacles greedily awash, that could be induced to suck at a
+small finger dexterously inserted; sea shells of every contour, some
+living and clutching at the rock, some cast off and dead, others again
+protruding alien claws, resurrected to a life of artificial movement
+by the little hermit crabs whose tails they sheltered; here and there
+the spiky pink globe of a sea urchin, waiting for the tide to float
+him off. And in one deep little pot, with sides green like a grotto of
+ferns, they found a miniature battle. A small green crab, who had cast
+his shell, sat humped in a recess of the grotto, a thing soft and
+vulnerable, a delight to the enemy; and in front of him, excited and
+transparent, were half a dozen shrimps, the horn on each forehead
+pointed at him; from time to time some young gallant would dash in to
+prod the helpless monster, and at once backwater again into the ranks
+of his friends. The crab bore his torment with a patience born of the
+knowledge that each minute his new carapace was hardening; the shrimps
+had no wit to count the cost, or reckon the odds that the rising tide
+might bear them away in safety from the day of vengeance.
+
+On hands and knees, not daring to breathe on the limpid surface of the
+pool, the children watched the little drama. From the cliff top the
+heated air rose dancing into the sky. So still were earth and air and
+sea that the old finner's rise sounded as though the cliff were
+falling. He had worked nearer in to the rocks than seemed possible for
+his ninety feet of blubber and muscle, and as his black side rolled
+over, the water about him boiled like a pot; but he did not splash,
+for he had been well brought up and always knew what his tail was
+doing, though it was so far away.
+
+"Shiver these rocks," he began in a rage, as he flung two fountains
+out of his nose. Then he caught sight of Fiona and the gleam of the
+red bracelet.
+
+"Oh my fins and flippers!" he spouted. "I ask pardon, young lady; I
+haven't the manners of a grampus. And they told me about you."
+
+"Who's they?" asked Fiona, ungrammatically.
+
+"Friends at Court, friends at Court," said the finner. "What a thing
+to have. 'No need of the old sailorman,' said I. But they said I must
+go. And I've scraped the barnacles off my precious tail. Will it run
+to some tobacco?"
+
+"Will what run?" said the girl. "Your tail? What is it you want?"
+
+"Hints are wasted, I see," said the whale. "'One question,' said I.
+Only one. But magic is magic, you know, even for a tough old
+sailorman. Come now, one question. I'm too far inshore for my
+liking."
+
+Fiona understood.
+
+"Is it about my treasure?" she said.
+
+"Yours, or that boy's there, whichever you like," said the whale. "But
+only one, only one."
+
+For about two seconds Fiona did some hard mental drill. Then she said:
+
+"Will you please tell me where the Urchin can find his treasure?"
+
+"You do have luck," said the finner. "Think of it, then. O you little
+fishes, think of it. If you'd asked the other, I didn't know the
+answer. Wouldn't have got an answer, and my tail all scraped for
+nothing. And this one, my great-great-grandmother saw it all, and
+nobody knows here but me and the seals and one man, and he's too fat
+to count. West cave, Scargill Island; and bring you luck, my dear.
+Will it run to some tobacco?"
+
+"Thank you so much," said Fiona politely. "And I'm sorry I haven't any
+tobacco with me. But if you could wait a few minutes . . ."
+
+"Shiver it, I'm scraping again," said the whale. "No tobacco and very
+few barnacles in this world. O my grandmother's flukes, I might as
+well be a bottlenose!"
+
+Once more the water boiled, and beneath it the huge black body shot
+away for the open sea.
+
+"Fiona," said the boy, "do you really think it's cricket?"
+
+"What isn't cricket?" she asked.
+
+"Fiona," he said, "I've been a brother to you. I have done all the
+things a brother ought to do. I have taught you to throw like a boy. I
+have pinched you for new clothes. I have called you names, to make you
+good-tempered. I have made remarks on your personal appearance, to
+prevent your being vain. I have even fought with you, solely for your
+good. And this is how you repay me. The other day you pretended to be
+talking to a shore lark; to-day it was an old whale, who spouted and
+banged his tail on the rock. If it's a joke, I don't see it. If it's
+not a joke, do go into a lunatic asylum, and let me find a simpler
+job."
+
+Fiona tossed up mentally between hitting him and laughing; it came
+down laughing.
+
+"Urchin," she said, "it's all right. I don't understand it much better
+than you do, but it has something to do with this bracelet of mine. I
+can really understand them and they can understand me. If you doubt my
+word, we will fight a duel with the boat stretchers, and I will bury
+you in the sand here afterwards."
+
+"Oh, I believe you when you talk like that," said the Urchin; "only
+it's worse than the Latin grammar. _Psittacus loquitur_, "the parrot
+talks"; but this thing seemed to be a whale; it was very like one."
+
+"It was a whale," said Fiona. "He said his great-great-grandmother had
+seen the Spanish captain land his doubloons, and that it was in the
+west cave on Scargill Island."
+
+"That means the big cave at the end facing the sea," said the boy.
+
+"The cave that no one has ever got to the end of," said Fiona.
+
+"The cave that's haunted," said the boy.
+
+"But of course it's haunted; it's the ghosts of the Spaniards. Silly
+of us not to have guessed."
+
+Fiona had a hazy recollection of things her father used to say.
+
+"I expect the haunting is thousands of years older than the
+Spaniards," she said. "Urchin, are you afraid of ghosts?"
+
+"Not a bit," said the Urchin stoutly. "They would be splendid to throw
+stones at. It wouldn't hurt them."
+
+"Come on then, let's go," said the girl. "There's lots of daylight."
+
+"None of the people here will go into it, you know," said the Urchin.
+
+"I know," said Fiona. "All the more reason for going on our own. There
+might really be something there, if no one ever goes to take it away."
+
+So the boat was launched, and the adventure also. Fiona pulled stroke;
+the Urchin was a clumsy and unpunctual bow, and the girl had to steer
+from the stroke oar, which needs more doing than you may think if you
+haven't tried it. But they made the end of Scargill in time, and then
+Fiona took both the oars and coasted, while the Urchin got out a
+couple of bamboo poles, garnished with white flies, and let the casts
+trail, occasionally getting one of the beautiful little scarlet lythe,
+that came at the fly with the spring and dash of a sea trout. For even
+adventurers need supper. And so they came, past many a smaller cave
+mouth in the black side of the island, to the huge bluff that fronts
+the full Atlantic, and the great west cave.
+
+Atlantic was half asleep to-day, and muttered drowsily to the quiet
+rocks outside. But the great cave was seldom quiet. In the winter,
+when Atlantic turned himself restlessly and spoke aloud, the sound of
+his speaking came back from its depths like the roar of a heavy gun;
+and even in the stillness the lisp of the swell in it echoed as from
+the roots of the island in a low intermittent boom. Outside, on the
+calm water, floated the whiskered head of a seal, watching the boat
+with gentle, fearless eyes,--"the officer on guard," Fiona
+whispered;--and from the black cliff's face, like a hanging fringe
+over the mouth of the cave, the water splashed down, trickle by
+trickle, in quick, heavy drops. The children rowed in through the
+little shower, and Fiona paddled gently up the cave. Its huge
+limestone walls stood up stark on either hand, rising into the
+darkness above, and sinking below into the green water, as far as eye
+could follow them. Near the water-line grew a little seaweed, and some
+white whelks clung; but as they went down the waterway these vanished,
+and gray cliff and green water alike began to turn black. Looking
+back, Fiona could see a bright patch, a patch of sky and
+sky-reflecting sea, framed in the narrow slit of the cave's mouth. The
+waterway was narrowing now; she shipped her oars and stood up, using
+one as a paddle, and instructing the Urchin how to fend off the boat's
+stern with his hands. In front, on a ledge in the cave's roof, it was
+just possible to make out a row of blue dots in the growing darkness;
+as the boat drew nearer, the blue dots fluttered, detached themselves
+from the cliff, and a swarm of pigeons came whirring over the boat and
+down the cave toward the sunlight;--"Your ghosts, Urchin," said the
+girl. Henceforward the cave was void of life, unless some strange,
+eyeless fish lurked in its inky depths. Darker and darker grew the
+waterway, and the last gleam of light vanished. Fiona was feeling her
+way now, aided by the phosphorescent drip from her oar blade; the
+Urchin, with unusual sense, splashed his hands in the water to
+increase the pale glow, which just revealed the line of the cliff.
+Neither dare speak now; possibly, had Fiona not had some idea of what
+was coming, she would have turned. But already there was a faint gleam
+ahead, faint as a glow worm, but still a gleam; and as the boat slid
+forward, and the low boom in the depths of the cave grew closer, the
+cave walls very slowly began to grow gray again out of the blackness.
+A few minutes more, and the walls were an outline, and before them, a
+fringe of white on round wet stones, the end of the waterway. And as
+the boat grounded, Fiona pointed up, and the Urchin, looking, saw a
+little round hole; a natural shaft ran down into the cave from the
+surface of the island, giving light enough for their eyes, now
+accustomed to the darkness, to distinguish outlines.
+
+They drew their boat up on the stones far enough for the swell not to
+dislodge it; then the same impulse seized them both and they burst out
+laughing, not aloud, for something in the place made it impossible to
+laugh or talk aloud, but in a kind of mirthless whisper.
+
+"We've come without any lights," said Fiona in an undertone.
+
+"We have," said the Urchin. "But probably the stuff is only a few
+yards above high-water mark; they wouldn't go far in."
+
+"They might have," said Fiona; "they'd have had torches or
+something."
+
+"Let's go as far as we can, anyway, as we are here," said the Urchin.
+
+So they started scrambling over the stones in the gray half-light.
+Presently there rose before them a great mass of rock and earth, half
+blocking the cave; it looked like some old landslip.
+
+"It's easy at this end, Fiona," said the boy; and up they went, to
+find that the rock barrier blocked most of what little light remained.
+Beyond was darkness.
+
+"We must go back and get light," said Fiona. "I can't even see the
+stones below." A pause; then, "Stop swinging your feet, Urchin; I want
+to listen."
+
+"I'm not," said the Urchin.
+
+Another pause, and then the Urchin spoke again, in a kind of stage
+whisper, "I'm frightened." The words seemed squeezed out of him.
+
+"We may as well go back, anyhow," said Fiona, in a strained voice.
+"Down you go, Urchin."
+
+The Urchin did go down at a considerable pace, and ran for the boat.
+Fiona managed to walk, by repeating to herself all the time under her
+breath, "You mustn't run, you mustn't run." But once in the boat she
+did not rebuke the Urchin for standing up and taking the other oar;
+and the pair paddled out, with many bumpings and scrapings, in a more
+speedy and less scientific manner than that in which they had entered.
+
+Once out in the sunlight they felt better. They started automatically
+to fish home, and presently were talking again. But neither of them
+referred to the thing that was uppermost in each mind, though each was
+wondering if the other knew. For as they had sat on the wall of rock,
+each had heard clearly, in the utter darkness of the unvisited cave,
+the sound of heavy footsteps.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE URCHIN VANISHES
+
+
+To most people there is some corner of the earth which means more than
+all others; and there are two or three in the world whose holy place
+is the old house on the sea-loch which the Student's humbler neighbors
+called the "big house." An old square building of gray stone, that
+matches the gray sky and the gray sea, it has small claims to beauty;
+it was built in the days of blank windows, and every wind in the
+island meets and screams round the battered iron balustrade which
+leads up its steps to the door, and strives to tear down the tendrils
+of ivy that cling to the east front. To the south front, lashed by the
+full Atlantic gales, not even ivy can cling; only a few twisted elders
+and stunted planes grow there, and take the first force of the winter
+wind; but the old lawn to the north bursts in summer into a cloud of
+white marguerites, whose ethereal beauty at sunset is like the ghosts
+of the dreams that haunt the place. For to some of us the old house is
+full of dreams, that cling to the dark passages and the uneven floors,
+and play in and out of the little windows that are still propped open
+with wood, as they were a hundred years ago; dreams of the bright
+lights and the bright voices that greeted us, coming in out of the
+blinding rain; dreams of the dance and the song, songs of old lost
+causes from which all bitterness has died away, leaving to-day nothing
+but beauty behind them; dreams of faded joys and forgotten sorrows, of
+loves that have passed elsewhere and of memories that abide; dreams of
+faces that are seen no more. Some day it will change ownership; it
+will be sold to someone from whom understanding of these things has
+been withheld, and who will see only the darkness of the old
+corridors, the shabbiness of the old doorway; and he will build new
+doors, and porticoes and a wide verandah, and make it fair within and
+without, levelling the floors and trimming the lawns; and he will have
+destroyed the old house and the fragrance of it, and it will never
+return. But to-day it still stands as it has stood for many a long
+year, clothed in the memories that never leave it and rich in all that
+the past has built into it; and to some who may never dwell there
+again it is yet ever present as the home of their hearts' desire, a
+true house of faery.
+
+The Student had let the old house to the Urchin's father. He was a
+tall, thin man with a hooked nose, and he knew more about one
+particular family of Coleoptera than anyone living. He had taken the
+place, not because he wanted it for its shooting, but because one of
+the beetles of his family was reputed to be plentiful in the
+neighborhood. He was never there long; he was never anywhere long. For
+thirty years he had pursued his beetles over five continents; his
+measurements of their wing cases alone filled nine enormous MS.
+volumes. His great work on the variation of the length of the wing
+case in beetles kept in captivity had become a classic. Scientific men
+had nothing but praise for the book; several even read it. The
+majority believed that he had re-founded Neo-Mendelism past any
+overthrowing; a small but persistent minority argued that, on the
+contrary, he had utterly overthrown the Neo-Mendelians. All, however,
+agreed that the book was epoch-making, even though they differed
+utterly as to the sort of epoch which it made. The author himself was
+a shy and modest person, who never lost his temper except when people
+sent him unpaid parcels from Timbuctoo or Khamchatka containing
+beetles of other families in which he took no interest. On the rare
+occasions when he could be induced to go into society, kind-hearted
+hostesses, who saw no reason why one crawling thing should not do as
+well as another had been known to try to please him by starting a
+conversation about ladybirds or earwigs; and it was said to be worth
+foregoing one's cigar to hear him explain, with a chuckle, that though
+earwigs or ladybirds were no doubt meritorious creatures in their
+several spheres, and possibly legitimate objects of study to others,
+they were not his subject; his subject was a particular family of
+Coleoptera. He and the Student had become great friends, and when he
+was in the island he would often drop in to see the Student's bookroom
+after dinner and there the two would sit, one on either side of the
+fire, each smoking at a tremendous pace and talking hard on his own
+subject. Neither ever expected an answer from the other; neither ever
+got one. But they had silently established an unwritten law that when
+one had talked for three minutes by the clock on the mantelpiece he
+was to stop and let the other have a turn; and when at last they said
+good night, each felt that they had both had a thoroughly enjoyable
+evening. And so they had.
+
+Unlike to unlike. The Urchin's father had married the daughter of a
+stockbroker, who, on her death, had left him two legacies; one was the
+Urchin, and the other was an occasional visitation from her brother
+Jeconiah. Mr. Jeconiah P. Johnson, the well-known promoter of
+companies, was a short, stout man with a red face and a shifty blue
+eye, always immaculately dressed in broadcloth with a huge expanse of
+white waistcoat, over which sprawled his double watch chain and his
+triple chin. There were possibly some good points even about Jeconiah,
+if anything so rotund could be said to have points; but there were
+certainly not many. He was supposed by some to possess what is called
+"a high standard of business morality"; it would be truer to say that
+his code was prehistoric. He had so far kept himself right with the
+law, because he had mastered the sordid maxim which proclaims that
+honesty is the best policy; no other reason was likely to occur to
+him. With some effort he had succeeded in formulating a rule of
+conduct of which he was rather proud: Do good to yourself and your
+friends and evil to those who stand in your way. If anyone had told
+him that the philosophy of ethics took its rise, some twenty-two
+centuries ago, in a reaction against a similar rule, he would have
+remarked jocosely that he never studied back numbers. Of anything more
+exalted than "policy," anything not to be reckoned in terms of £.s.d.,
+he was as ignorant as a hippopotamus.
+
+He was never very fond of his right hand's knowing what his left hand
+did; for while the right hand promoted companies, the left hand, by
+means of a manager and a registered alias, carried on a very useful
+little money-lender's business. He was never averse to putting the
+screw on, if there was anything to be got by it; and sometimes he got
+rather funny things. Recently he had had a broken debtor on his hands,
+and had taken what he could get; among other things, an old bureau
+full of papers. Jeconiah, being a methodical soul, had turned a clerk
+on to sort the papers; and the clerk had presently brought him the
+long lost map of the Scargill cave, and a sheet of paper containing
+somebody's rough explanation of what it was supposed to be. Jeconiah,
+who had heard the story, scented possibilities, and, it being a slack
+time in the City, promptly invited himself to his brother-in-law's
+house to recover from an attack of influenza. That is how Jeconiah
+comes into this story. It could not be helped, for he had the map. The
+finner had said he was too fat to count; but that is where the finner
+was wrong.
+
+Jeconiah forthwith gave his mind, such as it was, to the subject of
+caves. Diffidence was not his failing, and he cross-examined every
+person he could find, concealing, of course, his real object. He
+collected a splendid amount of rubbish; but he was acute enough where
+his pocket was concerned, and out of the rubbish he presently dragged
+forth the fact of the haunted cave which no one would enter. Whereon
+Jeconiah went over to Scargill to fish, and had a look at the lie of
+the island; settled with himself that it seemed a good enough place
+for a wreck, and told the keeper to row him into the west cave. But
+the keeper, who had no particular liking for Jeconiah, refused
+point-blank, and told him he would not find a man in the island who
+would do it; and Jeconiah, who had suddenly lost interest in the
+fishing, went home in a bad temper. This happened the day after the
+two children were in the cave; and the day after that the Urchin's
+father received an excited cablegram from Brazil on the subject of his
+beloved beetles. He rushed down at once to see the Student.
+
+"I am going to Brazil, I don't know for how long," he said. "And my
+boy can't go back to school for a month or more, as they have scarlet
+fever in the village there. And I don't like to leave him with the
+housekeeper, and I start in two hours. Will you take him?"
+
+"Delighted," said the Student. "Fiona will look after him."
+
+So the Urchin came, and with him came to Fiona a sense of
+responsibility for him. She couldn't help it.
+
+But Jeconiah showed no intention of moving. On the contrary, the
+after-effects of influenza were still troubling him sorely, it seemed.
+At last the Urchin's father had to tell him to stay a week or two
+longer, if he wanted to; the servants would be there anyhow. And
+Jeconiah thanked him and settled down to stay, as he had meant to do
+all along. But as soon as his brother-in-law was gone he took the car
+and went off for the day. The chauffeur said that he went to a lot of
+places and talked to a lot of people; and a couple of days later two
+strange men in a boat entered the bay and proceeded to camp out on a
+part of the shore which was not the Student's property. Jeconiah had,
+in fact, hired the boat, and found a couple of ne'er-do-wells from the
+mainland who knew nothing of him and were ready to row him anywhere in
+pursuit of his business, which was understood to be photographing wild
+birds for an illustrated paper.
+
+Jeconiah had, however, made one great mistake. He was aware that you
+must not neglect little things, and he had neglected quite a big
+little thing--the Urchin. He had never spoken to him about caves, or
+taken the least notice of the boy's movements. And the Urchin on his
+side had been hard at work. He had confessed to Fiona on the subject
+of the footsteps, and she to him; and they had agreed, under the broad
+healthy light of day, that probably they had been mistaken and afraid
+of the dark, and that with lanterns it would be all right. They
+agreed, however, that it was necessary to have a really good light,
+and the difficulty was to find one. It was the Urchin who came forward
+as the saviour of society by proposing to win over Jones, the
+chauffeur, and get the loan of one of the big acetylene head-lamps
+from the car. Jones, a newcomer, had not yet heard about the cave,
+and, being English, he had not yet found his feet among his fellows
+and was glad of any sort of diversion. The Urchin wound up a
+triumphant half hour of diplomacy by making Jones promise to lend him
+one of the headlights and show him how to work it. Then the Urchin
+fell, as many greater men have fallen; he was lifted up with pride,
+and told Jones that Fiona and he were going treasure-hunting. Jones
+grinned; but that evening he talked; and in due course Jeconiah heard.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Fiona was digging in her garden, or rather in the Urchin's, for she
+had assigned him one bit of it, which she had to cultivate for him;
+otherwise it would have run waste, for all the work the Urchin put
+into it. Her garden was one corner of the old walled garden of the
+Student's house, which was not very well kept now. Once it had been
+gay with flowers and rich with fruit; but now few flowers grew there
+save such as could look after themselves, and the fruit had come down
+to two gnarled old apple trees, in which Fiona had made her earliest
+experiments in climbing. Most of the ground, so far as it was in use,
+was now given over to cabbages and potatoes; but in June the borders
+were sweet with double white narcissus, and now in September there was
+a revel of unpruned roses, their blooms growing smaller year by year,
+and a mass of the dark-red blossoms of the little west coast fuchsia,
+which knows how to live through the winter. One deserted corner was
+gay with Turk's turban, which still had strength to push up through
+the ever-thickening tangle of weeds; and groups of winter crocus were
+coming up in the borders, and among them a few Shirley poppies which
+Fiona had sown herself. Fiona had had thoughts of taking the garden in
+hand, but the space enclosed by the old walls was far too large for
+her to manage unaided; and as there was no money to pay a proper
+gardener, she had had to content herself with clearing one corner.
+Here she had achieved a riot of color. She had made a little rockery
+of oak-leaf and beech ferns brought down from the hill, sentinelled by
+tall pink foxgloves; the worn-out plum trees against the wall behind
+were threaded and festooned with thick trailers of yellow and scarlet
+nasturtium; and in front of the rockery, her especial pride, was a
+great bed of velvet pansies, rich with every hue of the rainbow. They
+were flanked by simple annuals, filmy pink poppies, orange escholtzias
+and sweet-scented mignonette; and in a bed by themselves were the gold
+and crimson snapdragons which the Urchin had begged for her from the
+gardener at the big house.
+
+She must needs dig up a centipede, one of the small yellow ones. They
+were her special dislike. The centipede did not like being dug up
+either, and writhed himself into seven different sets of tangles at
+once, as is the way of the smaller centipedes.
+
+"You horrid little yellow beast," she said, forgetting that he could
+understand, and made a dab at him with her spade, which, to her
+relief, missed him. She felt she had done her duty by hitting at him,
+but did not hide from herself that she had really missed him on
+purpose.
+
+"Little's all right," said the centipede, "and yellow's all right; and
+though I'm not really a beast, we will let it go at that. But I'm not
+a bit horrid."
+
+"But I don't like you," said Fiona, "and you wriggle so."
+
+"In the circles in which I move," said the centipede, "my wriggling is
+much admired. And the mere fact that you do not like me--which, I may
+remind you, is only a subjective impression and has neither objective
+validity nor permanent value--does not entitle you to call me names.
+You ought to have learnt better, with that bangle of yours. For all
+you know, I may be a model of the more unselfish virtues."
+
+"But you eat the roots of my flowers," said Fiona.
+
+"That is the first I have heard of it," said the centipede. "But one
+lives and learns. It need not be the same one, though, who does both.
+So in the present case I propose that I should live and you should
+learn."
+
+"I wasn't going to kill you really," said Fiona.
+
+The centipede bowed.
+
+"A little courtesy does oil the creaking machinery of life, doesn't
+it?" he said. "Please lift me up, for I have something to tell you,
+and your head is so far away. Shouting at you hurts my throat."
+
+Fiona stooped down and took up the little yellow creature in her hand.
+
+"Congratulations," said the centipede. "We _are_ getting on. You
+wanted badly to shudder, and you didn't. We shall make something of
+you yet. My old friend the bookworm--who lives in your father's
+library, by the way--has recently supplied me with a new quotation
+from the great poet Virgil, who had once, you may remember, quite a
+reputation as a magician. It was to the effect that if you couldn't
+get what you wanted by beginning at the top, you should start again at
+the bottom. I am the bottom. I am not the _very_ bottom, but I am near
+enough to it for your purpose. Now you see what you have gained by
+not killing me."
+
+"I don't see anything yet, I'm afraid," said Fiona.
+
+"One must have patience with weaker vessels," said the centipede. "So
+I will explain. My friend the bookworm, who supplies me with my
+quotations, has a cousin of the same profession in the library at the
+big house. It was through him that I got the story I am going to tell
+you about the fat man."
+
+"Mr. Johnson!" exclaimed Fiona. "He has nothing to do with me." She
+disliked Jeconiah heartily, so far as she had given any thought to
+him.
+
+"Oh, yes, he has," said the centipede. "This is where I come in. My
+bookworm's cousin, who is a great linguist and understands English
+perfectly, was at work in the library the other evening, and the fat
+man was having his coffee there. After coffee he lit a cigar and began
+to walk up and down, and presently he started talking to himself out
+loud, as my informant says he often does when he is excited. And by
+piecing his talk together, my informant made out that he had the map
+of the Scargill cave, which one of your ancestors once gambled away,
+and that somehow or other he had found out that the cave of the map
+_was_ the Scargill cave, and that he was only waiting for a smooth day
+to go and locate the treasure."
+
+"Well?" said Fiona.
+
+"Oh, come now," said the centipede, "it's no use pretending. We all
+know that you are treasure-hunting--remember we can all understand
+everything _you_ say, whether we are linguists or not--and my advice
+to you is, to be quick about it, before the fat man can get his oar
+in."
+
+"Thank you so much," said Fiona. "And I am so sorry I began by being
+rude. Tell me, why have you told me all this when I began by being
+rude?"
+
+"Because I am a model of the more unselfish virtues, of course," said
+the centipede with a suppressed chuckle. "As a fact, I had an
+earth-phone from headquarters. But we are all backing you, you know.
+And now will you put me down, please; the upper air is chilly."
+
+He wriggled into a crack in the ground, and was gone.
+
+That evening Fiona and the Urchin made their final preparations, in
+case the morrow should fall calm. That evening also Jeconiah heard
+that he had rivals in the field. His language, as he walked up and
+down the library, would have been very bad for the bookworm's morals
+had that intelligent insect been able to understand it all; but the
+bookworm's English, though good, was literary, and much of the modern
+idiom employed by Jeconiah slid off its back. Jeconiah's plan had been
+to make sure that the gold was there, and then charter a launch from
+Glasgow and take it straight to railway-head; he saw now that he could
+not afford the time, and that unless he could deal with the children
+in some way he might have to take the gold off in his boat, which
+would entail some risk, as well as cost him a heavy sum to buy his two
+boatmen. Also he made up his mind that he must go the next morning,
+whatever the weather, if it were possible to launch the boat; he knew
+that the children, with their little skiff, could only go to sea on
+calm days.
+
+Unfortunately for Jeconiah, the night fell calm, and though he rose
+early, he had no notion of starting without a good breakfast. By the
+time his boat was launched and he himself aboard, he had the pleasure
+of seeing through his glasses the children's boat off the east or
+nearer end of Scargill. The wealth of adjectives which he employed in
+the circumstances filled his two loafers with awe and admiration.
+
+Fiona, having the Urchin securely under her roof, had breakfasted
+before dawn, and as soon as it was light enough the children launched
+their little boat. The Urchin had the precious headlight, ready
+charged, tied up in an old sack which would also serve to bring away
+the plunder; and round his waist he had twisted a length of cast-off
+rope. Its use was not apparent, but he thought it looked
+business-like. They saw that Jeconiah's boat was still drawn up
+ashore, and in good heart they started on their long pull. They had
+reached the island before Jeconiah had his boat out; having no
+glasses, they could not see if it was being launched or not. But off
+the eastern end of the island, which is low and grassy, they had a
+fright, for an empty boat was drawn ashore there. However, when they
+rowed close in to look at it, Fiona recognized it.
+
+"It's Angus MacEachan's boat," she said. "He has come to see after the
+sheep he has on the island. There he is, I can see him; he has got a
+sheep that has hurt its foot." And indeed they could see Angus tending
+a sick sheep.
+
+"Fiona," said the boy, "we are too silly for anything. Of course the
+footsteps we heard in the cave were Angus's. There is another way in
+somewhere, and he would be looking for a sheep."
+
+Fiona said nothing. As they neared the cave, the problem of the
+footsteps kept intruding itself more and more vividly upon her; but
+the Urchin was happy in his theory, and she did not think it necessary
+to remind him that the footsteps could not possibly have been those of
+Angus, who walked with a limp. She began to feel a vague sense of
+disquiet, which she tried in vain to put aside.
+
+They entered the cave, and the Urchin, with much pride, lit his great
+lamp. The powerful burner threw a wonderful circle of light on to
+black water and black walls, making them glow and sparkle with a soft
+radiance till they looked like the very gateway of fairyland. Outside
+the circle everything became black as pitch. They paddled quietly up
+the bright waterway, and grounded on the stones at the end. The Urchin
+was hot after his long row, and helping to draw the boat up on the
+stones did not make him any cooler; he took off his jacket and pitched
+it on to a thwart.
+
+"Yes, it is hot, and stuffy," said Fiona. She recollected some story
+she had read about a coal mine, and sniffed. "I hope there is no gas
+here," she said.
+
+The Urchin grinned.
+
+"Oh, you girls!" he said. "Who ever heard of gas in a sea cave. What
+you are smelling is the lamp."
+
+Fiona took the lamp up.
+
+"I'm going to take charge of this myself," she said. "You can carry
+the treasure."
+
+The Urchin picked up the sack and threw it over his shoulder.
+
+"Go ahead, lady with the lamp," he said, and grinned again. He felt
+very adventurous. He would rather have liked to be photographed.
+
+With considerable caution, necessitated by the heavy lamp, they
+climbed the rock barrier and descended into the darkness of the inner
+cave. The walking was better here; the rounded slippery boulders had
+given place to a floor of pebbles and sand. Quite a short way from the
+barrier the wall of the cave curved away in a semicircle on the
+right, its smooth surface forming a kind of small recess. Fiona swept
+the recess with her lamp, and on the sandy floor something gleamed
+back; the Urchin pounced on it and picked it up. It was a gold coin,
+not the least like any which the children had ever seen. It was, in
+fact, a doubloon.
+
+"This must be one of them," said the boy exultantly as he pocketed it;
+"one that got dropped. Come on, it can't be much farther."
+
+But Fiona held the lamp steady and stared at the sand.
+
+"Look at the marks on the sand," she said. "They are like the marks of
+heavy boxes. The treasure has been here, Urchin, and it's not here
+now. Someone has been here and taken it, and dropped one piece."
+
+"I don't think so," said the Urchin. "We shall find them a bit farther
+on."
+
+So they went on, but not very far. For the light of the lamp suddenly
+fell on a rock wall before them, the end of the cave. And it had
+ended, not as the other caves do, by the roof growing lower and lower
+till it meets the floor; it had ended in this huge chamber of high
+rocky walls.
+
+"So this is the cave that no one has ever reached the end of," said
+Fiona. "Why, it goes no distance at all."
+
+They retraced their steps to the recess, and then back to the end
+again, looking on this side and on that for openings, but it seemed
+quite clear that there were none.
+
+"The boxes must have been carried off by sea," said Fiona.
+
+But the Urchin had an idea.
+
+"No one would try to carry great heavy boxes over the rock barrier,"
+he said. "They'd just take the gold out in sacks."
+
+"The barrier may be a rock-fall," said Fiona. "The treasure may all
+have been cleared out long ago."
+
+And then there came to the Urchin the realization of the fact that he
+had lost his gun. He turned very red.
+
+"It's a shame," he said angrily, "an awful shame. It was given to me,
+and someone has taken it. Can't you think where it could be, Fiona?
+I'd go _anywhere_ to find it."
+
+Whatever Fiona may have been going to say, her words tailed off into
+sudden silence. For from beyond the cave wall, as it seemed, sounded
+again the footsteps which they had heard before; and this time they
+knew that there was no cave there, and that It was walking through
+solid rock as if along a road. There was no question this time of any
+concealment or pretence; both frankly turned tail and made for the
+rock barrier. Halfway there the Urchin tripped and fell heavily on his
+head. Fiona put the lamp down and helped him up, dizzy and shaking.
+
+"Can you go on, Urchin?" she said. "If not, I'll try and carry you."
+
+The Urchin looked back into the blackness, unrelieved by any ray of
+the lamp, which faced the other way. The footsteps were steadily
+drawing nearer, neither hasting nor staying. What the Urchin may have
+thought he saw Fiona could not guess; he gave one shriek, slid out of
+her grasp, and bolted for the rock barrier as fast as his trembling
+feet would carry him.
+
+For one moment Fiona all but followed him. Then it suddenly came to
+her that she was responsible for the boy's safety. She never knew
+afterwards how she managed to do what she did; but she turned, and
+with the courage of utter desperation--the courage which enables the
+hen partridge to face the sparrow hawk--stood at bay, swinging up the
+heavy lamp to see and face whatever should come.
+
+And into the circle of lamplight quietly walked the figure of the old
+hawker.
+
+The revulsion of feeling was too much for Fiona. She sprang forward
+and caught the old man's hand and clung to it.
+
+"Oh," she said, "I'm so glad it's you. We heard the footsteps and we
+were so frightened." The relief of it all was overwhelming; she was
+almost crying, and went on saying anything, hardly knowing what she
+said, just for the mere human companionableness of it. "How did you
+come here? I suppose you came over with Angus in his boat. Of course
+you would. Then there must be another way into the cave after all, and
+we couldn't find it."
+
+"And so I frightened you?" said the old man gently, making no effort
+to withdraw his hand. "Yes, there is another way in." He made no
+attempt to answer all her questions.
+
+"Urchin," called Fiona, raising her voice. "Urchin, come back; it's
+all right."
+
+But there was no answer.
+
+"Urchin," she shouted; "Urchin."
+
+But there was no answer save the echoing of the empty cave.
+
+"He was going down to the boat," she said, loyally repressing the fact
+that the Urchin had bolted. "We must go after him, for he had hurt his
+head, and I am afraid of his falling again."
+
+They climbed the rock barrier, and made their way to the boat. The
+boat lay there as it had been left, half ashore, with the swell
+rippling against the stern, and over one thwart the Urchin's jacket,
+just as he had thrown it down. And the boat was as empty as the cave.
+
+Into Fiona's eyes came a sudden fear.
+
+"He must have fallen again, and be lying somewhere," she said.
+
+They went back, searching every nook and corner of the cave, turning
+the light into every crevice, under every rock, making a minute
+examination of the rock barrier; and there was no sign.
+
+And then Fiona broke down.
+
+"He is drowned," she said, and just sat and sobbed.
+
+After a few moments the old man came and sat down beside her. In his
+gentle voice he said that the Urchin could not possibly be drowned.
+The water was quite shallow at the edge, and he was a good swimmer,
+was he not? And even if he had not been, the swell would have rolled
+him ashore. He himself had no doubt that all would come right.
+
+Fiona ceased sobbing and turned on him.
+
+"Do you know where he is?" she demanded bluntly.
+
+"How would I know when you do not know?" said the old man. "Could I
+see what you could not see?" And then "Listen."
+
+Down the waterway came voices, and the sound of oars. It was in fact
+Jeconiah's boat entering the cave.
+
+Fiona caught at the straw.
+
+"He may have swum out to the other boat," she said.
+
+But there was no one in the other boat but Jeconiah and his two men.
+They had powerful lanterns, and the boat was full of sacks. Jeconiah
+himself was purple with suppressed rage and impatience. The moment he
+could get ashore, he waddled up to Fiona and shook the map of the cave
+in her face, exclaiming, "Remember, if you have found anything it
+belongs to me and I claim it."
+
+Fiona had only one thought in her mind at the moment, and the foolish
+impertinence of the little fat man was to her merely so much
+unnecessary sound. Her answer was "Have you seen the Urchin? We have
+lost him. Did he not swim out to your boat?" She was almost sobbing
+again.
+
+"Confound the brat!" said Jeconiah roughly. "I've not come here to
+play hide-and-seek with a parcel of children. Tell me at once what
+you've found."
+
+Fiona straightened herself, and looked at Jeconiah as though he were
+some noxious reptile.
+
+"There was nothing here to find," she said. "And this cave belongs to
+my father. And anything in it he gave to the Urchin."
+
+"Well, he's not here," said Jeconiah brutally, "and I am. Who finds,
+keeps."
+
+And calling to his men to bring the lights, he set off, between
+stumbling and crawling, for the rock barrier. One of the men had the
+decency to stop a moment and tell Fiona that they had seen nothing of
+any boy; Jeconiah turned and abused him for a laggard.
+
+With a good deal of difficulty the two men hoisted and shoved Jeconiah
+over the rock barrier. Once over, he took a light himself, told the
+men to wait where they were, and after a good look at the map set out
+for the recess where the Urchin had found the doubloon. Fiona followed
+him; there was some vague idea in her mind of protecting the Urchin's
+property; behind that there was still a faint subconscious hope that
+in some way or other the Urchin would suddenly reappear, and laugh at
+her terrors.
+
+Jeconiah reached the recess. He saw and understood the marks of the
+boxes on the sand. He swung round on Fiona with a snarl like that of a
+hungry wolf.
+
+"You think you're clever, don't you, you and your father," he said. "I
+suppose you've had the stuff moved. But I'll have it if I go to the
+middle of the earth for it."
+
+It was the old hawker who shouted. He had stood apart, a silent
+spectator of the scene. And at this moment he called out, in a voice
+of surprising power for so frail a body:
+
+"Look out above you. Jump."
+
+Fiona, who had learned to obey, jumped back just in time. But Jeconiah
+had never learnt to obey any orders but his own. He stood, stupidly
+staring, as a bit of the roof of the cave bowed downward, gave way,
+and came cascading about him in a shower of earth and big stones, that
+filled the air with thick dust. When the dust cleared again, they saw
+Jeconiah lying on his back in the middle of the cliff fall,
+motionless, and to all appearance dead.
+
+But Fiona was not looking at Jeconiah. She was looking at the place
+where the roof of the cave had bowed itself before falling; and into
+her mind came crowding dim forgotten legends, legends of fear and
+hope. And she was saying over and over again to herself, as though she
+might miss its purport, that behind the cliff fall, as if impelling
+and directing it, she had seen a small brown elfin hand.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was the old hawker who took charge of the situation. The two men,
+who at first had looked as if they would run, became amenable when he
+spoke to them. They carried Jeconiah's body to his boat, and laid it
+in the stern-sheets. One of the men pointed out that there was no mark
+at all on his face or head, and that he did not believe he had been
+struck.
+
+"Died of fright, I expect," he said curtly.
+
+"Lucky we stood out for wages in advance," said his companion. It
+looked as if this might be Jeconiah's fitting epitaph.
+
+The old man himself went with Fiona in her boat. But he was too feeble
+to row far, so he landed on the island and went in search of Angus. In
+due course Angus came down and rowed Fiona home, saying that the old
+man was going to look after his sheep for him till he returned. It did
+not occur to Fiona, until they had gone too far to turn back, that it
+looked as though the old man wished to avoid questions. Her mind was
+in a helpless whirl in which everything seemed unreal, except the
+Urchin and that small brown hand. She could not give her father any
+very coherent account of what had happened; but he went out at once to
+find a boat and men to search the cave.
+
+Jeconiah was laid on his bed in the big house, and there was much
+commotion there; this one must go for the doctor and that one for the
+Student; scared maids stood and whispered in the corridors; the two
+loafers, heroes of the hour, feasted happily in the kitchen. Then the
+doctor came, and went upstairs with a grave face, as befitted the
+occasion; but he did not come down again, and surmise grew. Half an
+hour passed before the door opened, and the doctor, smiling and
+rubbing his hands together, came into the library, where the Student
+had just entered and was talking to the housekeeper.
+
+"He's not dead at all," said the doctor. "It's catalepsy--suspended
+animation, you know. Like the frog in the marble. Had a shock, you
+tell me? Just so, just so. How long? Oh, he may be an hour, and he
+may be a month; no one can ever say. Never had the good luck to see a
+case before. Not _very_ uncommon, no. Mustn't try to rouse him, you
+know; might be dangerous. Just wait. Send for me at once if he comes
+to. Can get two nurses to watch him, if you like; just as well
+perhaps. Sometimes they are odd when they wake; think they are someone
+else for a bit, you know, change their habits, and so on. Dual
+personality? Oh, yes, several well-attested cases; but I don't mean as
+much as that. Might arise this way, of course; but what I mean is more
+just queer. But of course he need not be; might wake up as if he'd
+been asleep. If it lasts long, take away all the almanacs and things,
+in case he gets a shock. Well, good day, good day."
+
+And the doctor went; and Jeconiah's body lay still on the bed, waiting
+till his soul, if he had one, should return to it.
+
+So the Student went home again; and on his way he met the old hawker,
+who stopped and spoke to him; and for a few moments the two walked
+together, the old man talking rather quickly. Fiona, watching from the
+window of the bookroom, could see that her father first looked puzzled
+and then grave and then considerably relieved; in a dim kind of way
+she found herself thinking that Angus must have rowed back very fast
+to Scargill, if the old hawker were already landed. She was wondering
+who he really was and why her father talked to him.
+
+"Tell Anne to get us something to eat--anything," said the Student.
+"The boat will be here directly."
+
+The Student, by straining what remained of old loyalty as far as he
+dared, had found half a dozen volunteers, good men, to face the
+haunted cave, provided he went himself.
+
+"Do you want to come, Fiona?" he said. Of course Fiona meant to come.
+
+And while they waited, the Student questioned Fiona, and had the whole
+story coherently, except the hand. That part Fiona felt she could not
+tell; there, in the cheerful bookroom, it seemed so impossible. Once
+or twice he nodded, and said, "That would be so"; and at the end he
+pointed out that whatever had happened had happened when her back was
+turned, as she faced the coming footsteps. She had not thought of
+that. What puzzled her, and hurt her a little, was that, though her
+father seemed to feel for _her_, he did not appear to be particularly
+concerned about the Urchin. "I believe it will come right," was all he
+said.
+
+The boat arrived, rowed by strong hands; the men worked with a will,
+and the distance to the cave seemed short. They had brought good
+lights, and the Student had a powerful electric torch. High and low
+they searched the cave, and found nothing. One man, who was a good
+swimmer, dived several times and found nothing there either. Tracking
+footsteps was impossible; the sand, where there was any, had been
+hopelessly trampled.
+
+When nothing more could be done, the Student said that he wanted to
+look for a thing himself which he had an idea of. He went down to the
+end of the cave with his torch and tapped the wall with a geological
+hammer. Fiona sat on the rock barrier and watched him; what he was
+seeking she had no idea. He came slowly back down the cave, tapping
+the wall, till he reached the recess where the Urchin had picked up
+the doubloon. He went straight to the back of the recess and tapped
+the wall there; and even as he did so a large piece of stone fell from
+above, and smashed the electric torch in his hand. He came back to the
+rock barrier quite unperturbed, looking as if he had found what he
+sought.
+
+"Not very safe, this cave," he said calmly; and told the men to push
+off the boat. "There is nothing more we can do," he said; "the boy is
+certainly not here."
+
+The men's courage was fast ebbing away; they were glad to get out of
+the haunted place.
+
+Fiona sat in silence all the way home. It was dark before they
+reached the house. She waited while Anne bustled over supper; she
+thought she would never see her father alone. At last supper was over,
+and he went into the bookroom and began to light his pipe; she
+followed him. Her words came out in a torrent.
+
+"Daddy," she said, "what does it all mean? and why are you so strange
+and unconcerned? What did that old man tell you? If I couldn't see,
+_he_ must have seen, for he was facing. What is it you know? And why
+have you told me nothing?"
+
+"Sit down, little daughter," said the Student. He drew her beside his
+knee, with her head on his arm. "I will tell you now what I can. The
+old man gave me a sort of hint. He did not really see, for the lamp
+was the other way; I fancy he guessed. I wanted to test what he said
+to me. I have tested it now with my hammer; it all agrees. I am
+absolutely certain that no harm has come to the Urchin. But I can do
+nothing for him myself. And I must not even tell you what I think;
+for if I do it ruins everything. All I may tell you is this, that you
+are the only person who can do anything. You will have to do it all
+yourself and by yourself, little daughter. I believe you have ways and
+means of your own of finding out. Are you going through with it,
+Fiona?"
+
+"Of course I am, daddy," she said. "How can I do anything else? If
+only I knew what it is I have to do to find him--how to begin even."
+
+"I cannot even tell you that," said the Student. But his fingers
+played with the copper bangle on her wrist. And out of some dim corner
+of subconsciousness she seemed to hear a small voice which said "If
+you can't get what you want by beginning at the top you must start
+again at the bottom." Her father, with his learning, was the top; the
+bottom . . . ?
+
+Fiona went to bed less miserable than she had expected.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE OREAD
+
+
+Fiona was out long before breakfast next morning, digging furiously in
+her garden. Not many minutes passed before she was rewarded by a glint
+of something yellow in a shovelful of earth, and there was the
+centipede.
+
+"You dear creature," she said, and caught it up quickly before it
+could wriggle away.
+
+"How polite we are this morning," said the centipede, swelling with
+conscious pride. "I suppose we want something."
+
+Fiona's mind was far too completely taken up with her one object to
+notice or resent any insinuations.
+
+"Yes, I do," she said. "You told me that if I could not get what I
+wanted by beginning at the top I must start again at the bottom. I
+can do nothing from the top this time, so I've come to you."
+
+"Flattered, to be sure," said the centipede. "How frank we are."
+
+"Please don't be cross," said Fiona, humbly. "I am only doing what you
+told me to do."
+
+"Bless you, child, I'm not cross," said the centipede. "I'm a
+philosopher."
+
+"Don't philosophers get cross?" asked the girl.
+
+"Never," said the centipede. "And when they do they call it something
+else. What's the matter with me is, that I've sprained my seventh
+ankle on bow side, counting from the tail. Don't say you're sorry, for
+you're not. Anyone can see you're not."
+
+"You are horrid to-day," said Fiona. "And the other day you were so
+nice."
+
+"That's what makes me such a charming companion," said the centipede.
+"You never know what to expect. So I never pall."
+
+"I want to know where the Urchin is, and how I am to find him," said
+Fiona.
+
+"Is that all?" said the centipede. "Fancy interrupting my breakfast on
+account of that boy. Well, one question at a time. We'll have the last
+one first; I'm in that sort of mood to-day."
+
+"How can I find the Urchin, then, please?" asked Fiona.
+
+"Well, you've been told _that_ already," said the centipede. "Haven't
+you a memory?"
+
+Fiona thought and thought, but could make nothing of it.
+
+"My friend the bookworm was there at the time," said the centipede,
+"and heard the shore lark tell you that the last man went up a hill.
+Very well. Go up a hill."
+
+"But that was for something quite different," said Fiona. "That was
+for my treasure. I am not thinking of any treasure now."
+
+"Silly of you, then," said the centipede. "I would be. Ever studied
+philosophy?"
+
+"No," said Fiona.
+
+"That's a pity," said the centipede. "Then you've never heard of Hegel
+and the unity of opposites? Black and white are only different
+aspects of the same thing, you know. And as soon as you begin to think
+about it, you see at once how sensible it is. Well, a treasure-hunt
+and a boy-hunt are only different aspects of a hunt, aren't they?
+Therefore they are the same thing. Therefore what does for one does
+for the other. Therefore you go up a hill. There's logic for you," and
+once more he swelled proudly.
+
+"Thank you very much," said Fiona. "And now will you please tell me
+where the Urchin is?"
+
+"Tell you!" exclaimed the centipede. "Why, it was you told me. You
+prophesied the whole thing."
+
+"I'm sure I don't remember it, then," said Fiona.
+
+"What's the matter with _you_," said the centipede, "is that you
+refuse to exert your intelligence, such as it is. You should take a
+lesson by me. You humans are all forgetting nowadays that the spoken
+word is an instrument of great power, and that once it is launched it
+goes on and on, and can work magic on its own account, quite
+independently of you. If you say a thing will happen, it frequently
+does happen."
+
+"But what did I say?" asked Fiona.
+
+"You told the Urchin that if he hurt the shore lark the Little People
+would take him. Well, they've taken him. That's all."
+
+And the centipede slid down on to the ground, and with something like
+a chuckle vanished. He had evidently learned from his philosophy to
+bear with resignation the misfortunes of others.
+
+But Fiona did not set off up a hill at once. After breakfast she went
+to the bookroom and spoke to her father.
+
+"I have found out where the Urchin is, daddy," she said. "He was
+carried off by the fairies."
+
+The Student showed no surprise.
+
+"You have not been long finding out, Fiona," he said. "I thought you
+had ways and means of your own."
+
+"But, daddy," she said, "I don't _really_ believe it, you know. It
+sounds so absurd nowadays. Do you believe it?"
+
+"I believe it, yes," said the Student. "I knew yesterday. Now that you
+know, I may talk to you about it, so far."
+
+"I don't know that I do really know," she said. "Things like that
+don't _really_ happen, do they? Whoever heard of it?"
+
+"You and I have heard of it," he answered. "And that is enough. The
+proposition that people are not carried off by fairies is a mere
+working hypothesis, liable to be overthrown by any one case to the
+contrary. Well, we've got a case to the contrary, and that's the end
+of the hypothesis."
+
+"I'm arguing against myself, daddy, you know," she said. "I want to
+believe that we do know where he is."
+
+"No difficulty at all," said the Student, "to anyone with a properly
+trained mind, like yours and mine. Take it this way. No one has ever
+crossed the South Arabian desert or explored the snow ranges of New
+Guinea, have they? Well, for all anyone can say to the contrary,
+people may be carried off by fairies every day of the week in New
+Guinea or South Arabia, mayn't they? It may even be the rule there. It
+may be a working hypothesis among the pygmies of New Guinea that such
+a thing _always_ happens--at death, for instance. It would be just as
+good a working hypothesis as it is that it _never_ happens."
+
+"But, daddy, it would be so extraordinary, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Not a bit more extraordinary," he said, "than the inside of a bit of
+radium, or the inside of an egg, for that matter. It is probably
+simpler for the Urchin to become a fairy than for an egg to become a
+bird, or a caterpillar a butterfly. It would not be nearly as strange
+as it is that there is a water beast which can shed its gills and
+become a land beast, or that Uranus moons go round the wrong way. You
+can't knock it out by any reasoning of that kind, Fiona. It's merely a
+matter of fact; and if we have found a case we _have_ found a case."
+
+"Then you knew yesterday, daddy?" she said.
+
+"I had a very fair idea," he answered. "That is why I was tapping in
+the cave with a hammer. Can you guess why?"
+
+Fiona saw.
+
+"To find the rest of the cave," she said. "That is where he would be."
+
+"Just so," said the Student. "These caves cannot end in a wall, as
+that one seems to. I thought the wall must ring hollow somewhere, and
+the hollow is in the recess where the stone nearly fell on me. The
+apparent end of the cave is not in the line of the true cave at all."
+
+"It is the same place where the stones fell on Mr. Johnson," said
+Fiona.
+
+"That is strange," said the Student.
+
+And then Fiona told about the hand she had seen.
+
+"Of course, of course," said the Student. "That explains the whole
+thing. They threw the stone down on me too. They did not wish me to
+know that the wall was hollow just there. They must use it as a
+doorway. They will have carried the boy through at the moment that you
+turned your back, of course. I suppose he invited them in some way;
+they could have no power otherwise."
+
+"He said he would go _anywhere_ to find his treasure," said Fiona.
+
+"That would be quite sufficient for them to act on," said the Student.
+
+"Then the stories about the cruelty of the Little People are true,"
+asked Fiona.
+
+"Only in part," said the Student. "I take it that they are all sorts,
+like ourselves. They are, as you know, the vanished débris of all the
+peoples that have helped to make this planet what it is. Good people,
+many of them. But they cannot altogether love those who have driven
+them under the ground."
+
+"And who is the old hawker, daddy," she asked, "and what has he to do
+with it all?"
+
+"I can't talk about anything except what you already know," said the
+Student. "Have you found out yet how to start?"
+
+"I am to go up a hill," said Fiona. "And I am going up Heleval now.
+And I came to see if you would come with me."
+
+"I wish I could; I wish very much I could," said the Student. "I do
+not know what you may find; but I know well that if I went with you,
+you would find nothing but grass and rock. I am too old to see the
+things you can see, you know. You have to do it alone, little
+daughter."
+
+So Fiona filled her pocket with bread and cheese, and started; and the
+Student, after a useless attempt to settle down to his inscriptions,
+set up a little three-inch telescope with which he sometimes
+entertained Fiona on fine nights, gazing at Jupiter's moons or
+Saturn's rings, and followed her across the moor as far as he could.
+It was the only way he could go with her.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are many worse things in the world than setting out to climb
+Heleval on a beautiful morning on the first of October, when the grass
+in unsunned corners is still pearly with the frost of the night, and
+the whole earth is touched with the wonderful caress of the cool
+autumn sunshine. Fiona's way lay along the shore road, past the bank
+of heather and fern which in August had been gay with flowers, napperd
+and potentilla, blue milkwort and starry eye-bright, and alive with
+butterflies, blues and small heaths and pearl-bordered fritillaries;
+but the flowers were faded now, and in their place, in the little burn
+where the hazelnuts grew, was a tapestry of purple burrs and scarlet
+hips. The shore road ended at a little burn; here an old stone bridge,
+grown over with grass, crossed the pool which in times of spate would
+hold a fat, white sea-trout, and here Fiona and the Urchin had used
+to come in summer to gather globe flowers. From this point a sheep
+track led up the valley beside the burn, through great spaces of
+yellowing bracken, by little swampy springs where late forget-me-nots
+still lingered and an early snipe might rise with a skeep, and across
+low-lying wastes of bog-myrtle, perfuming all the air with its dying
+leaves; then the ground began to rise, and fern and bog-myrtle gave
+place to short, hard grass tufted with bulrushes, and beds of matted
+unburnt heather, seamed with rabbit tracks.
+
+After a time Fiona left the valley and began to climb the hillside,
+rising steeply through heather and red grass and heather again, most
+of it dying by now, but with patches still in full flower, worked by
+the wild bees and making the moorland smell like a honey-pot. Then
+more grass, and limestone ridges, and she stood on the crest of the
+moor, which billowed away on her right, wave after wave, till it ran
+down to the low ground and the sea, and rose up on her left till it
+ended in the great mass of Heleval, standing up into the cloudless
+sky. The ground before her was scarred with deep peat-hags, their gray
+banks touched with the tiny scarlet blossoms of the trumpet-moss,
+while from their crumbling sides projected bits of the whitened trunks
+of trees long since dead, last vestiges of the forests that had
+clothed the island ere ever the Gael first fought his way in. Walking
+became impossible, and she jumped from gray bank to gray bank,
+occasionally floundering across a little lake of soft peat, where the
+wild cotton grass still bloomed, and the mountain hares had left
+telltale tracks. Now and again a hare itself would scurry away before
+her up one of the peat ditches, rising to the moor level as soon as he
+thought he was out of gunshot and sitting up on his haunches to watch;
+now and again an old grouse, his head and hackles red as a berry in
+the sunlight, would rise, crow, and swing away over the brow of the
+moor. And presently from behind Heleval came drifting a gray bird
+with a long bill who on hovering wings wheeled three times in the air
+above her and gave his full spring call, the most wonderful sound that
+the hills ever hear; then he stooped close over her head and with
+wings spread sickle-wise shot away for the sea. One may see a curlew
+on the moor in October, but he will not give his spring call; and
+Fiona felt of good courage, for she knew that the bird had called for
+her, to tell her she was in the right way.
+
+So she came to the foot of Heleval itself, and started to climb the
+steep slope of short grass, slippery as polished board, which led up
+to the rock pinnacle above; the hillside twinkled with the white scuts
+of rabbits racing up before her to their holes, as round the side of
+the mountain came their enemy, perhaps the last kite in the island,
+glittering in the sun as only a glede can, till the beautiful cowardly
+creature caught sight of Fiona and swept away across the valley. She
+passed the great cairn where the hill foxes live, and began the last
+climb to the pinnacle of rock that fronts the flat crest of the
+mountain. And now something white on the rock, which she had noticed
+from below without taking account of, began to become insistent. It
+could not possibly be a patch of snow yet, she thought. Perhaps the
+shepherd had hung a sheepskin there. But no sheepskin was ever so
+white.
+
+Then she came up near the pinnacle, and saw. Standing upright against
+it was a girl, not much older than herself. Her long dark hair blew
+back over the rock; her white body was half hidden in a trembling veil
+of white light, which shimmered and played all about her, waving with
+every breath of the wind. Her face was beautiful and cold, like a
+frosty moonrise; her eyes shone like the drip of phosphorescent water
+under the stars.
+
+"You have come at last," said the girl. "Every day for many days I
+have watched for you."
+
+"Who are you, you beautiful girl?" asked Fiona.
+
+"I am an Oread," said the girl. "I am the spirit of Heleval."
+
+"I have heard," said Fiona, "that long ago people used to believe that
+everything had a spirit of its own, mountains and rivers and trees. Is
+it true then?"
+
+"It _was_ true," said the girl. "The world was full of my sisters,
+once. There were the Naiads in the streams, and the Hamadryads in the
+woods, and we, the Oreads, in the mountains. Men were wiser and
+simpler in those days. But now my sisters are nearly all gone. When a
+tree has become so many cubic feet of timber, how can it shelter a
+Dryad? When a stream is merely so many units of waterpower, how can a
+Naiad dwell there? Only the barren mountains, if they contain neither
+gold nor iron, have been left unappraised and unexploited; and a few
+Oreads still linger here and there. Once in a while a man fancies that
+he sees one of us; then he must climb and climb till the day he dies,
+hoping to see her indeed; down in your world people call him mountain
+mad."
+
+"How is it then that I have seen you?" asked Fiona.
+
+The Oread touched her bracelet.
+
+"Partly because of this," she said. "But chiefly because you are a
+child, and can still see. What is it you have come to ask me?"
+
+"How to find the Urchin," said Fiona.
+
+"You know of course where he is?" the girl asked; and Fiona said,
+"Yes, he is in Fairyland; but I do not know the way to go."
+
+"That is easily told," said the Oread. "The King of the Woodcock will
+let you in, and any of his people can tell you where to find him. But
+do you know the danger? If you do arrive, which is very doubtful, the
+fairies will make you wish a wish; and if your wish be one that does
+not find favor with them, they will keep you there forever, till you
+lose your memory and yourself and become even as one of them."
+
+"I will take the risk," said Fiona, "for I must go and try to bring
+him back."
+
+"Why do you want to bring him back?" asked the Oread. "He is much
+better where he is. Will he thank you for bringing him back? Not a
+bit. You will have the labor and the danger, and he will take it all
+for granted. And then he will become a man, and what use is that? He
+may be a financier, and cheat somebody; or a politician, and slander
+somebody; or a learned man, and hinder wisdom. He is much better in
+Fairyland. Why are you going?"
+
+"I can't help it," said Fiona. "You can't leave people in the lurch,
+you know."
+
+"Of course you can," said the Oread. "Be sensible and go home; eat,
+drink, and be merry."
+
+"O, don't you understand?" said Fiona. "Don't you see that there are
+some things you _can't_ do, whatever anybody says? It's not the reason
+of the thing; it's only just because I am I, and he is lost. You are
+so beautiful; haven't you any heart?"
+
+"Neither heart nor soul," said the Oread. "So I ought to be perfectly
+happy. You have a heart and a soul, and you are not. Which of us is
+the better off?"
+
+"I wouldn't change, anyhow," said Fiona.
+
+The Oread laughed.
+
+"Of course you wouldn't. It is I who would change if I could. But as I
+have no soul, and cannot get one, and do not know what it would mean
+to get one, it is no use worrying; it is best to be happy as I am. In
+any case, I would not care to be like men and women. I would not mind
+having a child's heart, like you. I had a heart once, but it is so
+long ago that I have almost forgotten what it was like. How old do you
+think I am?"
+
+"You _look_ about seventeen," said Fiona.
+
+"I am exactly as old as Heleval," said the girl. "And that is more
+hundreds of thousands of years than you or I could ever count. I am
+older than any of the fishes or birds or beasts; far older than men or
+fairies. Look at that," and the Oread swept her arm over the glorious
+prospect around her; the two great wings of the Isle of Mist stretched
+far out into the sea, the Atlantic throbbing and sparkling under the
+blue sky, and across the loch the jagged gray range of the Cuchullins,
+peak upon peak. "Isn't it all beautiful? We came into being together.
+Heleval was a giant in those days, a king among other kings; and there
+was no sea there, and the Cuchullin Hills stood right up into the sky,
+and twisted and bubbled while the Earth cooled and cracked, and my
+sisters of the Fire came out of the cracks and taught us mountain
+spirits the fire dance, and we danced it all night on the great peaks
+till the stars reeled to watch us. And then the fiery summits cooled
+and sank down, and my sisters of the Fire sank with them, and a mighty
+river went foaming out down the valley yonder to a distant sea; and
+every evening my sisters the Naiads came floating up in a circle with
+garlands of green on their hair, and they taught us mountain spirits
+the water dance, and we danced it all night on the moonlit water,
+while the Ocean crept nearer and nearer to gaze. And then the sea
+came up, and the river carved Heleval out as you see it, and shrank
+away, and my sisters the Naiads shrank away with it; and the island
+was covered with great forests, and my sisters the Hamadryads came out
+of the tree-trunks and taught us mountain spirits the tree dance, and
+we danced it all night in the forest glades, till one night men saw;
+and men felled the forests to capture my sisters of the trees and
+enslave them, but they vanished as the trees vanished. And to-day only
+the hills are left, and we, the Oreads, a people few and fading away;
+and we no longer dance, for we have lost all our sisters, and we no
+longer have hearts."
+
+The girl's face had filled with color as she spoke, and her eyes had
+become soft, and her voice sounded like the music of waters far away.
+Fiona looked at her in wonder.
+
+"Indeed, indeed, you have your heart still," she said. "And you are
+far more beautiful even than I thought you were. Come home with me,
+and I will love you as you loved your sisters."
+
+"It is not possible," said the Oread. "It is not free to me to leave
+Heleval. I _am_ Heleval. And I shall be here till one day men find
+iron or copper in my mountain, and come up with great engines to carve
+it and tear its flanks and carry it away; and then I shall go too, as
+my sisters have gone."
+
+"Will you die?" asked Fiona.
+
+"I do not know what death means," said the girl. "I shall just go
+back, like a drop of water when it falls into the sea. But do you know
+what you have done to-day? For a few moments, because you are brave
+and loyal, you have given me back my heart, which was lost thousands
+of years ago. It will all fade away again; but before it fades, will
+you kiss me?"
+
+So Fiona took her in her arms and kissed her, and then turned and went
+down the hill. Once she faced round, and saw the Oread standing,
+frosty and white, against the pinnacle of rock, holding out her arms;
+and she started to go back to her. And even as she moved the whiteness
+vanished, and there was nothing there but the rocky pinnacle, shining
+in the slanting sunlight. Rather sadly she went home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE KING OF THE WOODCOCK
+
+
+That night Fiona told her father that she believed she had found the
+way to go. They also discussed the question of catching a woodcock;
+with the result that Fiona was up at dawn and off to the kennels
+behind the big house, where the Urchin's father kept his dogs. She
+understood that she must take advantage both of the night frost and
+the habits of the keeper, who was apt to lie in bed awhile when no one
+was about.
+
+The two setters stood on their hind legs to greet her, and pawed at
+the bars, whining and dancing with joy. Artemis was white and brown
+and Apollo was white and black. Fiona threw open the door, and they
+were out in a moment, tumbling over each other as they made wild
+rings round the grass, and dashing back in between to lick her hand.
+She had to sit down and wait till the first exuberance was over, and
+they came and lay down at her feet with their tongues out.
+
+"It is good to be out so early," said Apollo.
+
+"It's so slow in the kennel," said Artemis. "And we can't even talk to
+each other, because Apollo was broken in English and doesn't know any
+Gaelic, and I was broken by another man in Gaelic and don't know any
+English."
+
+"You'll interpret, won't you?" said Apollo. "Of course we've the
+international code, but it doesn't take one much further than the
+passwords."
+
+So for the rest of the morning Fiona had not only to interpret but to
+make every remark twice over, once in each language. But it will do if
+the reader takes this for granted.
+
+"What are we going to do?" asked Apollo.
+
+So Fiona explained to them that she wanted to catch a woodcock and ask
+him a question, and she hoped they would help her.
+
+"Of course we will," said Artemis. "We know all about woodcock. When
+we go out with himself, we find them for him and stand still, and then
+he makes a noise and they fall down dead."
+
+"Sometimes," said Apollo.
+
+"Generally," corrected Artemis, loyally. "Will you make them fall down
+dead?"
+
+Fiona explained that she only wanted to catch one and talk to it.
+
+"We never saw that done," said Apollo. "But we will find one, and then
+you can catch it."
+
+"It's very early for woodcock," said Artemis. "There won't be any in
+the heather on the second of October. But there may be an early pair
+in the ferns."
+
+"The first ones always pitch in the ferns on Glenollisdal," said
+Apollo.
+
+So to Glenollisdal they went, down the shore road and across the
+little bridge and then by the shepherd's track along the top of the
+black cliffs, over grass and stones all rough and white with the
+frost. The cold morning air was like new wine, and Fiona had to shade
+her eyes from the low sun. Then the track left the cliffs and began to
+climb up a sunless valley, across little burns beautiful with fading
+ferns, till between two great moorland crags it reached the pass, more
+a watercourse now than a track; and then came the cairn at the summit
+of the pass, with its glorious view of sea and mountain, and down at
+one's very feet the deep narrow valley that was Glenollisdal, seamed
+from crest to foot by its deep burn, which ran half its length through
+faded brown heather and then out to sea through a huge bed of dying
+bracken, the whole bathed in the bright morning sun.
+
+"We always come here the first day," said Apollo. "Oh, we are going to
+have fun."
+
+The three followed the track down to where it passed the top of the
+fern bed. There was a good deal of grass there, dotted with sheep, and
+in one place, looking well out to sea, a curious little hard circle
+in the grass, where no sheep ever came.
+
+"That is the fairy ring," said Artemis. "Where they dance, you know."
+
+"They dance on All Hallows E'en," said Apollo. "But no one ever sees
+them."
+
+"Because everyone's afraid to go and look," said Artemis.
+
+"Please, may we start?" said Apollo.
+
+"All you have to do is to wait till we point," said Artemis, "and then
+come to us."
+
+And the two dogs dashed off into the great fern bed, crossing each
+other backwards and forwards like a pair of scissors as they quartered
+it.
+
+They were not long about it. Apollo's gallop became a sort of run, a
+yard or two of stealthy crawl, and he stopped dead, tail stiff and
+throat distended, like a dog of marble, and looked round for Fiona.
+Artemis was just crossing him; she whipped round in her stride as if
+shot and became a second marble image where she stood.
+
+Fiona walked down to Apollo. But the ferns rustled a good deal as she
+made her way through, and as she reached the dog's side the cock rose,
+five yards away, with a lazy careless flap as if it felt only the
+bother of being disturbed. For a moment she had a vivid impression of
+the white patches at the end of its fan of tail feathers, and then it
+gradually gathered speed and swept away over the side of the valley;
+for an instant it showed black as it crossed the sky line, and then it
+was gone.
+
+Apollo turned to Fiona with unhappy eyes and licked her hand. But
+Artemis never moved a muscle.
+
+"Come to me," she said in a low whisper.
+
+Very quietly Fiona reached her side.
+
+"The other bird is here," whispered Artemis, "just under my nose.
+Stoop down."
+
+Fiona bent down between the stalks of the bracken. The woodcock was
+sitting with its back to her, a little brown bunch of feathers. Very
+gently she put her hand out, and even as she did so she became aware
+of a wise black eye looking at her, though the bird faced the other
+way. Her hand closed on the empty air, and the woodcock, with a
+wonderful spring, was well on its way to seek its mate.
+
+"I believe I could have put a foot on it," said Artemis regretfully.
+"But of course we are not allowed to."
+
+"I don't know how I came to be so foolish," said Fiona. "I ought to
+have spoken to it instead of trying to catch it. But I forgot."
+
+"Better luck next time," said Apollo; "we must try again."
+
+But though the dogs worked the whole of the ferns carefully, there was
+no other bird there.
+
+They came back and lay down beside Fiona, tongues out and panting.
+
+"It's no use trying the heather yet, I know," said Artemis. "Birds are
+never in it at this time of year."
+
+"There are some more ferns two miles on," said Apollo doubtfully. "I
+saw a bird there once, three years ago."
+
+"I wish I knew what to do," said Fiona.
+
+"We can leave it for a day or two and come back," said Artemis. "Those
+two birds will be back again to look for each other."
+
+"But they won't be so confiding again," added Apollo.
+
+They were all so preoccupied that they never noticed the shepherd till
+he was quite close to them. He was striding down the track, a big,
+raw-boned man with red hair; a plaid was thrown loosely across his
+shoulder; at his heels followed a jet black collie.
+
+The dogs saw him first. It would seem that they did not like him.
+Every hair on their necks bristled; they shrank close to Fiona, making
+little moaning noises in their throats, and flattening themselves as
+if they were trying to burrow into the ground. Their eyes were full of
+terror.
+
+"Why, Artemis, Apollo, what's the matter?" said Fiona. Then she looked
+up and saw the shepherd. "Why, it's only the new shepherd and his
+collie. There's nothing to be afraid of."
+
+"Collie!" said Apollo. "That thing's not a collie. Can't you see?"
+
+"Shepherd!" echoed Artemis. "That thing's not a shepherd. Oh, can't
+you see?"
+
+The shepherd came up to Fiona, and said that Miss Fiona was out early
+and was there anything he could be doing for her. He spoke in the soft
+correct English of the Gael.
+
+"I came out to catch a woodcock to talk to it," said Fiona, "and we
+can't catch one."
+
+It occurred to her, even as she spoke, that the statement sounded a
+little out of the ordinary. But the rough shepherd never let the least
+sign of this show on his face. He answered in the most matter-of-fact
+way, with the gentle courtesy of the west coast, that there would not
+be many woodcock in yet, and would he try to catch one for Miss Fiona?
+
+"Oh, do you think you could?" said Fiona eagerly. "I should be so
+grateful."
+
+Then the shepherd saw the trouble of the dogs. He said something to
+them in a language that was neither English nor Gaelic, and waved his
+own dog to go. The collie went straight off up the moor, and sat down
+on the top of the nearest rock ledge, an odd little blot of black on
+the brown and yellow moorland. Apollo and Artemis got up and shook
+themselves violently.
+
+"It was the international password," said Apollo. "Goodness knows
+where he got it from. But we have to recognize it."
+
+"I'm not happy," said Artemis. "I was well brought up. I never
+associated with this sort of thing before."
+
+Fiona, who knew that a new shepherd had been coming, could make
+nothing of their trouble, and did her best to smooth them down. The
+shepherd led the way up the hill, and on to a little rough plateau
+broken with rocks and bits of heather, lying under the main rise of
+the hill where it rounds away toward the Glenollisdal burn. "I am
+thinking that there should be a woodcock about here," he said.
+
+"This is one of the earliest places in all the heather," whispered
+Artemis to Fiona. "He must know this moor very well."
+
+"It's too early yet, all the same, even for here," said Apollo.
+
+It looked as if Apollo were right. For when at the shepherd's request
+Fiona threw the dogs off, they quartered the whole plateau and found
+nothing.
+
+But the shepherd stuck to his guns.
+
+"I am thinking that there should be a bird here," he said. "Will Miss
+Fiona give me leave to try my own dog?"
+
+Fiona nodded and called the setters to heel; the shepherd waved his
+hand, and the black collie came racing to him. Some collies will work
+a ground like a spaniel, and some will even do a little pointing, but
+the black collie troubled himself neither with one nor the other. When
+the shepherd spoke to him, he just cantered straight forward to a
+small patch of heather on the sunless side of a rock, where the frost
+still lingered, and there sat down quite unconcerned, as though the
+matter in hand were altogether beneath the scope of his talents.
+
+"I think he has a bird," said the shepherd.
+
+"I tried that place," said Apollo. "There's nothing there."
+
+But the shepherd had gone up to his dog and was peering carefully into
+the heather. Then he beckoned Fiona.
+
+"Does Miss Fiona see the bird?" he asked, pointing.
+
+Fiona looked long before she saw. The woodcock had squeezed himself
+right into the roots of a frost-covered clump of heather, and even
+when the heather was parted nothing showed but his little orange tail,
+with its white and black points.
+
+"Shall I catch him for Miss Fiona?" asked the shepherd; and Fiona
+said, "Oh yes, please, if you will."
+
+The shepherd knelt down and brought his two great hands slowly to
+either side of the tuft of heather; then he closed them with a snap,
+and drew out the largest woodcock Fiona had ever seen. It struggled
+and thrashed at his wrists with its powerful wings.
+
+"Will Miss Fiona take the bird now?" he said. "Just behind the wings,
+with her thumbs on its back."
+
+So Fiona took her bird, and as she did so its back-seeing eye caught
+the glint of her copper bangle. It stopped thrashing with its wings
+and lay quite still in her hands.
+
+"Oh, I say," he said, "why didn't you say before, instead of employing
+these people and frightening an honest bird out of his senses?"
+
+"My dogs couldn't find you," said Fiona. "And I think it was so good
+of the shepherd to find you for me."
+
+"Shepherd!" said the woodcock. "That wasn't a shepherd. And it wasn't
+a collie either."
+
+Fiona suddenly recollected that she had not yet thanked the shepherd,
+and turned to do so. But the shepherd and collie were gone. They must
+have walked very quickly to have turned the corner of the hill
+already.
+
+"Where did he go?" she asked Artemis. Artemis shivered.
+
+"To his own place, I hope," said Artemis severely. "Well brought up
+dogs should not be asked to associate with things like that."
+
+"But it was only the new shepherd," said Fiona.
+
+"There's the new shepherd," said Artemis, nodding toward a distant
+slope, where a figure with a brown collie could be seen gathering
+sheep.
+
+"What were they, then?" asked Fiona.
+
+"Two of the Little People, of course," said Apollo. "Oh dear, oh dear,
+I'm afraid you'll have trouble."
+
+"One generally dies," said Artemis, with cheerful consolation.
+
+"But they were very nice to me indeed," said Fiona.
+
+"Of course they were," said the woodcock. "You're privileged, you
+know. _We_ all know it. And don't you mind the dogs, my dear. They
+are good creatures, but they and their forbears have lived so long
+with humans that they have forgotten most of the things we know. They
+are nearly as blind as humans now, saving your presence, my dear. And
+now what is it you want with me?"
+
+"I want to find the King of the Woodcock," said Fiona.
+
+"Bless your heart," said the bird, "and who do you suppose We are? You
+never saw a woodcock Our size before, did you?" And indeed Fiona never
+had; for he was as big as a young grouse.
+
+"Eighteen and a half ounces, if I'm a pennyweight," said the woodcock.
+"I am the heaviest king that we have ever had. Will you please put me
+down if you want to talk to me? It is hardly consonant with my royal
+dignity to be held. I shan't fly away; _noblesse oblige_, you know."
+
+So Fiona put him down, and he arranged himself like a bunch of
+feathers on the ground, his head well back between his shoulders and
+his beady black eyes looking all round him at once.
+
+"Why didn't Apollo find you?" asked Fiona.
+
+"No scent," said the woodcock, proudly. "I am not like a common bird.
+No dog can find a king woodcock; and no dog ever has. We can be beaten
+out of a wood, of course; my great-great-grandfather was shot like
+that when the family lived in Norfolk, many years ago. So we came up
+here to the open heather, and have been quite safe ever since. And now
+what do you want, my dear?"
+
+"I was told you could let me into Fairyland," said Fiona.
+
+"I can let you in by the back door," the bird said. "But are you
+really going to Fairyland? You'll need some courage, you know, if you
+are going the back way."
+
+"Is there another way?" asked Fiona.
+
+"There's the front door, of course," said the bird. "But no one can go
+that way without an invitation. Have you an invitation?"
+
+"No," said Fiona.
+
+"A pity," said the woodcock. "There is no danger that way. But without
+an invitation you could not even find the door. As it is, you'll have
+to go in by the back way and take your risks."
+
+"I have to go, whatever they are," said Fiona.
+
+"_Noblesse oblige_," said the woodcock. "Quite so, quite so. Have you
+been told about the wish?"
+
+"Yes," said Fiona. "I know about that."
+
+"The other thing," continued the bird, "is that you must stick to the
+main path. Remember that. You must not turn out of it for any reason
+of any kind. You'll see lots of side paths, and you'll see other
+things too; but if you once leave the main path by so much as one step
+you'll never get home again. There are no short cuts to Fairyland."
+
+"Thank you so much," said Fiona. "But how shall I know the main path?"
+
+With his long bill the woodcock tweaked the point feather out of one
+of his wings and gave it to her.
+
+"This will take you through," he said. "It will point the right way
+for you; that's why it is called the point feather. Just follow it. If
+you are frightened and want to leave your search and come home, tap on
+the ground with it and you will be back in Glenollisdal. But somehow I
+don't think you will. And whatever you do, don't lose it. When you
+reach the fairy grove, show it to the guardian, and he will let you
+in; and mind you don't go in unless he shows you its fellow. Oh, I'm
+all right, thank you; I'll have grown others long before they are
+needed. There is no great rush to Fairyland on the part of people who
+haven't _got_ to go, my dear."
+
+"It all sounds so much more difficult than I thought," said poor
+Fiona.
+
+"Nothing worth while is ever easy," said the woodcock. "And now I'll
+show you where to start. By the bye, you can't take the dogs with
+you."
+
+"This dog wouldn't go," said Artemis, shivering. "That black collie's
+there somewhere."
+
+"Don't bother about us," said Apollo. "We'll be home long before the
+keeper is out of bed."
+
+So Fiona took a warm farewell of the two dogs, who lamented her sad
+fate and wished her luck all in one breath, and then set off homeward
+with their long swinging gallop.
+
+"And now, if you want to be in time for the great gathering, which you
+humans call Hallow E'en, you'll have to hurry," said the woodcock.
+
+"But it's nearly a month to Hallow E'en," said Fiona.
+
+"You'll want every minute of it," said the bird. "Come on."
+
+And they started off for the fairy ring, the woodcock pattering along
+on his little feet at a pace which would have surprised anyone who had
+never seen a woodcock do it.
+
+"How come you to be doorkeeper?" asked Fiona, as they went.
+
+"Hereditary," said the bird. "We used to go to all the lost lands, you
+know, like Lyonesse and Lemuria and Bresil and Atlantis. We still
+cross Ireland once a year and pass on into the Atlantic to salute the
+site of Plato's island, before we settle in Britain. And Fairyland is
+only another of the lost lands. Here we are."
+
+They had come to the fairy ring.
+
+"There's nothing more I can do now," said the woodcock. "A straight
+step and a stout heart, my dear."
+
+Fiona took the feather in her hand and stood in the fairy ring.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FIONA IN THE FAIRY-WORLD
+
+
+It was very, very dark. Fiona could not see her hand if she held it
+close before her eyes. It was just blackness. Only one thing broke it;
+far away--many miles it might be--was a tiny speck of white, like the
+point of a pin. All round her in the dark were little soft sounds;
+they brushed against her feet, and passed before her face; little soft
+sounds, apparently without bodies. She held the tiny point-feather
+firmly in the fingers of her left hand, and touched it from time to
+time with her right, as she felt her way, one foot before the
+other--she could not walk--towards the point of light. And with her
+and about her went the small soft sounds; one would have said that
+they whispered and chuckled in the darkness.
+
+How far and how long she went she could never guess; there was nothing
+by which to measure time or distance, and evidently she was not going
+to feel hunger or fatigue.
+
+At last she became conscious of a change. The white speck of light was
+growing brighter and larger; and the small soft sounds were becoming
+tangible. One brushed past her face, and she felt it; she put out a
+hand, and there was a scuffing and chuckling, as if they were playing
+blind man's buff with her. Then the light began to take shape; it was
+a circular pool lying on the floor and wall of the avenue of blackness
+down which she was passing; and it came from something on the other
+side. And the little soft sounds crowded round her; they laughed, they
+whispered, they clutched at her dress; they were trying to guide her
+in a certain direction. She tried to shake them off, and found that,
+though they could touch her, she could not touch them. And then she
+came into the pool of light.
+
+The light came down a sort of short passage between rocks, with a
+well-trodden floor; and at the end of it, not twenty yards from where
+she stood, she could see the fairy grotto. One grand white carbuncle,
+as big as an arc lamp, hung from the roof, filling the grotto with
+dazzling white light; and the radiance of the carbuncle was flung back
+in a million points of new splendor from the walls of the grotto,
+shifting and shimmering like the rainbow across a waterfall, ruby and
+orange, yellow and emerald, sapphire and violet, changing as each new
+facet came into play; for the walls of the grotto were set thick with
+cut jewels of every hue and color. A glorious sight it looked; and
+Fiona suddenly became aware that the soft things that clutched at her
+dress and the soft things that whispered in her ear, were all trying
+to draw her toward the beautiful grotto. But she felt her feather, and
+it pointed straight on into the dark. So she moved forward; and with
+the first step she saw the trap. The floor of the beautiful grotto
+yawned wide, showing the horrible abyss beneath it; and the darkness
+was full of soft flutterings, and the chuckling of mocking laughter.
+But they touched her no more at the time; and suddenly the darkness
+fell away on each side like a wall, and she stepped out into daylight.
+
+She was in the desert. The yellow burning sand stretched all round
+her, a mass of glittering particles that made the eyes sore; wave
+after wave, it went billowing away to the red burning hills that faced
+and flung back the burning sun. Mile after mile she stumbled along in
+that aching heat; and then, as she topped a great hillock of sand, she
+suddenly saw the fairy city. Very beautiful it looked, rose-pink on a
+wooded island in a fair lake of water, whose blue mirror gave back
+every trembling cupola and minaret; and toward it, down a broad track
+marked by tamarisk bushes, went a goodly company of merchants, with
+tinkling bells on their camels' necks and golden ornaments on their
+camels' heads, the company of a chief who rode ahead on a white Arab
+steed with his long jezail laid across his saddle-bow. Here could no
+doubt be; and Fiona all but stepped on to the broad path in the track
+of the caravan. But even as she turned she caught sight of the feather
+and checked herself just in time; and the beautiful city of mirage
+melted away, and there was no caravan there, but only sand marked by
+the bones of men, and in place of the tamarisk bushes were gray
+vultures feasting in a row. She followed the feather straight on
+across the burning desert; and on a sudden she walked out of the sand
+into shade.
+
+She was out in the forest. Huge trees rose like the pillars of a
+cathedral nave, branching far above her head and shutting out the
+daylight; and up their trunks ran starred creepers of every hue,
+fighting their way up to the sun. Down from the branches hung orchids
+of all fantastic shapes, in long still streamers, and great moon moths
+fluttered round them, taking their joy in the dim light. And the
+farther she went the thicker grew the forest, and the more oppressive
+the airless heat. Trailing plants ran across her feet and tried to
+trip her up; the great trunks closed together till there was barely
+room to force a way between; the thorns of the creepers tore at her
+flesh, and instead of the beautiful orchids there came on the trees
+huge funguses red as blood. And the small soft voices began again;
+they had caught her up; the forest was full of the same little sounds
+which she had heard before, whispering and chuckling and fingering her
+dress. And then, just as it seemed impossible to fight a way farther
+through the dense jungle, she came to the open glade. Full of grass
+and flowers and sunshine it was, and across it ran a gurgling brook,
+crossed by a little plank bridge; a sweet breeze moved the grass, and
+beyond the brook two little spotted deer were feeding; far in the
+distance were tiny peaks of snow. The soft fingers were all tugging at
+Fiona's dress, impelling her down the glade; but she had had ample
+warning of those soft fingers, and she saw that the feather pointed
+straight on through the tangled forest. And even as she moved she saw
+that the little bridge was the back of a great water-python; and the
+fingers loosed their hold of her dress, and the air was full of soft
+whisperings and laughter. And she walked straight on into the tangled
+thicket before her; and the forest parted to right and left, and she
+walked out.
+
+She was in a fair country of green grass and temperate airs, where the
+path lay true and straight before her through vineyards and groves of
+oranges. Here and there a cherry tree swung its crown of white blossom
+above her head, or a cypress stood up tall and straight as a sentinel
+on duty. Purple flags bloomed under the rocks, and on a clump of brown
+orchises sat two little jewelled butterflies, burnished green as old
+copper; up the path of the sunlight came a swallowtail with its
+stately glancing flight. Everything spoke to her here of fair peace
+and security; and when she heard the air still rustling with little
+soft sounds and chuckles, and knew that they had followed her, she
+began to wonder how it was that, now that she knew their ways, they
+should think it worth while. And they were becoming most active. The
+soft sounds brushed all round her; the soft fingers grasped her arms;
+tiny weightless bodies behind her seemed to be impelling her forward.
+
+And then before her she saw the inevitable two paths: the broad flat
+path that passed through a fair orchard of lemon trees, where the
+sunlight threw chequers on to the grass beneath, starred with scarlet
+and purple anemones; and the narrow stony track, terribly steep, which
+toiled away up the bare hillside in heat radiated from the rocks.
+Never had the soft sounds been so insistent; a myriad gentle hands
+were trying to steer her, even to push her by force, toward the lemon
+trees. She saw the folly of them so very clearly; and her foot was
+actually raised to take the first step up the hill path, when she felt
+the feather turn of itself in her hand, and she became ice from head
+to foot as she realized that she had all but destroyed herself by
+despising her opponents. They had striven this time to force her into
+the _true_ path, believing that she would certainly take the opposite
+one.
+
+She saw now the end of the fatal hill path, the sudden crumbling
+precipice which flung men on to pointed rocks far below; and the air
+behind her became full of woe, voiceless wailings and silent howls of
+rage, and she saw what she had fought against; a troop of small
+formless black things, like immature bats, with pale fingers, that
+fled moaning down the path of the sunlight. She knew now that they
+would not vex her again.
+
+She passed on through the lemon orchard, and out on to a bare
+hillside, rough with stones and dotted here and there with great oak
+trees; plants of asphodel were thrusting their blossoms up among the
+coarse tufts of grass, and far below, in all its laughing splendor,
+lay the sea. And as she turned the shoulder of the hill she saw the
+temple, a fair Doric temple of gray marble, standing in lonely beauty
+among the scattered oak trees. Its metopes were carved with the
+figures of gods and heroes of an older day, and round it ran a frieze
+of warriors who fought with Amazon women. The singing was just over,
+it seemed; and the double choir of white-robed girls, who had been
+giving strophe and antistrophe of some festival ode, had broken into
+groups, these playing at ball, those reclining in the shade or
+strolling about with their arms round each other's waists. In her
+chair in the cool portico sat the fair-faced matronly priestess, still
+crowned with red roses, and before her two little boys poured wine
+into a crystal goblet. And as she saw Fiona she rose from her chair
+and greeted her by name, calling her happy that she had now come
+safely through the path of danger and that her troubles were ended.
+
+"Come here to us," she said, "and rest, for it is but a little way now
+that you must go, and there is ample time; slake your thirst at this
+crystal goblet, and lie awhile in the shade, while these maidens crown
+you with flowers."
+
+But Fiona had learnt her lesson, and she looked at her feather; and
+the feather pointed straight along the hillside. So she passed on
+without a look or a word; and as she passed came a noise as of the
+earth opening; and the pillars of the temple bowed themselves, and the
+middle of the building collapsed stone by stone, till only the outer
+columns remained among a mass of fallen blocks, and triglyph and
+metope and sculptured frieze lay in fragments about them. And among
+the ruins a red fox with two cubs sat and snarled, as she watched a
+company of toads crawling in the dust; and of that fair scene all that
+had not changed was the pallid asphodel, the asphodel whose home is in
+those other meadows where walk the pallid dead.
+
+And as Fiona passed on, the hillside itself dissolved in mist, and
+there before her lay the fairy grove. And the guardian of the grove,
+with white beard sweeping the ground, and old trembling hands, came
+out to meet her. And she showed him her feather, and from his belt he
+drew out and held up its fellow; and she knew that the path of danger
+was over.
+
+"No one has come through by the way you have come for more years than
+my old memory can follow," he said. "They always fail at the lemon
+orchard. How did you escape?"
+
+And Fiona told him how the feather had turned in her hand of itself.
+
+The old man bowed almost to the ground.
+
+"That was the direct grace of the King," he said. "You must be a
+person of the greatest consequence."
+
+And when Fiona said, "I am just an ordinary girl," he again bowed low
+and said: "Young lady, I take leave to doubt it."
+
+Then he gave Fiona her directions for finding the King, and warned her
+that she must not loiter in the fairy grove, for the fairies were
+already gathering for All Hallows E'en.
+
+So Fiona walked swiftly through the grove, not seeing one half of its
+beauties, though she would have loved to have lingered among the
+trees. For in the grove grew every tree and plant famous in legend or
+in history, of which not the tenth part can be told here. There was
+the Norse ash, whose roots bind together the framework of the earth;
+there the Irish hazel, of whose nuts could a man but taste he would
+know all knowledge and all wisdom; there the African pomegranate, but
+for whose sweetness the Corn-spirit would have disdained to stay
+beneath the earth, and the race of men would have perished. There
+stood Deborah's terebinth and Diotima's plane, and the Bô-tree beneath
+whose branches Gautama Buddha sought and found the path of
+Enlightenment. There grew the paper-reeds of Egypt, the repository
+through many centuries of a whole world's learning, the paper-reeds
+that grow no longer in their old home, even as the prophet Isaiah
+foretold; and there the clove, for whose perfumed pistils great
+nations had warred together and brave men died under torture. There
+stood the English trees, the oak and the white acacia, which had built
+the three-deckers for the greatest sea captain the world has seen.
+There was that great traveller, the mulberry, which had left its home
+on the Yangtse to follow the old Silk Route across Asia; which had
+crossed the stony Gobi, where wild camels run and the Djinn light
+their lamps at night to decoy travellers; which had seen the Khotan
+girls wading knee-deep in the Khotan River, searching for the previous
+white jade which should make gods for China, as erstwhile for Nineveh
+and Troy; which had skirted the wandering lake of Lop-nor, and had
+tarried awhile in old dead cities, now buried under the sands of the
+dreaded Taklamakan; which had seen the turquoise mines of Khorassan,
+and voyaged on the broad Oxus stream, till from Iran its way lay clear
+to the west. There grew the cedars of the Atlas, which had aided their
+great mountain to support the sky, and had sailed south with Hanno to
+the Guinea Gulf, to bring home those gorilla hides which lay on the
+altar of Melcarth at Carthage; and there the most famous of all the
+trees of the forest, the proud cedars of Lebanon, which had once
+exulted with their voices over the fall of the king of Assyria, which
+had built for Solomon his temple and his house for the daughter of
+Pharaoh, and which had given to the princes of Tyre the ships in
+which, greatly daring, they had ranged the three seas, bringing home
+the gold of India and the silver of Spain and the tin of Cornwall, the
+wealth of the east and the west, myrrh and frankincense and purple
+dye, ivory and apes and peacocks. And last of all was the twisted gray
+olive, beloved of gray-eyed Pallas Athene, the symbol of all that
+raises man above the savage, the tree in whose train, as it moved out
+from its home in Asia, had grown up all the civilizations that ringed
+the Mediterranean.
+
+So Fiona passed through the grove and came out on a broad place of
+grass, and right before her stood the fairy ring. But not such a one
+as the ring on Glenollisdal which she knew. This ring was of vast
+size, and round it grew in a circle huge red toadstools splotched with
+white, the red toadstools from which the witches of Lapland had used
+to brew philtres of love and death. But vast as it was, it could not
+hold all the creatures that swarmed round it. It was a gathering such
+as Fiona had never dreamt of. On the outskirts stood an innumerable
+host of little strange beings, of every sort and shape, elves and
+brownies, gnomes and pixies, trolls and kobolds, goblins and
+leprechauns; and the babel of them as they whispered together was like
+the noise of a flock of fieldfares. And within them and around the
+ring itself stood the fairies.
+
+All the lost peoples and nations and languages, it seemed, were there
+in miniature; everyone that Fiona had ever heard her father speak of,
+and many another of which even he knew nothing. There were fairies of
+the Old Stone peoples, brave-eyed, clad in pelts of the saber-tooth,
+bearing the blade-bones of bisons on which were carved pictures of the
+mammoth and the reindeer. Fairies from Egypt, clad in fine white linen
+with girdles of topaz and aquamarine, with fillets round their brows
+from which the golden uræus lifted its snake's head, bearing blossoms
+of the blue lotus. Fairies from Babylon, glowing in coats of scarlet
+or of many colors, their eyes deep with immemorial learning, bearing
+clay tablets on which were signs like the footprints of birds. Fairies
+from Crete, light of foot in the dance, in flounced skirts adorned
+with golden butterflies, crowned with yellow crocuses and bearing
+vases on which were painted the creatures of the sea, nautilus and
+flying fish and polyp. Fairies of the Iberians, black-haired and
+black-eyed, clad in black cloaks, small and shy and dusty, bearing
+ingots of tin. Fairies from Cappadocia, in peaked shoes, and pelisses
+of lion's skin trimmed with the fur of hares, moving to the clash of
+cymbals, bearing grapes and ears of corn. Fairies from Mexico, with
+heavy cheek bones, resplendent in mantles woven of the plumage of the
+quetzal bird, carrying bricks of gold. Fairies from Ethiopia, black as
+the black diamond, clad in leopard skins and plumed with the feathers
+of ostriches, carrying tusks of ivory. Fairies from the land of Sheba,
+well skilled in riddles, in cloaks of camel's hair buckled with clasps
+of onyx, bearing caskets of agate filled with spices. Buddhist fairies
+of the Naga race, with the sevenfold cobra's hood springing from their
+shoulders and shadowing them, languorous and heavy-eyed, carrying
+crimson water lilies. Fairies from Cambodia, in stiff dresses of cloth
+of gold, with gilded faces and scarlet eyebrows, bearing pagoda bells
+which tinkled. Fairies of the Golden Horde, bandy-legged, with pug
+noses and slits of eyes, clad in dyed sheepskins and carrying the
+tails of horses. Fairies of the Picts, tattooed to the eyelids, their
+plaids dyed with crotal and the root of the yellow iris, wearing
+badges of mountain fern or bog-myrtle and bearing jars of heather ale.
+Fairies of Britain, in deerskin cloaks fastened with brooches of
+enamel, with golden torques circling their throats, bearing sprays of
+mistletoe. Fairies of the Tuatha-dé, with all the youth of the world
+in their eyes, clad in robes of saffron, crowned with rowans and
+bearing harps. Fairies from Greece, erect and lissom, beautiful as a
+sculptor's dream, crowned with wild olive and bearing each the roll of
+a book. Fairies of old England, in Lincoln green, with feathers of the
+gray goose in their caps, bearing bows of yew and branches of the may.
+Fairies from Baghdad, radiant as visions of the night-time, their
+turbans and their crooked scimitars jewelled with rubies of Badakshan,
+bearing magic lamps. Fairies from Quinsay, dainty as porcelain, their
+silken robes embroidered with blossoms of the almond and the peach
+tree, bearing jars of coral lac wrought in the likeness of dragons,
+and on their heads the poppy flowers that bring sleep.
+
+And in the middle of the ring stood a throne carved out of a single
+beryl, green as the sea; and on the throne sat the King of the
+Fairies, with eyes bright as the dawn and deep as the sea caves, in a
+cloak of Tyrian purple with clasps of amethyst. His crown and sceptre
+were of white gold, white gold which has long since perished out of
+the upper world, and in the end of his sceptre was set a double
+pentacle of clear crystal brought from the Island of Desire. And in
+the beryl throne, if he looked at it through the crystal, were shown
+to him the reflections of all things that he might wish to see. If he
+looked directly, he saw all that had happened in the world in the
+past; and if he reversed the crystal, he saw all that should happen in
+the future; but if he held the pentacle edgewise, then he saw the
+present, which no man ever sees, and was the greatest magic of all.
+Round the throne stood his guards, black as Moors, in jackets and
+trousers of emerald green clasped with orange zircons; half of them
+bore trumpets of silver, and half of them carried spears with heads of
+green obsidian as sharp as steel. And on either side of the throne, on
+a stool, sat a strange creature, a little wizened elf with a large
+book on his knee. One wore a white cap, and he bore an inkhorn and a
+bundle of long quills; the other wore a black cap, and he bore a
+penknife.
+
+Fiona edged herself as far forward as she could into the ring of
+strange beings, and found herself next an old Leprechaun with a face
+like a wrinkled apple, who seemed quite inclined to be friendly.
+
+"A human!" he said. "We do not see as many as we used to. But they say
+there are two to be tried to-night. As you see, we have attempted
+something out of the ordinary in the way of a welcome." And he waved
+his arm proudly round the enormous assembly. "Had far to come?" he
+asked.
+
+Fiona told him how long it had taken her.
+
+"That's nothing," he said. "There are people here to-night who, as
+soon as the dance is over, will start travelling as fast as they can,
+and will only just arrive in time for next year's meeting. Good for
+the shoemaking trade!"
+
+"Where do they try the prisoners?" she asked him.
+
+"Here, in the ring," said the Leprechaun. "The King tries them.
+There's the Public Prosecutor," and he pointed to a fairy of pompous
+aspect, with a hooked nose and a Roman toga, and a roll under his arm.
+"He's a terrible fellow. And there's the King's Remembrancer, those
+two with the books."
+
+"Why are there two?" asked Fiona.
+
+"One to remember and one to forget, of course, stupid," said the
+Leprechaun. "Whereever were you educated? Do you think kings want to
+remember _everything_?"
+
+"It must be very easy forgetting," said Fiona.
+
+"Hardest job in Fairyland," said the Leprechaun. "I suppose you know
+lots of people with perfect memories; but you never knew one with a
+perfect forgetfulness, eh? Whitecap there only has to write his book
+up; but poor Blackcap--he's the one that forgets--his book is written
+up to start with, and he has to get the pages clean again with his
+penknife. He never gets them _quite_ clean. They say he has nightmare
+every night over the things he can't forget altogether."
+
+The King had been talking to one of the officers of his guard. He now
+rose and held out his sceptre, and there was a great silence round the
+Fairy ring.
+
+"Before we dance to-night," he said, "we have, as you know, to try two
+prisoners." He turned to the officer of the guard, and said, "Let them
+be produced."
+
+The officer at once produced the Urchin from nowhere in particular, as
+a conjurer produces half-crowns. The boy looked rather large among the
+Little People, but otherwise he was much as Fiona had last seen him;
+his shirt and knickerbockers were covered with earthstains and he
+still had the same length of useless rope coiled round his waist.
+
+But Jeconiah? Was this the prosperous financier, this wretched apology
+for a living being which the officer held out on the palm of his hand?
+Not two inches high, its white waistcoat hanging in loose flaps,
+speechless, and wide-eyed with terror and abject entreaty, it was like
+the ghost of a parody; the officer had to set it on one of the great
+toadstools, and mark the place with a stick, lest it should be lost.
+The King regarded it with interest.
+
+"I understood that the elder prisoner was a very stout man," he said.
+
+"That was so, your Majesty," said the officer. "He was so stout that
+we thought it useless to attempt to take him through the doorway as he
+was, so we left his body behind and only brought away the essential
+part of him. This is all that there really is of him, sire; the rest
+was wind. When we began to sift him we were afraid that he had no
+real existence at all, and that there would be nothing to bring
+before you."
+
+"Well, well," said the King, "there's enough of him to be tried,
+anyhow. Are the prisoners provided with counsel?"
+
+The Public Prosecutor was understood to say that they were not yet
+represented.
+
+"Counsel had better be assigned them in the usual way," said the King.
+"Catch, somebody."
+
+He took a guinea from his pocket and flung it, apparently without
+looking, into the crowd. But thick as the crowd was, the guinea passed
+straight through the forest of hands held out for it, and fell into a
+tiny brown hand behind them. Fiona knew where she had seen that hand
+before.
+
+The owner of the hand at once stepped forward into the ring. He seemed
+to be the most singular being in Fairyland. Fiona's first impression
+was that he was just a large bald head, the color of parchment and
+wrinkled all over; and this impression remained, even when she
+realized that he did possess a small body, with the usual allowance of
+arms and legs. Out of his great head looked a pair of quite
+incongruous eyes, bright as beads, and full of happy drollery. Behind
+him came a couple of stout goblins, each laden with dusty law books.
+They piled the books up in a stack on the ground, and the singular
+creature with the head proceeded to climb to the top of the stack,
+where he sat down, cracking his fingers and laughing hugely at some
+jest of his own, evidently on the best of terms both with himself and
+his audience. Then he caught Fiona's eye, and deliberately winked at
+her; but somehow it carried no offence, for the creature seemed
+absolutely free from malice.
+
+"Privilege honorable profession defend oppressed," he remarked; "duty
+clients submit large number points," and he patted the books he sat
+on. He had a habit of clipping his words as he spoke which was totally
+destructive of the smaller parts of speech, and made his remarks
+sound like a series of unedited cablegrams.
+
+"We will take the younger prisoner first," announced the King;
+whereupon the Public Prosecutor proceeded to read, all in one breath,
+the indictment against the Urchin, to the effect that he did on or
+about the 20th day of September then last past in despite of the peace
+of the realm and the safety of the lieges with a stone or some other
+missile or thing throw at and break the wing of or otherwise hit, cut,
+hurt, maim, destroy and do wrong to one of the said lieges, to wit, a
+shore lark, and so forth. When he had finished, instead of evidence
+being taken, the King merely glanced into the beryl throne.
+
+"True in fact," he said. "Any defence?"
+
+The creature on the bookstack began at once.
+
+"Please Majesty duty client submit series points. First point no
+intention."
+
+But Fiona did not wait to hear what it had to say. Forcing her way
+into the ring, she said:
+
+"Please, your Majesty, it was my fault. I told him he couldn't."
+
+The King turned to look at her.
+
+"So this is the young lady," he said. "Very good of you to come, you
+know. We rarely receive visitors now. We shall try to make you welcome
+when the trial is over." He turned again to the bookstack, and said:
+"I will hear the defence."
+
+"It was my fault, your Majesty," said Fiona again.
+
+With grave patience the King started to explain to her.
+
+"Your part of it was your fault, of course. But we are not trying you,
+for you have come here of your own free will, so we can neither try
+nor punish. But his part of it was equally his own fault, and unless
+there is a good defence he will have to be punished."
+
+The creature on the bookstack was nodding and signing to Fiona, but
+she was too engrossed with a single thought to notice him.
+
+"Then I claim my wish, your Majesty," she said.
+
+"Quite in order," said the King. "The trial will be suspended while
+the young lady wishes. Officer!"
+
+And immediately the fairy ring was strewn with a strange collection of
+objects, looking rather like the contents of an old curiosity shop
+that had gone bankrupt. The officer held them up one by one for Fiona
+to see.
+
+"When we heard you were coming," said the King, "we collected a few
+little things for your inspection. It is so long since we had any use
+for any of them that many of them seem to have developed serious
+defects, which we regret; but they are the best we could find at short
+notice. This," he pointed to an old ring, "is a common wishing ring.
+It used to do all the usual things. The genie attached to it has
+unfortunately become very deaf with age; but if you can make him hear,
+we believe he is still in fair working order. This," as a frayed
+girdle was held up, "is the famous cestus of Aphrodite, which she
+lent to Helen of Troy. Its wearer used to become the most beautiful
+and unpopular creature in the world. It will still confer beauty,
+though hardly suited to the modern style; the unpopularity we
+guarantee. This," pointing to a huge book, "contains the truth of that
+which in your world passes as knowledge. It would delight your father.
+He might publish selected chapters, and watch the critics cut them to
+pieces. This," as a battered trumpet was exhibited, "is Fame. Your
+praises would be sung all over the world; and the world would say,
+'Never mind what she has _achieved_; tell us about her faults.' This,"
+and he contemplated an old iron sceptre, "is Power. You would become a
+great ruler, and would probably die in exile. And under this," and he
+pointed to a sheet of black velvet, thrown loosely over some object,
+"under this is the treasure of the Isle of Mist, which I am told that
+you have heard of. Do any of these please you? If not, we have
+others."
+
+Fiona never thought about it for a moment, of course. She had not done
+all that she had done to hesitate now. She did not look at the King's
+face, and she took not the least notice of the creature with the head,
+who was dancing about in a perfect agony, trying to attract her
+attention.
+
+"Please your Majesty," she said in breathless haste, "I came here to
+find the Urchin and take him home with me. That is my wish."
+
+She had hardly spoken the words when her instinct told her something
+was wrong. A sort of chill seemed to run through the air, and the
+color seemed to go out of the fairy world. The creature with the head
+stopped dancing about and began to wring its little hands. She looked
+up at the King's face, and read there, was it disappointment? was it
+regret? She hardly knew.
+
+"A very natural and proper wish," said the King gravely. "We shall of
+course accept it as such, and grant it with great pleasure. The
+younger prisoner is discharged. Take the next case."
+
+And then Fiona saw. She saw the thing which had once been Jeconiah,
+with that look of abject terror and entreaty in its eyes; and she
+realized that it would have meant nothing to her to have included
+Jeconiah in her wish, and that for Jeconiah it would have meant
+everything. And she realized also that, worthless and evil as he had
+been in life, selfish, mean, a thief and a liar, he was still a human
+being, and had a soul and possibilities of which the fairy world could
+know nothing. She felt a wave of humiliation pass over her; and she
+resolved that, whatever he was, and whatever happened, she would not
+go home without Jeconiah.
+
+The charges against Jeconiah were then read: stealing a treasure, and
+being a worthless character.
+
+"Any defence?" said the King.
+
+The creature with the head got to work.
+
+"Please Majesty," he said, "admit second count. Character worthless.
+Object pity however not vindictive punishment. Behalf client offer
+submit State cure. First count plead not guilty; intention steal
+treasure admitted but did not succeed."
+
+Fiona, in her new-found humility, had been listening to what the
+creature with the head was saying. And suddenly it dawned on her that,
+all through, both he and the King had been trying to help her, so far
+as was consistent with their own rules; and that perhaps the creature
+with the head, for all his oddity, knew what he was doing. She asked
+the Leprechaun who he was.
+
+"You might have asked that with advantage before you interrupted him,"
+said the Leprechaun severely. "He is our Chancellor here. He is the
+King's most intimate friend, and far the ablest lawyer in Fairyland."
+
+"Defence to first count not admitted," the King was saying. "Your
+client cannot plead his own bungling of the theft in mitigation of his
+wrongdoing. Only the intention counts here."
+
+The Chancellor looked immensely relieved at the King's words, though
+it passed Fiona's wit to see why.
+
+"Apply formal ruling," he said. "Take down," this to Whitecap.
+
+"I hold that nothing counts here but the intention," said the King.
+
+"Majesty pleases," said the Chancellor. "Settles point. Retire defence
+this prisoner. Submit excellent point younger client."
+
+"We will pass sentence here first," said the King. "Jeconiah P.
+Johnson, your counsel has very properly thrown up his brief. You are
+convicted of stealing a treasure, and it is admitted that you are a
+worthless character. On the first count, I sentence you to be handed
+over to the executioner to be extended until you become a proper size.
+If you survive, you will then undergo, as offered by your counsel, the
+State cure at the hands of the State hypnotizer." He turned to the
+Chancellor. "Any further submission?"
+
+Fiona had gone over to the stack of books, and bent down over the
+little creature with the head.
+
+"I have made a most terrible mistake," she said, in a low voice. "I
+have spoilt everything. I see that you are kind; can you help us?"
+
+"Should have come me first," said the creature, quite gently. "Tried
+attract attention. Never neglect anyone merely because odd and ugly.
+May have good heart. Sad mess now; but think see daylight. Any
+influence that boy?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Fiona eagerly.
+
+"Right," said the creature. "Make boy wish. Now follow my argument."
+And he turned to the King.
+
+"Please Majesty submit good point. Majesty just ruled nothing counts
+here but intention. Younger prisoner no intention hurt shore lark;
+therefore on Majesty's ruling same as if did not hurt it. Therefore
+never was guilty. Human prisoner adjudged not guilty is just same as
+if came here own free will; so held Majesty's father"; and by some
+extraordinary trick he got the top book open and flopped down among
+the leaves, from which position he read out bits of an ancient
+judgment. "Consequently younger prisoner both entitled and bound
+wish."
+
+The King consulted Whitecap.
+
+"It seems a sound chain of reasoning," he said. Then he turned to the
+Public Prosecutor. "Have you anything to urge against it?"
+
+"Only that, if he wishes wrong, we can't detain him, because of the
+young lady's wish," said that official.
+
+"Daniel come judgment," cried the Chancellor triumphantly. "Heads win,
+tails can't lose. Younger prisoner wish."
+
+He turned to Fiona and whispered to her, "Mind he wishes right."
+
+Fiona started to go over to the Urchin; instantly the guard crossed
+their spears before her.
+
+"No interference allowed with anyone who is going to wish," said the
+officer.
+
+Then she tried to call to him, and found that she could not speak. It
+was like a nightmare. She looked helplessly at the Chancellor; he
+nodded, and spelt on his fingers the word "think."
+
+Then Fiona understood what he had meant by asking her if she had any
+influence over the Urchin. She knew that she had a good deal; and bits
+of conversations with her father came back into her mind. She had made
+one bad blunder, and she had to correct it as best she could; and
+without more ado she concentrated her whole mind on taking possession
+of the mind of the Urchin. Could it be done at all? And if so could it
+be done in time?
+
+The King stretched out his sceptre, and there was silence.
+
+"The younger prisoner is going to wish," said the King. "Officer!"
+
+And immediately there appeared in the middle of the ring six great
+boxes, old sea chests made of Spanish chestnut, battered and stained
+and clamped with bands of iron; and on each was the picture, half
+obliterated by time and salt water, of the Madonna of the Holy Cross.
+The officer flung back the lids, and showed each chest full to the
+brim of glittering golden doubloons.
+
+"That is the treasure from the Venetian galleon which you were
+seeking," said the King. "We removed it long ago into our safe
+custody, lest it should tempt men; but it would seem that it tempts
+them none the less. Now wish."
+
+The Urchin, his eyes bulging out of his head, stared at the shining
+gold. He murmured "gun," but fortunately so low that the King did not
+hear him.
+
+Fiona kept her eyes fixed hard on the boy, and bent every effort of
+mind and will to the one thought, that he must wish as she wished. If
+only he would turn round. She had already lost sight of the fairies;
+she now lost sight of the King; she was conscious only of the abject
+wretched creature that was Jeconiah, and of the back of the Urchin's
+head. He was still staring at the gold, but he had not yet spoken;
+that was to the good, and--no, it was not fancy--his ears were turning
+pink, as they always did when he was in a difficulty. Then he began to
+shuffle his feet uneasily. Fiona felt that every atom of life and
+force in her was being concentrated on that one act of will; she did
+not think she could go through with it many seconds longer, or she
+would collapse. And then the Urchin turned his head toward her; his
+face was scarlet, and his eyes were wavering before the fixed gaze of
+her own; he _must_ do as she wished. She flung everything into one
+supreme effort--the last reserves which no one thinks they possess
+till utter necessity teaches them the contrary; and then the Urchin
+spoke, in a strange voice and all in one breath:
+
+"I want my uncle to go free."
+
+Fiona's will let go with a snap; she felt so dizzy that she had to
+lean against one of the great toadstools or she would have fallen.
+Round the assemblage ran a sound like the wind through the tree tops,
+the noise of thousands drawing in breath at once; and the Chancellor
+started a war dance on his stack of books, and nearly fell off on his
+head. The King rose from his throne, but he took no notice of the
+Urchin; he turned straight to Fiona and bowed to her.
+
+"My compliments, young lady," he said; "the prettiest piece of
+thought-transference it has ever been our privilege to see. Where did
+you learn to do it?"
+
+"I never learnt," stammered Fiona. "I made a great mistake, as your
+Majesty saw, and something had to be done, and your friend suggested
+this way."
+
+"You needn't mind having made a mistake," said the King. "If you don't
+make mistakes sometimes you'll never make anything else. And you have
+made something else this time with a vengeance. As for you, sirrah
+. . ." and he shook his fist at the Chancellor.
+
+The creature snapped all its fingers in reply.
+
+"Majesty pleases," it began triumphantly. "Duty younger client submit
+new point arising young lady's action. Client entitled wish. Did not
+wish himself; young lady wished. Therefore client still entitled wish.
+Propose develop point considerable length with authorities."
+
+The King raised his hand.
+
+"I think I shall have to intervene," he said. "I believe you would
+submit points till cockcrow."
+
+"Submit points till next year, if Majesty pleases," said the creature,
+gleefully.
+
+"If these proceedings don't end soon," said the King, "there will be
+no time to dance; and if we didn't dance no one knows what would
+happen to the world above. Even I don't know that. So as we do not
+generally have three human beings here at once, and as substantial
+justice has been done, I propose now to exercise the royal prerogative
+of generosity. Jeconiah P. Johnson, you will, as requested, go free,
+so far as we can set you free. We cannot set you free from your own
+worthless character. In order, however, to do the best for you that
+can be done, before you leave us the State hypnotizer will take you in
+hand and instil into you a few decent feelings. He won't hurt you, and
+you won't remember. The effect, I fear, will not be permanent, but it
+will ease our conscience. And as a sign to the world above that we
+have treated you liberally, you will find that you will be unable to
+attend to business until you have told your nephew a fairy tale.
+Urchin! A doubt exists as to whether you have had your wish or not.
+You shall have the benefit of the doubt, so far as is good for you.
+You will find that you will get your gun."
+
+And then the King turned to Fiona.
+
+"Young lady," he said, "you have given us a display of courage which
+we are not likely to forget. You have rescued your friend; you have,
+which is much more to the point, rescued your enemy. You have got
+_two_ wishes out of us, which no one ever did before; and you have
+asked nothing for yourself. And now what are we to do for you?"
+
+"I think I have everything I want, now, thank your Majesty," said
+Fiona.
+
+"Did we not hear talk of a treasure?" said the King.
+
+"Yes," said Fiona; "but--I was not thinking about a treasure, your
+Majesty."
+
+"I know," said the King. "But I was; all the time."
+
+"I must leave it all in your Majesty's hands," said Fiona.
+
+"It is not here," said the King. "What you saw was only a pretence.
+And we cannot send for it to-night. But if you will honor us sometime
+by returning to our kingdom, we will see what can be done in memory of
+your visit. Any time you like. And by the front door, please. You will
+run no risks that way."
+
+"And now," said the King, stretching out his sceptre over the great
+throng, "we will dance." He turned to Fiona and the Urchin. "It will
+be a little while before Mr. Johnson is ready to accompany you home,"
+he said. "Perhaps you will honor us meanwhile by attending the dance
+also."
+
+So the fairies danced before the King; and the fairy ring whirled and
+blazed with the color of them, till it was gayer than a gorse-bank in
+blossom, and brighter than a swarm of dragon-flies on a June
+grass-field, and more vivid than a fall of shooting stars; and the
+music that they made was wilder than the wind in the strings of a
+harp, and sweeter than the blackbird's song, and dearer than all the
+burns on the moor murmuring in unison. And the two children sat at the
+King's feet on the steps of the beryl throne and watched the dancers;
+and the Chancellor sat between them, and held Fiona's hand, and told
+them such stories as they had never heard before, till between
+laughter and tears they nearly fell off the steps of the throne, and
+the Chancellor laughed and cried with them for sheer joy in his own
+story-telling; and if there were three happier people in the world
+that night I do not know where they were. And the night itself passed
+away as a dream that men dream, and its hours seemed to them but as a
+few minutes--and then across the music and the dance cut the shrill
+harsh scream of a peacock as he greeted the day. The children saw the
+King rise from his throne and stretch his sceptre out over the ring;
+and the ring and the dancers were shrouded in a white mist which rose
+from the ground and wreathed its arms about them; and the beryl throne
+dissolved in mist, and the figure of the King above them, pointing,
+grew dim and huge, and spread and grew, a purple shadow that hung over
+them, . . . and they were standing alone in the fairy ring on
+Glenollisdal, under the purple sky, with the white mist wreathing
+itself about their feet, and the pale November dawn coming slowly up
+out of the sea.
+
+Did the Urchin fling himself on the grass at Fiona's feet and thank
+her in broken accents for all she had done for him? I regret to state
+that the first thing which the Urchin did was to feel in his pocket
+and draw out the doubloon which he had found in the cave.
+
+"I've got this one, anyhow, Fiona," he said. "But I wonder how I'm
+going to get that gun."
+
+Then something seemed to prick him; he began to look uncomfortable and
+shuffle his feet, while his ears turned pink; and at last he managed
+to blurt out:
+
+"I say, Fiona, it was jolly decent of you, you know."
+
+Fiona only smiled, the wise smile of perfect understanding.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That morning the doctor was hastily summoned with the news that
+Jeconiah was awake. The nurse met him in the passage, wide-eyed and
+rather frightened.
+
+"He's so strange," she said.
+
+"Tut, tut," said the doctor; "told you he might wake like that. Kind
+of change in personality? Just so. Often happens. Seldom permanent
+though. What's he done?"
+
+"Well, doctor, of course we all know Mr. Johnson's reputation," said
+the nurse. "He's thanked me three times, and hoped I didn't tire
+myself; and he had all the servants up and said he'd see their wages
+were raised, and the cook gave notice on the spot because she said she
+didn't like practical jokes; and he says he wants to go out and gather
+buttercups and daisies, and play with the little frogs; and he's sent
+for some old gun that he says he's got to buy for his nephew; and he
+hasn't opened any of the telegrams that have been waiting for him; he
+says he mayn't attend to business till he has learnt a fairy tale, and
+he's had the library ransacked, and he's tearing his hair because
+there's no such thing in it."
+
+"Oh, well," said the doctor, "we must just have patience, nurse. I
+expected something of the sort. Just humor him; if you can't find a
+fairy tale, try him with a history book; he'll never know the
+difference; and I'll send him up a nice soothing mixture. Very
+interesting case; ve-ry interesting."
+
+And the doctor, calling up his best professional smile, bustled into
+Jeconiah's room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was the same afternoon, a still afternoon of Indian summer, that
+the old hawker, accompanied again by the black terrier, was going down
+the shore road. He must have had business at the cottage on the beach.
+But his business was probably not urgent; for he stopped to watch with
+interest a group on the shore. It consisted of Jeconiah and the
+Urchin, and they sat on the little patch of sand at the mouth of the
+burn. The Urchin had across his knees the rusty old gun bought for him
+by Jeconiah, who had nevertheless exacted the doubloon from him in
+exchange. He fingered the gun lovingly, while he gazed with
+undisguised impatience at the proceedings of his uncle. Jeconiah's
+coat lay on the grounds beside a sheaf of unopened telegrams, and he
+was putting the finishing touches to a noble castle of sand; its
+drawbridge was supported by his double watch chain, and its turrets
+bore a suspicious resemblance in contour to the inside of his hat. He
+patted his work and gazed at it with pride.
+
+"Fine, isn't it?" he said.
+
+"You'd better hurry up with that fairy tale," said the boy. "If you've
+got to, you've got to, you know; and you won't keep me much once I get
+some cartridges."
+
+Jeconiah began to look alarmed.
+
+"But I haven't found one yet," he said, and glanced anxiously at the
+pile of telegrams.
+
+"Make one up, then," said the boy. "Anybody can do it."
+
+Thus adjured, Jeconiah started.
+
+"Once upon a time there was a very grizzly old bear, and he lived in a
+beautiful place called Capel Court, and he used to hunt the wild bulls
+and the stags and the poor little guinea pigs that abounded in that
+salubrious locality. And there were two young ladies there, called
+Cora and Dora. . . ."
+
+"Are those the princesses?" asked the boy.
+
+"No, I think not," said Jeconiah. "They were of quite ordinary stock.
+Well, the old bear thought they were too high and mighty, and that he
+would like to take them down a point or two. . . ."
+
+"Oh, this won't do," said the Urchin rudely. "This isn't a _real_
+fairy tale at all. You must do something better than that."
+
+The wretched Jeconiah groaned, and looked again at his telegrams. Then
+he started afresh.
+
+"Once upon a time there was a great dragon with seven heads, and he
+ate seven princesses every day for dinner. . . ."
+
+"That's better," said the boy, encouragingly, as he settled himself to
+listen.
+
+The old hawker resumed his walk.
+
+"They haven't made a very good job of him, after all," he remarked
+aloud, apparently to the terrier. "But I expect that sort is
+incurable."
+
+Was it a flicker of sunlight? Or did the black terrier really wink?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+FIONA FINDS HER TREASURE
+
+
+And Fiona?
+
+Fiona sat on the hearthrug in the bookroom, and told her father the
+whole story from beginning to end, as it has been told here. And
+sometimes he asked a question, and sometimes he said, "Yes, that would
+be so," and sometimes he stroked her hair and said nothing. And when
+she had ended, he said, "So you never found your own treasure after
+all, Fiona?"
+
+She said, "I suppose I can have it now, if I go back."
+
+"Do you think you will go back?" he asked.
+
+She replied with another question.
+
+"Have you found out what my treasure is, daddy?"
+
+"I believe I could guess," he answered. "But you have found a good
+many things already, apart from treasure, haven't you, little
+daughter?"
+
+She sat silent and looked into the fire.
+
+"I suppose I have," she said.
+
+"We won't enumerate them," said the Student. "It spoils things
+entirely, sometimes, to put them into words. But I will tell you
+something an old writer once said. He was talking of that particular
+kind of treasure which men call Truth; and he said that if he were
+offered Truth itself on the one hand, and the everlasting search for
+it on the other hand, he would choose the search. I expect you can
+understand that now; for you have seen what has happened to you over
+your own search."
+
+"I think I can understand," said Fiona. "I must be growing older,
+daddy."
+
+"You'll be too old soon to go back to Fairyland at all, little
+daughter," said the Student. "If you are going, you will have to go at
+once."
+
+"What do you think, daddy?" she questioned.
+
+"I can only tell you that, in my case, I went back," the Student
+answered.
+
+"Why, daddy, have you been in Fairyland too?" cried Fiona. "And you
+never told me."
+
+"Yes," said the Student. "Even a musty old scholar like myself was
+young once, you know," and he looked into the fire with eyes which
+seemed to see things very, very far away. "It was not quite the same
+as the Fairyland you have been in, Fiona; but we called it Fairyland."
+
+"Can't you come back with me if I go daddy?" asked the girl.
+
+"I'm too old now, little daughter," he said. "For good or for bad, I
+could never find the way again. I can only see it now through your
+eyes. I'll come as far as the door with you, and that's all that an
+old man can do. I suppose you know where the door is?"
+
+"I never felt there was any doubt," said Fiona.
+
+"Then we'll start first thing to-morrow, if it's calm enough," he
+said.
+
+But that evening was the last of the golden autumn; and when Fiona
+woke in the morning, the Isle of Mist was justifying its name. The
+southwest gale was raging round the house like a live animal, seizing
+it and shaking it, and wailing in the chimneys pitifully, like an
+unburied ghost; and before the gale the long lead-colored rollers were
+racing in from the Atlantic, smashing themselves on the crags and
+shooting up heavenward in columns of spray thrice the height of the
+cliffs, while the noise of the surf in the Scargill cave came booming
+across the water like the roar of a battleship's guns. The hills were
+all shrouded in mist, and the mist was fine salt rain that rolled in
+from the sea, driving in billows over the moor and across the fields;
+the gulls were tossed about in it like little bits of waste paper, and
+every green thing on the island opened its heart to the rain and drank
+till it could drink no more. Toward evening Fiona and the Student, in
+oilskins and sou'-westers, went down to the rocks and out seaward as
+far as was possible, and there stood, unable to speak for the noise.
+They balanced themselves against the gusts, and felt the tingling
+drops of salt spray rattle like hail off their coats, while they
+watched the cliff waterfalls, unable to fall for the wind, go straight
+up heavenward in clouds of smoke, and the sea foam and tear at the
+rocks below; and once for a moment the cloud-mist parted, and the
+hills started out, their dark sides all gashed and seamed with white
+streaks where every tiny runlet and burn was rushing in spate down
+toward the sea. Fiona managed to shout, with her clear young voice,
+"No one can really love this island who only knows it in summer;" and
+then they went home, out of the dusk and the lashing of the wet wind,
+to the quiet bookroom and tea things, and lamps, and books; for man
+may love Nature, but he loves still better the contrast between Nature
+and the things which he has fashioned for himself.
+
+For three weeks the wind blew; and though there were days when the
+sea-mist lifted, there was no day on which the sea was calm enough for
+the launching of their small boat. Then one afternoon came change. The
+warm air turned chill, and the warm rain became sleet; that night the
+wind backed to the north, and next day was a blizzard of snow. And the
+night after the wind fell away, and the snow ceased, and Orion and his
+two dogs shone huge in a frosty sky; and Fiona woke to the glories of
+a scarlet sunrise on a great field of white.
+
+"We must hurry, daddy," she said. "It's perfectly calm."
+
+"It's a pet day," said the Student, sniffing the air. "It won't last;
+the wind backed too suddenly. But it's all right till sunset."
+
+Directly breakfast was over they launched the little boat, and
+started. The snow shone white in the sunshine, and the calm sea
+against the snow was as blue as a blue lotus; but the shadows on the
+snow were a wonder, and the woven complexity of their colorings would
+have taxed every hue on an artist's palette. So they pulled down and
+into the cave, at whose mouth the great bluff looked barer and blacker
+than ever against the world's whiteness; and they grounded their boat
+and climbed the rock barrier. There the Student sat down and filled
+and lit his pipe.
+
+"This is as far as I can go," he said. "If I mistake not, you will
+find that they have opened the door for you."
+
+So Fiona went on to the recess where the Urchin had found the
+doubloon, and where the torch had been smashed in her father's hand;
+and the solid wall of the cliff had opened, and there was an archway
+leading into the black vaulting of the long cave behind. Fiona passed
+through into the darkness . . . and the darkness parted to right and
+left of her, and she stood again in the fairy ring where she had stood
+on All Hallows E'en.
+
+But how changed. Of all the bright throng of fairies that had
+clustered round it, not one stood there to-day. The circle of scarlet
+toadstools was broken down and shattered, as though by a great storm;
+and the ring itself was no longer grass, but was covered deep in snow.
+Of all the things she had seen there that evening, only one remained.
+The beryl throne still stood lonely in the midst of the bare ring; and
+on the throne sat the King of the Fairies. His face rested on his
+hand, as though he were deep in thought; his eyes were looking at
+something far away. On the steps of the throne sat the Chancellor, the
+King's inseparable friend; and he, too, was deep in thought. It was a
+view of the fairy world which Fiona had never expected.
+
+The King must have heard her step, for he rose from his throne and
+came down to meet her.
+
+"Have you come for your treasure, Fiona?" he said.
+
+And she said, "I have come because you asked me to come back."
+
+The King held out his sceptre to her; and again the mist came up from
+the ground and enwrapped the beryl throne, and the figures of the
+King and the Chancellor wavered and became dim before her. _Were_ they
+the King and the Chancellor? Was not what she saw, so dim through the
+mist, the figures of the shepherd who had helped her on Glenollisdal
+and his black collie? But the mist was wavering again about them, and
+again all was a blur; and then the mist suddenly cleared, and there
+was no one there at all but just the old hawker and the little terrier
+which followed him.
+
+"So you were the King of the Fairies all the time," said Fiona.
+
+"All the time," said the old man gently. "We go about in the world as
+you see us. And some still entertain angels unaware. Have you come for
+your treasure, Fiona?"
+
+And this time Fiona answered, "Yes."
+
+"You have earned it," said the King. "And you have found much more
+than any treasure. Your father has told you that?"
+
+And again Fiona said, "Yes."
+
+"I cannot really give you your treasure," said the King, "for you
+have it already. I think you have had it all the time; but you did not
+know. But now you have learnt."
+
+"What is it?" asked Fiona. "But I think I can guess now."
+
+"It is the spirit of the island which you love," said the King, "and
+which henceforth loves you. You have spoken face to face with bird and
+beast and with the beings who knew and loved the land before your race
+was. To-day you have the freedom of the island, and of all living
+things in it; they are your friends forever. And to the dead in its
+graveyards you are kin. All that is there has passed into your blood,
+the old lost loves, the old impossible loyalties, the old forgotten
+heroisms and tendernesses; all these are yours; and yours are the
+songs that were sung long ago, and the tales which were told by the
+fireside; and the deeds of the men and women of old have become part
+of you. You can walk now through the crowded city and never know it,
+for the wind from the heather will be about you where you go; you can
+stand in the tumult of men and never hear them, for round you will be
+the silence of your own sea. That is the treasure of the Isle of Mist;
+the island has given you of its soul. You have found greater things
+already; you will find greater things yet again. But such as it is, it
+is the best gift which we of the fairy world have to give."
+
+"And now," continued the King, "you will not see us again. And I will
+take back the bracelet. It would be no further use to you, for you are
+no longer a child. You are too old for Fairyland."
+
+"But my father could see you," said Fiona.
+
+"He could only see me as I really am through your eyes," said the
+King. "It may be that some day you too will see me again through the
+eyes of a child. But for the present it is farewell."
+
+So Fiona stooped down and stroked the little dog, who looked at her
+with wistful eyes, and took her farewell of the King; and the King
+raised his hand, and the mist rose again and enwrapped the fairy ring
+and those in it . . . and Fiona walked out through the archway into
+the cave, and there sat the Student on the rock barrier, just as she
+had left him, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. And even as she came
+to him there was a noise behind her, and when she looked round it was
+to see the archway blocked by a great fall of rock.
+
+"You will not use that way again, little daughter," said the Student.
+
+"I shall not use any way again now, daddy," she said. "I am too old.
+But oh, daddy, it has been worth it."
+
+Then they launched their boat and paddled slowly out of the cave, out
+of the dark into daylight; and before them lay the quiet sea bathed in
+the winter sun, and the Isle of Mist dreaming under its mantle of
+white.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+_A Selection from the
+Catalogue of_
+
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Complete Catalogues sent
+on application
+
+
+
+
+THE MOON POOL
+
+BY A. MERRITT
+
+Romance, real romance, and wonderful adventure,--absolutely
+impossible, yet utterly probable! A story one almost regrets having
+read, since one can then no longer read it for the first time. Once in
+the proverbial blue moon there comes to the fore an author who can
+conceive and write such a tale. Here is one!
+
+Few indeed will forget, who, with the Professor, watch the mystic
+approach of the Shining One down the moon path,--who follow with him
+and the others the path below the Moon Pool, beyond the Door of the
+Seven Lights;--and would there were more characters in fiction like
+Lakla the lovely and Larry O'Keefe the lovable.
+
+Perhaps you readers will know who were those weird and awe-inspiring
+Silent Ones.
+
+
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+NEW YORK      LONDON
+
+
+
+
+Visions and Beliefs in
+the West of Ireland
+
+By Lady Gregory
+
+With Two Essays and Notes by W. B. Yeats
+_Two Volumes. 12º_
+
+
+To those who have felt the haunting charm that inheres in the Celtic
+consciousness of an imminent supernaturalism, this collection of Irish
+fancy, belief, and folk-lore, gathered from the lips of the people
+with patient and reverent care, will have particular value. It has
+interest as an exceptionally thorough and representative study of
+psychic sensitiveness in Ireland, and the slightness of the barrier
+between worlds seen and unseen.
+
+
+G. P. Putnam's Sons
+New York      London
+
+
+
+
+
+The Substance
+of a Dream
+
+By F. W. Bain
+
+
+"In this new and wholly charming Hindu story a very old world speaks
+to us, but one that has not lost its childhood with age and
+sophistication. It is a world of innocent voluptuousness where passion
+is not contrary to faith but is itself faith.
+
+"Mr. Bain's people have character, as there are colors in moonlight, a
+character with a common beauty in all its diversities; and because of
+its utter and inner harmony, this creation of his has a very rare
+beauty."
+
+
+G. P. Putnam's Sons
+New York      London
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the
+original edition have been corrected.
+
+In Chapter II, a quotation mark was deleted after "the love of worms
+was the root of all evil".
+
+In Chapter III, a quotation mark was added after "if you could wait a
+few minutes . . .".
+
+In Chapter IV, _said Fiona," and you wriggle so."_ was changed to
+_said Fiona, "and you wriggle so."_, and _"Urchin," she shouted;
+"Urchin.'_ was changed to _"Urchin," she shouted; "Urchin."_
+
+In Chapter V, quotation marks were added after "Go up a hill." and
+"the true cave at all."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Treasure of the Isle of Mist, by W. W. Tarn
+
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Treasure of the Isle of Mist, by W. W. Tarn.
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Treasure of the Isle of Mist, by W. W. Tarn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
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+Title: The Treasure of the Isle of Mist
+
+Author: W. W. Tarn
+
+Release Date: November 23, 2010 [EBook #34410]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE OF THE ISLE OF MIST ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
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+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 329px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="329" height="500" alt="cover" title="The Treasure of the Isle of Mist" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>THE<br />
+TREASURE<br />
+<span class="smalltext">OF THE</span><br />
+ISLE OF MIST</h1>
+
+<h2><i><span class="smalltext">BY</span>
+W. W. TARN</i></h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80px;">
+<img src="images/logo-1.png" width="80" height="64" alt="logo" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS<br />
+NEW YORK AND LONDON<br />
+<b>The Knickerbocker Press</b><br />
+1920</p>
+
+<p class="center smalltext"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1920, by</span><br />
+W. W. TARN</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 189px;">
+<img src="images/logo-2.png" width="189" height="300" alt="logo" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="center newchapter">A FAIRY TALE FOR<br />
+MY DAUGHTER</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="Table of Contents">
+<tr>
+<td class="chapnum smalltext">CHAPTER</td>
+<td class="chapname smalltext">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="chappage smalltext">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="chapnum">I.</td>
+<td class="chapname">The Gift of the Search</td>
+<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="chapnum">II.</td>
+<td class="chapname">The Beginning of Trouble</td>
+<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">14</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="chapnum">III.</td>
+<td class="chapname">The Haunted Cave</td>
+<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">31</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="chapnum">IV.</td>
+<td class="chapname">The Urchin Vanishes</td>
+<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">47</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="chapnum">V.</td>
+<td class="chapname">The Oread</td>
+<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">88</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="chapnum">VI.</td>
+<td class="chapname">The King of the Woodcock</td>
+<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">111</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="chapnum">VII.</td>
+<td class="chapname">Fiona in the Fairy-World</td>
+<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">131</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="chapnum">VIII.</td>
+<td class="chapname">Fiona Finds her Treasure</td>
+<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">181</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="The_Treasure_of_the_Isle_of_Mist" id="The_Treasure_of_the_Isle_of_Mist"></a>The Treasure of the Isle of Mist</h2>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br />
+<span class="smalltext">THE GIFT OF THE SEARCH</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>The Student and Fiona lived in a little gray house on the shores of a
+gray sea-loch in the Isle of Mist. The Student was a thin man with a
+stoop to his shoulders, which old Anne MacDermott said came of reading
+books; but really it was because he had been educated at a place where
+this is expected of you. Fiona, when she was doing nothing else, used
+to help Anne to keep house, rather jerkily, in the way a learned man
+may be supposed to like. She was a long-legged creature of fifteen,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>who laughed when her father threatened her with school on the
+mainland, and she had a warm heart and a largish size in shoes.
+Sometimes they had dinner; sometimes nobody remembered in time, and
+they had sunset and salt herrings, with a bowl of glorious yellow
+corn-daisies to catch the sunset.</p>
+
+<p>It was Anne who saw the old hawker crossing the field behind the
+house, and burst in on the bookroom to inform the Student that he
+wanted buttons. She was met by a patient remonstrance on her ambiguous
+use of language:</p>
+
+<p>"For," said the Student, "if you mean that buttons are lacking to me,
+there may be something to be said for you; but if you mean that I
+desire buttons, then indeed I do not desire buttons; I desire .&nbsp;.&nbsp;."</p>
+
+<p>Whereon Anne fled, and went out to meet the hawker. The frail old man,
+bending under his pack, was crossing the meadow behind the house,
+brushing his way through the September clover. His white hair was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>uncovered save for the huge umbrella which he carried alike in sun
+and rain; but youth still lingered in his eyes, which were bright as
+the dawn and deep as the sea-caves. Behind him followed a little
+rough-haired terrier, black as jet, his inseparable companion. At the
+door he unslung his pack, and, leaving Anne to select her buttons,
+passed straight through, knocked at the bookroom door, and went in.</p>
+
+<p>The Student wheeled round in his chair and began to grope about.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen my spectacles?" he said. "I can't see who you are till
+I put them on, and I can't put them on till you find them for me, for
+I can't see to find them myself unless I have them on. Pardon this
+involved sentence."</p>
+
+<p>The old hawker picked up the missing spectacles and handed them over.</p>
+
+<p>"You wouldn't remember me, in any case," he said. "I last saw you
+twenty-five years ago, when you were trying to dig at Verria. There
+was an old man there, do you remember, being beaten by armed
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>Bashi-Bazouks, and you held them up with an empty revolver, and took
+the old man to your camp and nursed him, and you said things to the
+Turkish Governor, and .&nbsp;.&nbsp;."</p>
+
+<p>"My excavations came to an untimely end," said the Student. "I always
+owed that old man a grudge for being beaten before my tent. Why
+couldn't he have been beaten somewhere else? I should like to meet him
+again and tell him precisely what I thought of his conduct."</p>
+
+<p>"You have done both now," said the hawker. "And it is his turn."</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible," said the Student. "He was as old twenty-five years ago
+as you are now."</p>
+
+<p>"At my age," said the old man, "one grows no older. No one who walks
+the world as I do need ever grow any older. You can walk thirty miles
+on Monday when you are twenty years old; good. If you can do it on
+Monday you can do it on Tuesday; and if on Tuesday, then on Wednesday;
+therefore, by an easy reckoning, you can do it as well at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> eighty
+years old as at twenty. Thus you never age."</p>
+
+<p>"There's a flaw in that somewhere," said the Student. "I know; it's
+the Heap. How many grains of sand make a heap?"</p>
+
+<p>"How many buttons do you want?" said the hawker. "You saved my life
+once; you shall have all the buttons you want for nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you couldn't answer my question," said the Student. "But we
+are getting on much too fast; we haven't really begun yet. I suppose
+you came here to sell things? Anne seemed to know you, and she said I
+wanted buttons. I pointed out to her that her statement was either an
+untruth or a truism, and equally objectionable in either sense; and
+now you repeat it, just as I was beginning to consider you quite an
+intelligent person. By the way, who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have a different name in most countries which I visit," said the
+old man. "But by profession I sell buttons&mdash;and other things."</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of things?" said the Student.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>"I have dreams," said the old man, "dreams and the matter of dreams;
+imaginings of the impossible come true; the wonder of the hills at
+sunrise; the quest of unearthly treasure among the moon-flowers; the
+look in the eyes of a child that trusts you."</p>
+
+<p>The Student took off his spectacles, rubbed his eyes hard, and settled
+his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"I desire something very much," he said. "If you can do all that, you
+can give me what I desire."</p>
+
+<p>The hawker frowned.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a scholar," he said, "and I can do nothing for scholars. You
+need no ideal, for you have one. You need no dreams, for your life is
+one. For you, the earth pours out hidden treasure, and the impossible
+comes true day by day. What you desire just now is a long definite
+inscription to settle a controverted point in your favor. And if I
+could give it you, just think how miserable you'd be. Nothing further
+to argue about, there; and several quite happy and contentious
+profes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>sors would be reduced to such straits that I don't know what
+crimes you might all commit. You might even take to making money."</p>
+
+<p>"If I wanted money," said the Student, "I should, being an intelligent
+person, at once proceed to make it. Then I should have to live in the
+big house again, instead of letting it, and my precious time would be
+spent in arguing with my gardener and endeavoring to conceal my
+ignorance from my chauffeur. As it is, we live anyhow, and I am
+happy."</p>
+
+<p>"Happiness doesn't score any points in the game," said the hawker.
+"What good do you and your inscriptions do, anyway?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's not my job here," said the Student. "That will come on
+afterwards. Besides, I don't want to do good. I am old-fashioned; why
+should I take my neighbor by the throat and say, 'Let me do good to
+you, or it shall be the worse for you and yours'? Besides, I can't do
+good. You can't dot the wilderness with prosperous homesteads when
+half the years the oats don't ripen till the year after.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> Besides, I
+do do good; I have let the big house to shooting tenants, and it's
+excellent for their health. Besides seventeen other reasons, which I
+can enumerate if you are able to bear them. Besides, Fiona is fond of
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the old man softly, "that's your real justification. And
+it's a great deal more than I could give you; my hawker's licence
+doesn't cover the big things. How many buttons do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>Fiona came scrambling through the open window, and curled herself up
+on the rug with her head on the Student's knee. The Student stroked
+her hair.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me what it's all about," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"This gentleman," he said, "once interrupted a very important piece of
+work which I was doing, and I was just about to tell him exactly what
+I thought of him when you interrupted me."</p>
+
+<p>The old hawker had risen and bowed courteously to the girl.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>"My dear young lady," he said, "I have been searching my pack for a
+present for your father, and found nothing suitable. But perhaps I
+could find something for you."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona jumped up.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you a hedgehog?" was her question.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not carry them with me, as a general thing," said the old man.
+"No doubt one could be got. But why a hedgehog?"</p>
+
+<p>"I want one for the Urchin," she said. "You see, it's his namesake."</p>
+
+<p>"I see," said the old man, quite gravely. "And who is the Urchin?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Urchin," said the Student, "is a young rascal who is the son of
+my shooting tenant. He plunders my daughter of all her possessions,
+and she abets him in every form of villainy."</p>
+
+<p>"I do try to stop him throwing stones at things," said the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Here are hedgehogs," said the hawker. "Isn't that lucky, now?"</p>
+
+<p>Past the window came five hedgehogs in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> solemn row, two big and
+three little. Behind them, marshalling the procession, walked the
+black terrier, with an eye of happy drollery.</p>
+
+<p>"There's something wrong about those hedgehogs," said the girl. "They
+don't do things like that. I don't think I want a hedgehog any more,
+thank you. How did you make them do that? Is your dog a conjurer?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never harm anything," said the old man, "so that many creatures
+will come to me when I call. But I have better presents than that."</p>
+
+<p>"Choose for her, my friend," said the Student.</p>
+
+<p>The old man began talking to himself in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Youth she has," he said, "and freedom, and the joy of life. Wonder
+also, and dim imaginings of unseen things. And of the things which men
+desire, fame and power are not worth giving, and love is not mine to
+give. I have it. I give you the Search," he said. "The search for the
+treasure of the Isle of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> Mist. Others have searched for it before; and
+some have found; but the treasure never grows less."</p>
+
+<p>"That's splendid," said the girl. "And when I find the treasure I will
+buy my father seven great books which no one else wants to read, and
+he will be perfectly happy."</p>
+
+<p>"But I did not promise treasure," said the old man. "I promised a
+search."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona's face fell.</p>
+
+<p>"Then am I not to find anything at the end of it?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>The old man chuckled quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not say that either," he said. "There <i>is</i> a treasure, and you
+shall search for it; and you will find it if you are able. Many there
+are who helped to build it up. Cuchulain and the forgotten heroes who
+fought before Cuchulain; Ossian and the forgotten bards who sang
+before Ossian; Columba and the forgotten saints who died before
+Columba; each has added something to the pile. It is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> their treasure
+which you shall seek for; that is my gift to you."</p>
+
+<p>"How shall I know where to begin?" asked the girl. "And may I take the
+Urchin with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Whether you can take the Urchin with you or not depends on his
+capacity to go," said the old man. "And as to beginning, I think you
+will find that the Search will begin itself, independently of you. It
+always does. But I can give you something that will help you," and he
+took out of his pocket a red copper bangle, rudely hammered out with
+some rough implement, which he slipped over her wrist. "That was made
+long ago," he said, "made by men to whom metal was a new toy, men who
+perhaps were nearer to the heart of things than we are."</p>
+
+<p>"You will stay and have some dinner, will you not?" said the Student.
+"At least, if this is a dinner night. Fiona, is this a dinner night?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have my doubts," said the girl. "Oat cake and honeysuckle, I
+expect."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>"And what better?" said the old man. "But I fear I could not dine with
+you, were it ortolans and Tokay. For I may never eat beneath a roof.
+The open moor is my dining hall, and the stars serve me. And the long
+white road is calling me even now. But I think that before the
+treasure is found you will see me again."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br />
+<span class="smalltext">THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>"Man," said the Student, "is a weird creature. He dimly remembers that
+he began his evolution, not as a pair, but as a horde; and to the
+horde he still seeks, forming huge crowds during his working days, and
+on his holidays merely transferring the same crowds in their totality
+to some other place, accompanied by a great deal of purposeless noise.
+Apart from his crowd he apparently feels chilly, and without noise
+unhappy. Nothing is more striking to the reflective mind than the
+abdication of civilization in the face of meaningless noises."</p>
+
+<p>"Daddy," said Fiona, "I want your advice on the matter of treasure
+hunting. For if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> two go together, they don't make a crowd, and they
+needn't make a noise."</p>
+
+<p>"Quote correctly," said the Student. "What Homer said was, that if you
+and I went to look for a treasure, I, being a mere man, would find it
+at once by logical processes of induction and deduction, while you,
+being a superior woman, were losing yourself in the quicksands of the
+intuitive short cut."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said the girl, "your word is law to me. Therefore deduce."</p>
+
+<p>"Persiflage," said the Student, "is not to be encouraged in young
+children. Remember that if you were to force me to do so I might come
+with you, and then I should see exactly how you bungled the thing."</p>
+
+<p>"But that's what I want you to do, daddy," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't," said the Student. "Though treasure hunting is quite an
+ancient and respectable amusement. For treasure, some have descended
+the crater of Popocatapetl; some have dived at Tobermory; some have
+dug<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> in Kensington Gardens. Alexander found a treasure at Persepolis,
+and Essex lost another in Cadiz harbor. The treasure of the Incas lies
+hid in a Peruvian ravine, known but to two Indians at a time; the
+plunder which Alaric took from Rome is still beneath the river which
+he diverted to guard it. No one has ever found the hoard of Captain
+Kidd, or the gold carried in the Venetian galleon which sailed with
+the Armada and went on the rocks in this loch. The pursuit of treasure
+is, therefore, no doubt, for the young, a legitimate pastime."</p>
+
+<p>"Daddy," said Fiona, "did one of the Armada ships really go ashore
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my dear," said the Student. "She was a great Venetian, called
+after the Madonna of the Holy Cross, and she carried the doubloons
+contributed by the Church."</p>
+
+<p>"That's not the treasure the old man meant," said the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not," said the Student. "We know all about the Venetian ship.
+The crew were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> mostly knocked on the head, but the captain brought the
+doubloons ashore and hid them. He himself was saved by my ancestor for
+the time being, to whom he gave a map showing the place in the cave in
+which the treasure was hidden. He never came back for it. So far,
+everything proceeded on approved lines. Unhappily, my ancestor was a
+careless sort of person, and gambled the plan away. We never heard any
+more of it. It is, however, a family tradition that there was nothing
+on the plan to identify the cave; and as this coast, and the islands
+in the loch, are honeycombed with caves, it would be of little use if
+we had it. No one knows whereabouts the galleon went ashore. On calm
+nights her officers may be seen swimming round the cliffs, keeping
+guard still over their holy gold. Angus MacEachan saw one once, and
+tried to speak to him; but he turned into a seal, and just looked at
+Angus with large patient eyes; and Angus' boat was wrecked the week
+after."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>"And did you never search for the gold, daddy?" asked Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Never, my dear," he said. "In the first place, it would mean a minute
+examination of some 170 caves. In the second place, half of the caves
+are not mine. In the third place, it is not the kind of treasure I
+want. In the fourth place, I haven't time. In the fifth place, I am
+morally certain it is not there now. In the sixth place, the
+Government would claim it as treasure-trove. And in the seventh and
+last place, I never thought about it till you asked me."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not getting any further with <i>my</i> treasure hunting, daddy," said
+Fiona. "Let's go out together and start."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," said the Student, "it's your search, not mine. It's no use
+my trying to come with you. And I have a fancy that it won't begin
+like that."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell me how to begin then, daddy?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose by taking no notice of it," he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> said. "It was to begin
+itself, wasn't it? And I have an uncomfortable suspicion that you hunt
+this kind of treasure by turning round and going the other way. So I
+think you'd better run out and find the Urchin, and I'll get back to
+my inscriptions."</p>
+
+<p>The Urchin was Fiona's principal ally; a troublesome ally, owing to
+his propensity for throwing stones. She found him now on the shore,
+steadily bombarding a shore lark, that would move a little way out of
+range and then sit down again, affording a splendid target. Luckily
+the enthusiasm of the persecutor in pursuit was well matched by the
+inaccuracy of his aim.</p>
+
+<p>"Urchin," she called out, "if you hurt that bird the Little People
+will take you; I thought I'd knocked that into you all right, even if
+you <i>are</i> English and slow in the uptake."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said the Urchin with a grin. "We conquered you, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>"As a matter of fact," said the girl, "it was we who annexed you. If
+your people were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> as bad shots as you, Urchin, it must have been quite
+easy. You can't hit a bird sitting."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't I?" said the Urchin. "You watch." Another fling, and horrors!
+the shore lark rolled over, twittering helplessly and miserably.</p>
+
+<p>Fiona was across the rocks like a young goat; and when the Urchin,
+contrite but defiant, arrived, she had the wounded bird in her hands
+and was holding it to her breast, feeling gently for its hurt. It lay
+quite still, panting, and watching her with quick bright eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Broken wing," she said. "I believe it will mend. Urchin, you are a
+mere beast. You'd better go home; I don't want ever to see you again."</p>
+
+<p>The Urchin turned scarlet.</p>
+
+<p>"That's just like a girl," he said. "First you tell me I can't hit the
+old bird, which is the same thing as telling me to hit it; and then
+when I do hit it you turn round on me and call names; and all the time
+you're just as bad as I am." And the Urchin turned and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> stalked off,
+an heroic figure with the mien of a Marcus Curtius about to save his
+country by leaping into the gulf. Unhappily there was a real gulf, and
+the boy, head in air, rolled neatly into it, and emerged from between
+two rocks, dripping and no longer heroic, rubbing a torn stocking and
+a scraped shin.</p>
+
+<p>It was too much for Fiona's gravity.</p>
+
+<p>"Urchin," she called, "come back here, <i>quick</i>." And as the unhappy
+Urchin stood in doubt, hither and thither dividing the swift mind, she
+slid over the rocks and caught him. "My fault," she said, "and I'm
+sorry all the way through. Now I'll mend you first, and then we must
+mend the bird."</p>
+
+<p>"And then what'll we do?" said the boy. "Let's do something harmless
+for a bit, hunt for shells or shrimps or .&nbsp;.&nbsp;."</p>
+
+<p>"Treasure," suggested Fiona, rather shyly. And by the time they had
+reached the house, and she had repaired the Urchin, and disposed the
+wounded bird as comfortably as possible,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> the boy had been put in
+possession of the essential facts of the case.</p>
+
+<p>"Mar-vellous," was the Urchin's comment. "Now, don't you see, Fiona?
+you can have your treasure when we find it, and I'll have the Spanish
+treasure when we find it, and there we both are. I want lots and lots
+and lots of those doubloons."</p>
+
+<p>"What for?" said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Gun," said the Urchin. "Donald Ruadh has an old gun which he would
+sell me for two pounds. He says one barrel shoots all right sometimes.
+And I would use the rest of the doubloons to buy cartridges, and then
+I could kill curlews."</p>
+
+<p>"You little wretch," said the girl. "You won't kill my curlews while
+I'm about. And anyhow your old gun would probably blow you up first.
+And anyhow you haven't got the doubloons yet. And they're not yours if
+you do find them."</p>
+
+<p>"Whose would they be?" asked the Urchin.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>"I suppose my father's," said Fiona. "But it depends on which cave
+they were in."</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, then," said the boy. "I'm going to ask him for them."</p>
+
+<p>The Student took the interruption good-humoredly.</p>
+
+<p>"I am in the second century," he said. "Doubloons have not yet been
+coined. As to these doubloons, I am quite sure they are not there,
+wherever 'there' may be; but if they are there, I have no objection to
+the Urchin fighting the Government for them. Urchin, would you like a
+deed?"</p>
+
+<p>And, to the delight of the Urchin, the Student proceeded to make out a
+document, which called on all men to know that the said Student
+thereby assigned to the said Urchin all the estate, right, title, and
+interest, if any, of the said Student in and to a certain treasure of
+doubloons or other coins once carried in the galleon called <i>Our Lady
+of the Holy Cross</i> were the same a little more or less ("all good
+deeds get that in somewhere," said the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> Student) to hold to the said
+Urchin and his heirs ("but I don't suppose the heirs will see much of
+it") to the intent that he might become a wiser and a better Urchin
+and not interrupt the said Student any more when he wanted to work.
+This being done, the Student signed his name at the end, made a
+beautiful blot of hot red sealing wax and put his signet ring on it,
+and made Fiona sign her name as witness ("which is probably not
+legal," he explained cheerfully); then he handed over the deed to the
+rejoicing Urchin, with the remark that it was quite as good as many
+lawyers' deeds, and drove the pair of them out of the bookroom.</p>
+
+<p>"Good," said the Urchin. "Now I've a treasure just the same as you."</p>
+
+<p>"If we find them," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let's go and start hunting for them at any rate," said the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," said the shore lark, "if I interrupt; but you might be
+the better of a few hints."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>Fiona dropped on her knees and took the little bird in her hands
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"So you can talk," she said. "That's jolly. You've a first-rate chance
+of returning good for evil, and making us feel worms."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't talk of worms," said the shore lark, "you have entirely omitted
+to provide me with any. Send him to get some, and I'll tell you
+something. He can't understand what I'm saying, anyhow."</p>
+
+<p>"Urchin," said the girl, "he's asking for worms. Go and get him some."</p>
+
+<p>"One would think you and he could talk to each other," said the boy.
+"Silly, I call it, going on like that. I suppose that's what girls
+do."</p>
+
+<p>"Urchin," said Fiona, "when you and I have a row, what happens?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i> happen," said the Urchin. "You've three years' pull; 'tisn't
+fair; just like a girl, to go and have three years' pull of a chap."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop grousing," said the girl, "and get me the worms, there's a dear
+little boy."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>The Urchin flung the nearest book at her, missed as usual, and, having
+thus made his honor white, departed, declaring in simpler language
+that the love of worms was the root of all evil.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell you much," said the shore lark, "but one sometimes picks
+up things, hopping about, and I heard you say treasure. If you mean
+the Venetian ship, don't start without consulting the finner. He is
+very old, and I believe that he knows everything that happens in this
+loch."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't really mean that," said Fiona. "That's half a jest. I mean my
+own search, the search for the treasure of the Isle of Mist."</p>
+
+<p>"We have all heard of it," said the shore lark, "and we all know that
+you cannot find it by looking for it. All I can tell you is this: the
+curlews have a tradition that the last man who found it went up a
+hill. That is what they tell each other when they call in the spring;
+and I believe they know."</p>
+
+<p>"They are like the spirits of the hills them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>selves," said Fiona.
+"Tell me why it is I can understand you."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no idea," said the shore lark. "I am only a little bird, and I
+don't know very much. I chanced speaking to you because I wanted
+worms."</p>
+
+<p>The girl slipped across into the bookroom.</p>
+
+<p>"Daddy," she said, "come back out of the second century, and tell me
+why I can understand the shore lark."</p>
+
+<p>The Student looked up with a patient smile in far-away eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't time to come back yet," he said. "And I have not fully
+grasped your meaning. You appear to refer to some conversation with
+some bird. There are precedents, of course. For instance, the
+philosopher Empedocles, having been a bird himself in a former life,
+remembered their speech; he ended by leaping into &AElig;tna. Siegfried
+also, having bathed in the blood of Fafnir, followed the voice of a
+bird of the wood; he ended by losing his love and his life. There was
+once a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> sailor who took the advice of a parrot, and was hanged. Birds
+are light-minded, as the poet Aristophanes discovered; and it would
+seem that little good comes of talking to them."</p>
+
+<p>"My shore lark is a darling," said Fiona. "And I don't intend to be
+hanged."</p>
+
+<p>"That," said the Student, "is as Providence pleases. One never knows,
+as my poor ancestor said when he fell into a bear-trap and found the
+bear there before him."</p>
+
+<p>"O daddy," said the girl, "did he really? And what happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"This ancestor of mine," said the Student, "was a very strong man. If
+he had not been, someone else would have killed him first, and he
+would not have been my ancestor; the other man would have been someone
+else's ancestor, so to speak. Being a very strong man, he naturally
+killed the bear. He must have, or he would not have lived to be my
+ancestor. In those days everyone lived in caves, and he lived in a
+cave too; and he always killed the other man, sometimes fairly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+sometimes, I regret to say, otherwise. He courted my ancestress by
+knocking her down from behind with the blunt end of a stone ax, a
+method which I do not defend; but when her senses returned she told
+him he had acted like a man, and they became a most devoted couple.
+This was partly due, no doubt, to the fact that he never saw the
+meaning of the things she said; she took good care that he shouldn't,
+for though slow of wit he was handy with his ax. Their life I think
+must have been very happy till one day he found a red stone which he
+could heat and shape with his ax, and he hammered out that copper
+bracelet you're wearing; and then came the deluge, for metal meant
+magic then, as you know. Next day my ancestress found him conversing
+with the local vulture; within a week he was giving exhibitions in the
+other caves with the vulture's assistance; in a month he had become
+the tribal god; and about two years after, owing to the persistent
+failure of some of his magic to come off, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> was, for a brief moment,
+the tribal banquet. Now you know what comes of talking to shore
+larks."</p>
+
+<p>"Daddy," she said, "you can't know if that's true or not, can you?"</p>
+
+<p>"It may not all be what <i>you</i> call true," said the Student, "but it's
+true in quite a lot of ways. It's true psychologically, and
+anthropologically, and pal&aelig;ethnologically; and that does to start
+with. And I certainly <i>had</i> ancestors. And there <i>is</i> a bracelet. And
+you <i>were</i> talking strange words about a shore lark. And you must
+really take care, my dear daughter; for you <i>ought</i> now to become a
+tribal priestess, and be hurled from a high place into the sea the
+first season that the herring fail."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br />
+<span class="smalltext">THE HAUNTED CAVE</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>A sunlit sheet of sea, violet and azure, clothed in slender cloud
+shadows and heaving gently to the long Atlantic ground-swell. Up
+through the calm water, to meet the eye of the gazer, came the green
+clearness of stone, and blinks of unveined sand showing white between
+the brown tangled blades of the great oar-weed; and you might see a
+school of little cuddies, heads all one way, playing hide and seek in
+the sea forest, and caring no whit for the clumsy armored crab beneath
+them, who crawled sideways, a laborious patch of color in the
+shimmering transparency. Up out of the deep water the gray rocks rose
+clear and fine, a mass of platforms and pinnacles, roughened with
+barnacles and tufted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> with dulse, whose crimson leaves floated and
+swung in the white foam of the lisping swell; and above the rocks and
+beyond the sea's reach the cliff stood up black, showing all the
+strata that had gone to the making of it outlined with little patches
+of coarse grass. On one such patch grazed without concern a sheep
+which had slipped over, happy in her ignorance of the fact that she
+could never be drawn up again alive; the wiser raven overhead was
+clanging away with short barks to tell his mate. On a ridge on the
+cliff side sat a pair of young scarfs, almost invisible save when they
+twisted their long necks about like two snakes, trying to make up
+their minds to follow their mother, who had just flopped clumsily into
+the water, feet first, and had turned there and then into a miracle of
+easy grace, as she used her head to dash the spray over her back. Out
+at sea a solan rose steadily in a sweeping spiral, the white and black
+of him glittering in the sun; suddenly he checked, reversed engines,
+and fell plump<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> like an inverted cross, his long raking wings clapping
+to as he struck the water; a moment, and he was up, and there sat,
+choking and gobbling over his fish, ere he rose again in his majestic
+rings.</p>
+
+<p>The two children had grounded their boat on a little pebble beach
+between the rocks, and were sitting on a big tuft of sea pinks,
+munching handfuls of the sweet dulse and watching the solan at his
+fishing. They were by way of fishing themselves, but the afternoon was
+as yet too early and too clear for them. The Urchin had a pile of
+stones beside him, and was apparently trying to see how many times in
+twenty he could miss a large and obvious spur of rock. Fiona had a
+book of poetry, and was making intermittent efforts to read; but the
+world was too full of things to give poetry a fair chance.</p>
+
+<p>The Urchin threw his last stone away.</p>
+
+<p>"Silly sitting here," he said; "come and explore."</p>
+
+<p>So, scrambling and sliding, the two made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> their way across the rocks,
+stopping at every rock pool to raise its fringe of weed with careful
+hands and investigate the wonder of the little world below; sea
+flowers of every hue, white and green, gray and orange, purple and
+white and gray and purple again, some smooth and satisfied, others
+with tentacles greedily awash, that could be induced to suck at a
+small finger dexterously inserted; sea shells of every contour, some
+living and clutching at the rock, some cast off and dead, others again
+protruding alien claws, resurrected to a life of artificial movement
+by the little hermit crabs whose tails they sheltered; here and there
+the spiky pink globe of a sea urchin, waiting for the tide to float
+him off. And in one deep little pot, with sides green like a grotto of
+ferns, they found a miniature battle. A small green crab, who had cast
+his shell, sat humped in a recess of the grotto, a thing soft and
+vulnerable, a delight to the enemy; and in front of him, excited and
+transparent, were half a dozen shrimps, the horn on each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> forehead
+pointed at him; from time to time some young gallant would dash in to
+prod the helpless monster, and at once backwater again into the ranks
+of his friends. The crab bore his torment with a patience born of the
+knowledge that each minute his new carapace was hardening; the shrimps
+had no wit to count the cost, or reckon the odds that the rising tide
+might bear them away in safety from the day of vengeance.</p>
+
+<p>On hands and knees, not daring to breathe on the limpid surface of the
+pool, the children watched the little drama. From the cliff top the
+heated air rose dancing into the sky. So still were earth and air and
+sea that the old finner's rise sounded as though the cliff were
+falling. He had worked nearer in to the rocks than seemed possible for
+his ninety feet of blubber and muscle, and as his black side rolled
+over, the water about him boiled like a pot; but he did not splash,
+for he had been well brought up and always knew what his tail was
+doing, though it was so far away.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>"Shiver these rocks," he began in a rage, as he flung two fountains
+out of his nose. Then he caught sight of Fiona and the gleam of the
+red bracelet.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh my fins and flippers!" he spouted. "I ask pardon, young lady; I
+haven't the manners of a grampus. And they told me about you."</p>
+
+<p>"Who's they?" asked Fiona, ungrammatically.</p>
+
+<p>"Friends at Court, friends at Court," said the finner. "What a thing
+to have. 'No need of the old sailorman,' said I. But they said I must
+go. And I've scraped the barnacles off my precious tail. Will it run
+to some tobacco?"</p>
+
+<p>"Will what run?" said the girl. "Your tail? What is it you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hints are wasted, I see," said the whale. "'One question,' said I.
+Only one. But magic is magic, you know, even for a tough old
+sailorman. Come now, one question. I'm too far inshore for my
+liking."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>Fiona understood.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it about my treasure?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yours, or that boy's there, whichever you like," said the whale. "But
+only one, only one."</p>
+
+<p>For about two seconds Fiona did some hard mental drill. Then she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Will you please tell me where the Urchin can find his treasure?"</p>
+
+<p>"You do have luck," said the finner. "Think of it, then. O you little
+fishes, think of it. If you'd asked the other, I didn't know the
+answer. Wouldn't have got an answer, and my tail all scraped for
+nothing. And this one, my great-great-grandmother saw it all, and
+nobody knows here but me and the seals and one man, and he's too fat
+to count. West cave, Scargill Island; and bring you luck, my dear.
+Will it run to some tobacco?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you so much," said Fiona politely. "And I'm sorry I haven't any
+tobacco with me. But if you could wait a few minutes .&nbsp;.&nbsp;."</p>
+
+<p>"Shiver it, I'm scraping again," said the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> whale. "No tobacco and very
+few barnacles in this world. O my grandmother's flukes, I might as
+well be a bottlenose!"</p>
+
+<p>Once more the water boiled, and beneath it the huge black body shot
+away for the open sea.</p>
+
+<p>"Fiona," said the boy, "do you really think it's cricket?"</p>
+
+<p>"What isn't cricket?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Fiona," he said, "I've been a brother to you. I have done all the
+things a brother ought to do. I have taught you to throw like a boy. I
+have pinched you for new clothes. I have called you names, to make you
+good-tempered. I have made remarks on your personal appearance, to
+prevent your being vain. I have even fought with you, solely for your
+good. And this is how you repay me. The other day you pretended to be
+talking to a shore lark; to-day it was an old whale, who spouted and
+banged his tail on the rock. If it's a joke, I don't see it. If it's
+not a joke, do go into a lunatic asylum, and let me find a simpler
+job."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>Fiona tossed up mentally between hitting him and laughing; it came
+down laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Urchin," she said, "it's all right. I don't understand it much better
+than you do, but it has something to do with this bracelet of mine. I
+can really understand them and they can understand me. If you doubt my
+word, we will fight a duel with the boat stretchers, and I will bury
+you in the sand here afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I believe you when you talk like that," said the Urchin; "only
+it's worse than the Latin grammar. <i>Psittacus loquitur</i>, "the parrot
+talks"; but this thing seemed to be a whale; it was very like one."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a whale," said Fiona. "He said his great-great-grandmother had
+seen the Spanish captain land his doubloons, and that it was in the
+west cave on Scargill Island."</p>
+
+<p>"That means the big cave at the end facing the sea," said the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"The cave that no one has ever got to the end of," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"The cave that's haunted," said the boy.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>"But of course it's haunted; it's the ghosts of the Spaniards. Silly
+of us not to have guessed."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona had a hazy recollection of things her father used to say.</p>
+
+<p>"I expect the haunting is thousands of years older than the
+Spaniards," she said. "Urchin, are you afraid of ghosts?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit," said the Urchin stoutly. "They would be splendid to throw
+stones at. It wouldn't hurt them."</p>
+
+<p>"Come on then, let's go," said the girl. "There's lots of daylight."</p>
+
+<p>"None of the people here will go into it, you know," said the Urchin.</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said Fiona. "All the more reason for going on our own. There
+might really be something there, if no one ever goes to take it away."</p>
+
+<p>So the boat was launched, and the adventure also. Fiona pulled stroke;
+the Urchin was a clumsy and unpunctual bow, and the girl had to steer
+from the stroke oar, which needs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> more doing than you may think if you
+haven't tried it. But they made the end of Scargill in time, and then
+Fiona took both the oars and coasted, while the Urchin got out a
+couple of bamboo poles, garnished with white flies, and let the casts
+trail, occasionally getting one of the beautiful little scarlet lythe,
+that came at the fly with the spring and dash of a sea trout. For even
+adventurers need supper. And so they came, past many a smaller cave
+mouth in the black side of the island, to the huge bluff that fronts
+the full Atlantic, and the great west cave.</p>
+
+<p>Atlantic was half asleep to-day, and muttered drowsily to the quiet
+rocks outside. But the great cave was seldom quiet. In the winter,
+when Atlantic turned himself restlessly and spoke aloud, the sound of
+his speaking came back from its depths like the roar of a heavy gun;
+and even in the stillness the lisp of the swell in it echoed as from
+the roots of the island in a low intermittent boom. Outside, on the
+calm water, floated the whiskered head<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> of a seal, watching the boat
+with gentle, fearless eyes,&mdash;"the officer on guard," Fiona
+whispered;&mdash;and from the black cliff's face, like a hanging fringe
+over the mouth of the cave, the water splashed down, trickle by
+trickle, in quick, heavy drops. The children rowed in through the
+little shower, and Fiona paddled gently up the cave. Its huge
+limestone walls stood up stark on either hand, rising into the
+darkness above, and sinking below into the green water, as far as eye
+could follow them. Near the water-line grew a little seaweed, and some
+white whelks clung; but as they went down the waterway these vanished,
+and gray cliff and green water alike began to turn black. Looking
+back, Fiona could see a bright patch, a patch of sky and
+sky-reflecting sea, framed in the narrow slit of the cave's mouth. The
+waterway was narrowing now; she shipped her oars and stood up, using
+one as a paddle, and instructing the Urchin how to fend off the boat's
+stern with his hands. In front, on a ledge in the cave's roof, it was
+just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> possible to make out a row of blue dots in the growing darkness;
+as the boat drew nearer, the blue dots fluttered, detached themselves
+from the cliff, and a swarm of pigeons came whirring over the boat and
+down the cave toward the sunlight;&mdash;"Your ghosts, Urchin," said the
+girl. Henceforward the cave was void of life, unless some strange,
+eyeless fish lurked in its inky depths. Darker and darker grew the
+waterway, and the last gleam of light vanished. Fiona was feeling her
+way now, aided by the phosphorescent drip from her oar blade; the
+Urchin, with unusual sense, splashed his hands in the water to
+increase the pale glow, which just revealed the line of the cliff.
+Neither dare speak now; possibly, had Fiona not had some idea of what
+was coming, she would have turned. But already there was a faint gleam
+ahead, faint as a glow worm, but still a gleam; and as the boat slid
+forward, and the low boom in the depths of the cave grew closer, the
+cave walls very slowly began to grow gray again out of the blackness.
+A few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> minutes more, and the walls were an outline, and before them, a
+fringe of white on round wet stones, the end of the waterway. And as
+the boat grounded, Fiona pointed up, and the Urchin, looking, saw a
+little round hole; a natural shaft ran down into the cave from the
+surface of the island, giving light enough for their eyes, now
+accustomed to the darkness, to distinguish outlines.</p>
+
+<p>They drew their boat up on the stones far enough for the swell not to
+dislodge it; then the same impulse seized them both and they burst out
+laughing, not aloud, for something in the place made it impossible to
+laugh or talk aloud, but in a kind of mirthless whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"We've come without any lights," said Fiona in an undertone.</p>
+
+<p>"We have," said the Urchin. "But probably the stuff is only a few
+yards above high-water mark; they wouldn't go far in."</p>
+
+<p>"They might have," said Fiona; "they'd have had torches or
+something."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>"Let's go as far as we can, anyway, as we are here," said the Urchin.</p>
+
+<p>So they started scrambling over the stones in the gray half-light.
+Presently there rose before them a great mass of rock and earth, half
+blocking the cave; it looked like some old landslip.</p>
+
+<p>"It's easy at this end, Fiona," said the boy; and up they went, to
+find that the rock barrier blocked most of what little light remained.
+Beyond was darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"We must go back and get light," said Fiona. "I can't even see the
+stones below." A pause; then, "Stop swinging your feet, Urchin; I want
+to listen."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not," said the Urchin.</p>
+
+<p>Another pause, and then the Urchin spoke again, in a kind of stage
+whisper, "I'm frightened." The words seemed squeezed out of him.</p>
+
+<p>"We may as well go back, anyhow," said Fiona, in a strained voice.
+"Down you go, Urchin."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>The Urchin did go down at a considerable pace, and ran for the boat.
+Fiona managed to walk, by repeating to herself all the time under her
+breath, "You mustn't run, you mustn't run." But once in the boat she
+did not rebuke the Urchin for standing up and taking the other oar;
+and the pair paddled out, with many bumpings and scrapings, in a more
+speedy and less scientific manner than that in which they had entered.</p>
+
+<p>Once out in the sunlight they felt better. They started automatically
+to fish home, and presently were talking again. But neither of them
+referred to the thing that was uppermost in each mind, though each was
+wondering if the other knew. For as they had sat on the wall of rock,
+each had heard clearly, in the utter darkness of the unvisited cave,
+the sound of heavy footsteps.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br />
+<span class="smalltext">THE URCHIN VANISHES</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>To most people there is some corner of the earth which means more than
+all others; and there are two or three in the world whose holy place
+is the old house on the sea-loch which the Student's humbler neighbors
+called the "big house." An old square building of gray stone, that
+matches the gray sky and the gray sea, it has small claims to beauty;
+it was built in the days of blank windows, and every wind in the
+island meets and screams round the battered iron balustrade which
+leads up its steps to the door, and strives to tear down the tendrils
+of ivy that cling to the east front. To the south front, lashed by the
+full Atlantic gales, not even ivy can cling; only a few twisted elders
+and stunted planes grow there, and take the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> first force of the winter
+wind; but the old lawn to the north bursts in summer into a cloud of
+white marguerites, whose ethereal beauty at sunset is like the ghosts
+of the dreams that haunt the place. For to some of us the old house is
+full of dreams, that cling to the dark passages and the uneven floors,
+and play in and out of the little windows that are still propped open
+with wood, as they were a hundred years ago; dreams of the bright
+lights and the bright voices that greeted us, coming in out of the
+blinding rain; dreams of the dance and the song, songs of old lost
+causes from which all bitterness has died away, leaving to-day nothing
+but beauty behind them; dreams of faded joys and forgotten sorrows, of
+loves that have passed elsewhere and of memories that abide; dreams of
+faces that are seen no more. Some day it will change ownership; it
+will be sold to someone from whom understanding of these things has
+been withheld, and who will see only the darkness of the old
+corridors, the shabbiness of the old doorway;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> and he will build new
+doors, and porticoes and a wide verandah, and make it fair within and
+without, levelling the floors and trimming the lawns; and he will have
+destroyed the old house and the fragrance of it, and it will never
+return. But to-day it still stands as it has stood for many a long
+year, clothed in the memories that never leave it and rich in all that
+the past has built into it; and to some who may never dwell there
+again it is yet ever present as the home of their hearts' desire, a
+true house of faery.</p>
+
+<p>The Student had let the old house to the Urchin's father. He was a
+tall, thin man with a hooked nose, and he knew more about one
+particular family of Coleoptera than anyone living. He had taken the
+place, not because he wanted it for its shooting, but because one of
+the beetles of his family was reputed to be plentiful in the
+neighborhood. He was never there long; he was never anywhere long. For
+thirty years he had pursued his beetles over five continents; his
+measurements of their wing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> cases alone filled nine enormous MS.
+volumes. His great work on the variation of the length of the wing
+case in beetles kept in captivity had become a classic. Scientific men
+had nothing but praise for the book; several even read it. The
+majority believed that he had re-founded Neo-Mendelism past any
+overthrowing; a small but persistent minority argued that, on the
+contrary, he had utterly overthrown the Neo-Mendelians. All, however,
+agreed that the book was epoch-making, even though they differed
+utterly as to the sort of epoch which it made. The author himself was
+a shy and modest person, who never lost his temper except when people
+sent him unpaid parcels from Timbuctoo or Khamchatka containing
+beetles of other families in which he took no interest. On the rare
+occasions when he could be induced to go into society, kind-hearted
+hostesses, who saw no reason why one crawling thing should not do as
+well as another had been known to try to please him by starting a
+conversation about ladybirds or earwigs;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> and it was said to be worth
+foregoing one's cigar to hear him explain, with a chuckle, that though
+earwigs or ladybirds were no doubt meritorious creatures in their
+several spheres, and possibly legitimate objects of study to others,
+they were not his subject; his subject was a particular family of
+Coleoptera. He and the Student had become great friends, and when he
+was in the island he would often drop in to see the Student's bookroom
+after dinner and there the two would sit, one on either side of the
+fire, each smoking at a tremendous pace and talking hard on his own
+subject. Neither ever expected an answer from the other; neither ever
+got one. But they had silently established an unwritten law that when
+one had talked for three minutes by the clock on the mantelpiece he
+was to stop and let the other have a turn; and when at last they said
+good night, each felt that they had both had a thoroughly enjoyable
+evening. And so they had.</p>
+
+<p>Unlike to unlike. The Urchin's father had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> married the daughter of a
+stockbroker, who, on her death, had left him two legacies; one was the
+Urchin, and the other was an occasional visitation from her brother
+Jeconiah. Mr. Jeconiah P. Johnson, the well-known promoter of
+companies, was a short, stout man with a red face and a shifty blue
+eye, always immaculately dressed in broadcloth with a huge expanse of
+white waistcoat, over which sprawled his double watch chain and his
+triple chin. There were possibly some good points even about Jeconiah,
+if anything so rotund could be said to have points; but there were
+certainly not many. He was supposed by some to possess what is called
+"a high standard of business morality"; it would be truer to say that
+his code was prehistoric. He had so far kept himself right with the
+law, because he had mastered the sordid maxim which proclaims that
+honesty is the best policy; no other reason was likely to occur to
+him. With some effort he had succeeded in formulating a rule of
+conduct of which he was rather proud:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> Do good to yourself and your
+friends and evil to those who stand in your way. If anyone had told
+him that the philosophy of ethics took its rise, some twenty-two
+centuries ago, in a reaction against a similar rule, he would have
+remarked jocosely that he never studied back numbers. Of anything more
+exalted than "policy," anything not to be reckoned in terms of &pound;.s.d.,
+he was as ignorant as a hippopotamus.</p>
+
+<p>He was never very fond of his right hand's knowing what his left hand
+did; for while the right hand promoted companies, the left hand, by
+means of a manager and a registered alias, carried on a very useful
+little money-lender's business. He was never averse to putting the
+screw on, if there was anything to be got by it; and sometimes he got
+rather funny things. Recently he had had a broken debtor on his hands,
+and had taken what he could get; among other things, an old bureau
+full of papers. Jeconiah, being a methodical soul, had turned a clerk
+on to sort the papers; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> the clerk had presently brought him the
+long lost map of the Scargill cave, and a sheet of paper containing
+somebody's rough explanation of what it was supposed to be. Jeconiah,
+who had heard the story, scented possibilities, and, it being a slack
+time in the City, promptly invited himself to his brother-in-law's
+house to recover from an attack of influenza. That is how Jeconiah
+comes into this story. It could not be helped, for he had the map. The
+finner had said he was too fat to count; but that is where the finner
+was wrong.</p>
+
+<p>Jeconiah forthwith gave his mind, such as it was, to the subject of
+caves. Diffidence was not his failing, and he cross-examined every
+person he could find, concealing, of course, his real object. He
+collected a splendid amount of rubbish; but he was acute enough where
+his pocket was concerned, and out of the rubbish he presently dragged
+forth the fact of the haunted cave which no one would enter. Whereon
+Jeconiah went over to Scargill to fish, and had a look at the lie of
+the island; settled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> with himself that it seemed a good enough place
+for a wreck, and told the keeper to row him into the west cave. But
+the keeper, who had no particular liking for Jeconiah, refused
+point-blank, and told him he would not find a man in the island who
+would do it; and Jeconiah, who had suddenly lost interest in the
+fishing, went home in a bad temper. This happened the day after the
+two children were in the cave; and the day after that the Urchin's
+father received an excited cablegram from Brazil on the subject of his
+beloved beetles. He rushed down at once to see the Student.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to Brazil, I don't know for how long," he said. "And my
+boy can't go back to school for a month or more, as they have scarlet
+fever in the village there. And I don't like to leave him with the
+housekeeper, and I start in two hours. Will you take him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Delighted," said the Student. "Fiona will look after him."</p>
+
+<p>So the Urchin came, and with him came to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> Fiona a sense of
+responsibility for him. She couldn't help it.</p>
+
+<p>But Jeconiah showed no intention of moving. On the contrary, the
+after-effects of influenza were still troubling him sorely, it seemed.
+At last the Urchin's father had to tell him to stay a week or two
+longer, if he wanted to; the servants would be there anyhow. And
+Jeconiah thanked him and settled down to stay, as he had meant to do
+all along. But as soon as his brother-in-law was gone he took the car
+and went off for the day. The chauffeur said that he went to a lot of
+places and talked to a lot of people; and a couple of days later two
+strange men in a boat entered the bay and proceeded to camp out on a
+part of the shore which was not the Student's property. Jeconiah had,
+in fact, hired the boat, and found a couple of ne'er-do-wells from the
+mainland who knew nothing of him and were ready to row him anywhere in
+pursuit of his business, which was understood to be photographing wild
+birds for an illustrated paper.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>Jeconiah had, however, made one great mistake. He was aware that you
+must not neglect little things, and he had neglected quite a big
+little thing&mdash;the Urchin. He had never spoken to him about caves, or
+taken the least notice of the boy's movements. And the Urchin on his
+side had been hard at work. He had confessed to Fiona on the subject
+of the footsteps, and she to him; and they had agreed, under the broad
+healthy light of day, that probably they had been mistaken and afraid
+of the dark, and that with lanterns it would be all right. They
+agreed, however, that it was necessary to have a really good light,
+and the difficulty was to find one. It was the Urchin who came forward
+as the saviour of society by proposing to win over Jones, the
+chauffeur, and get the loan of one of the big acetylene head-lamps
+from the car. Jones, a newcomer, had not yet heard about the cave,
+and, being English, he had not yet found his feet among his fellows
+and was glad of any sort of diversion. The Urchin wound up a
+triumphant half hour<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> of diplomacy by making Jones promise to lend him
+one of the headlights and show him how to work it. Then the Urchin
+fell, as many greater men have fallen; he was lifted up with pride,
+and told Jones that Fiona and he were going treasure-hunting. Jones
+grinned; but that evening he talked; and in due course Jeconiah heard.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Fiona was digging in her garden, or rather in the Urchin's, for she
+had assigned him one bit of it, which she had to cultivate for him;
+otherwise it would have run waste, for all the work the Urchin put
+into it. Her garden was one corner of the old walled garden of the
+Student's house, which was not very well kept now. Once it had been
+gay with flowers and rich with fruit; but now few flowers grew there
+save such as could look after themselves, and the fruit had come down
+to two gnarled old apple trees, in which Fiona had made her earliest
+experiments in climbing. Most of the ground,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> so far as it was in use,
+was now given over to cabbages and potatoes; but in June the borders
+were sweet with double white narcissus, and now in September there was
+a revel of unpruned roses, their blooms growing smaller year by year,
+and a mass of the dark-red blossoms of the little west coast fuchsia,
+which knows how to live through the winter. One deserted corner was
+gay with Turk's turban, which still had strength to push up through
+the ever-thickening tangle of weeds; and groups of winter crocus were
+coming up in the borders, and among them a few Shirley poppies which
+Fiona had sown herself. Fiona had had thoughts of taking the garden in
+hand, but the space enclosed by the old walls was far too large for
+her to manage unaided; and as there was no money to pay a proper
+gardener, she had had to content herself with clearing one corner.
+Here she had achieved a riot of color. She had made a little rockery
+of oak-leaf and beech ferns brought down from the hill, sentinelled by
+tall pink foxgloves; the worn-out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> plum trees against the wall behind
+were threaded and festooned with thick trailers of yellow and scarlet
+nasturtium; and in front of the rockery, her especial pride, was a
+great bed of velvet pansies, rich with every hue of the rainbow. They
+were flanked by simple annuals, filmy pink poppies, orange escholtzias
+and sweet-scented mignonette; and in a bed by themselves were the gold
+and crimson snapdragons which the Urchin had begged for her from the
+gardener at the big house.</p>
+
+<p>She must needs dig up a centipede, one of the small yellow ones. They
+were her special dislike. The centipede did not like being dug up
+either, and writhed himself into seven different sets of tangles at
+once, as is the way of the smaller centipedes.</p>
+
+<p>"You horrid little yellow beast," she said, forgetting that he could
+understand, and made a dab at him with her spade, which, to her
+relief, missed him. She felt she had done her duty by hitting at him,
+but did not hide from herself that she had really missed him on
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>"Little's all right," said the centipede, "and yellow's all right; and
+though I'm not really a beast, we will let it go at that. But I'm not
+a bit horrid."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't like you," said Fiona, "and you wriggle so."</p>
+
+<p>"In the circles in which I move," said the centipede, "my wriggling is
+much admired. And the mere fact that you do not like me&mdash;which, I may
+remind you, is only a subjective impression and has neither objective
+validity nor permanent value&mdash;does not entitle you to call me names.
+You ought to have learnt better, with that bangle of yours. For all
+you know, I may be a model of the more unselfish virtues."</p>
+
+<p>"But you eat the roots of my flowers," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the first I have heard of it," said the centipede. "But one
+lives and learns. It need not be the same one, though, who does both.
+So in the present case I propose that I should live and you should
+learn."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>"I wasn't going to kill you really," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>The centipede bowed.</p>
+
+<p>"A little courtesy does oil the creaking machinery of life, doesn't
+it?" he said. "Please lift me up, for I have something to tell you,
+and your head is so far away. Shouting at you hurts my throat."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona stooped down and took up the little yellow creature in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Congratulations," said the centipede. "We <i>are</i> getting on. You
+wanted badly to shudder, and you didn't. We shall make something of
+you yet. My old friend the bookworm&mdash;who lives in your father's
+library, by the way&mdash;has recently supplied me with a new quotation
+from the great poet Virgil, who had once, you may remember, quite a
+reputation as a magician. It was to the effect that if you couldn't
+get what you wanted by beginning at the top, you should start again at
+the bottom. I am the bottom. I am not the <i>very</i> bottom, but I am near
+enough to it for your purpose. Now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> you see what you have gained by
+not killing me."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see anything yet, I'm afraid," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"One must have patience with weaker vessels," said the centipede. "So
+I will explain. My friend the bookworm, who supplies me with my
+quotations, has a cousin of the same profession in the library at the
+big house. It was through him that I got the story I am going to tell
+you about the fat man."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Johnson!" exclaimed Fiona. "He has nothing to do with me." She
+disliked Jeconiah heartily, so far as she had given any thought to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, he has," said the centipede. "This is where I come in. My
+bookworm's cousin, who is a great linguist and understands English
+perfectly, was at work in the library the other evening, and the fat
+man was having his coffee there. After coffee he lit a cigar and began
+to walk up and down, and presently he started talking to himself out
+loud, as my informant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> says he often does when he is excited. And by
+piecing his talk together, my informant made out that he had the map
+of the Scargill cave, which one of your ancestors once gambled away,
+and that somehow or other he had found out that the cave of the map
+<i>was</i> the Scargill cave, and that he was only waiting for a smooth day
+to go and locate the treasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come now," said the centipede, "it's no use pretending. We all
+know that you are treasure-hunting&mdash;remember we can all understand
+everything <i>you</i> say, whether we are linguists or not&mdash;and my advice
+to you is, to be quick about it, before the fat man can get his oar
+in."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you so much," said Fiona. "And I am so sorry I began by being
+rude. Tell me, why have you told me all this when I began by being
+rude?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I am a model of the more unselfish virtues, of course," said
+the centipede with a suppressed chuckle. "As a fact, I had an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
+earth-phone from headquarters. But we are all backing you, you know.
+And now will you put me down, please; the upper air is chilly."</p>
+
+<p>He wriggled into a crack in the ground, and was gone.</p>
+
+<p>That evening Fiona and the Urchin made their final preparations, in
+case the morrow should fall calm. That evening also Jeconiah heard
+that he had rivals in the field. His language, as he walked up and
+down the library, would have been very bad for the bookworm's morals
+had that intelligent insect been able to understand it all; but the
+bookworm's English, though good, was literary, and much of the modern
+idiom employed by Jeconiah slid off its back. Jeconiah's plan had been
+to make sure that the gold was there, and then charter a launch from
+Glasgow and take it straight to railway-head; he saw now that he could
+not afford the time, and that unless he could deal with the children
+in some way he might have to take the gold off in his boat,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> which
+would entail some risk, as well as cost him a heavy sum to buy his two
+boatmen. Also he made up his mind that he must go the next morning,
+whatever the weather, if it were possible to launch the boat; he knew
+that the children, with their little skiff, could only go to sea on
+calm days.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately for Jeconiah, the night fell calm, and though he rose
+early, he had no notion of starting without a good breakfast. By the
+time his boat was launched and he himself aboard, he had the pleasure
+of seeing through his glasses the children's boat off the east or
+nearer end of Scargill. The wealth of adjectives which he employed in
+the circumstances filled his two loafers with awe and admiration.</p>
+
+<p>Fiona, having the Urchin securely under her roof, had breakfasted
+before dawn, and as soon as it was light enough the children launched
+their little boat. The Urchin had the precious headlight, ready
+charged, tied up in an old sack which would also serve to bring away
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> plunder; and round his waist he had twisted a length of cast-off
+rope. Its use was not apparent, but he thought it looked
+business-like. They saw that Jeconiah's boat was still drawn up
+ashore, and in good heart they started on their long pull. They had
+reached the island before Jeconiah had his boat out; having no
+glasses, they could not see if it was being launched or not. But off
+the eastern end of the island, which is low and grassy, they had a
+fright, for an empty boat was drawn ashore there. However, when they
+rowed close in to look at it, Fiona recognized it.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Angus MacEachan's boat," she said. "He has come to see after the
+sheep he has on the island. There he is, I can see him; he has got a
+sheep that has hurt its foot." And indeed they could see Angus tending
+a sick sheep.</p>
+
+<p>"Fiona," said the boy, "we are too silly for anything. Of course the
+footsteps we heard in the cave were Angus's. There is another way in
+somewhere, and he would be looking for a sheep."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>Fiona said nothing. As they neared the cave, the problem of the
+footsteps kept intruding itself more and more vividly upon her; but
+the Urchin was happy in his theory, and she did not think it necessary
+to remind him that the footsteps could not possibly have been those of
+Angus, who walked with a limp. She began to feel a vague sense of
+disquiet, which she tried in vain to put aside.</p>
+
+<p>They entered the cave, and the Urchin, with much pride, lit his great
+lamp. The powerful burner threw a wonderful circle of light on to
+black water and black walls, making them glow and sparkle with a soft
+radiance till they looked like the very gateway of fairyland. Outside
+the circle everything became black as pitch. They paddled quietly up
+the bright waterway, and grounded on the stones at the end. The Urchin
+was hot after his long row, and helping to draw the boat up on the
+stones did not make him any cooler; he took off his jacket and pitched
+it on to a thwart.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is hot, and stuffy," said Fiona.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> She recollected some story
+she had read about a coal mine, and sniffed. "I hope there is no gas
+here," she said.</p>
+
+<p>The Urchin grinned.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you girls!" he said. "Who ever heard of gas in a sea cave. What
+you are smelling is the lamp."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona took the lamp up.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to take charge of this myself," she said. "You can carry
+the treasure."</p>
+
+<p>The Urchin picked up the sack and threw it over his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead, lady with the lamp," he said, and grinned again. He felt
+very adventurous. He would rather have liked to be photographed.</p>
+
+<p>With considerable caution, necessitated by the heavy lamp, they
+climbed the rock barrier and descended into the darkness of the inner
+cave. The walking was better here; the rounded slippery boulders had
+given place to a floor of pebbles and sand. Quite a short way from the
+barrier the wall of the cave curved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> away in a semicircle on the
+right, its smooth surface forming a kind of small recess. Fiona swept
+the recess with her lamp, and on the sandy floor something gleamed
+back; the Urchin pounced on it and picked it up. It was a gold coin,
+not the least like any which the children had ever seen. It was, in
+fact, a doubloon.</p>
+
+<p>"This must be one of them," said the boy exultantly as he pocketed it;
+"one that got dropped. Come on, it can't be much farther."</p>
+
+<p>But Fiona held the lamp steady and stared at the sand.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at the marks on the sand," she said. "They are like the marks of
+heavy boxes. The treasure has been here, Urchin, and it's not here
+now. Someone has been here and taken it, and dropped one piece."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so," said the Urchin. "We shall find them a bit farther
+on."</p>
+
+<p>So they went on, but not very far. For the light of the lamp suddenly
+fell on a rock wall before them, the end of the cave. And it had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
+ended, not as the other caves do, by the roof growing lower and lower
+till it meets the floor; it had ended in this huge chamber of high
+rocky walls.</p>
+
+<p>"So this is the cave that no one has ever reached the end of," said
+Fiona. "Why, it goes no distance at all."</p>
+
+<p>They retraced their steps to the recess, and then back to the end
+again, looking on this side and on that for openings, but it seemed
+quite clear that there were none.</p>
+
+<p>"The boxes must have been carried off by sea," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>But the Urchin had an idea.</p>
+
+<p>"No one would try to carry great heavy boxes over the rock barrier,"
+he said. "They'd just take the gold out in sacks."</p>
+
+<p>"The barrier may be a rock-fall," said Fiona. "The treasure may all
+have been cleared out long ago."</p>
+
+<p>And then there came to the Urchin the realization of the fact that he
+had lost his gun. He turned very red.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>"It's a shame," he said angrily, "an awful shame. It was given to me,
+and someone has taken it. Can't you think where it could be, Fiona?
+I'd go <i>anywhere</i> to find it."</p>
+
+<p>Whatever Fiona may have been going to say, her words tailed off into
+sudden silence. For from beyond the cave wall, as it seemed, sounded
+again the footsteps which they had heard before; and this time they
+knew that there was no cave there, and that It was walking through
+solid rock as if along a road. There was no question this time of any
+concealment or pretence; both frankly turned tail and made for the
+rock barrier. Halfway there the Urchin tripped and fell heavily on his
+head. Fiona put the lamp down and helped him up, dizzy and shaking.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you go on, Urchin?" she said. "If not, I'll try and carry you."</p>
+
+<p>The Urchin looked back into the blackness, unrelieved by any ray of
+the lamp, which faced the other way. The footsteps were steadily
+drawing nearer, neither hasting nor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> staying. What the Urchin may have
+thought he saw Fiona could not guess; he gave one shriek, slid out of
+her grasp, and bolted for the rock barrier as fast as his trembling
+feet would carry him.</p>
+
+<p>For one moment Fiona all but followed him. Then it suddenly came to
+her that she was responsible for the boy's safety. She never knew
+afterwards how she managed to do what she did; but she turned, and
+with the courage of utter desperation&mdash;the courage which enables the
+hen partridge to face the sparrow hawk&mdash;stood at bay, swinging up the
+heavy lamp to see and face whatever should come.</p>
+
+<p>And into the circle of lamplight quietly walked the figure of the old
+hawker.</p>
+
+<p>The revulsion of feeling was too much for Fiona. She sprang forward
+and caught the old man's hand and clung to it.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," she said, "I'm so glad it's you. We heard the footsteps and we
+were so frightened." The relief of it all was overwhelming; she was
+almost crying, and went on saying anything,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> hardly knowing what she
+said, just for the mere human companionableness of it. "How did you
+come here? I suppose you came over with Angus in his boat. Of course
+you would. Then there must be another way into the cave after all, and
+we couldn't find it."</p>
+
+<p>"And so I frightened you?" said the old man gently, making no effort
+to withdraw his hand. "Yes, there is another way in." He made no
+attempt to answer all her questions.</p>
+
+<p>"Urchin," called Fiona, raising her voice. "Urchin, come back; it's
+all right."</p>
+
+<p>But there was no answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Urchin," she shouted; "Urchin."</p>
+
+<p>But there was no answer save the echoing of the empty cave.</p>
+
+<p>"He was going down to the boat," she said, loyally repressing the fact
+that the Urchin had bolted. "We must go after him, for he had hurt his
+head, and I am afraid of his falling again."</p>
+
+<p>They climbed the rock barrier, and made their way to the boat. The
+boat lay there as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> it had been left, half ashore, with the swell
+rippling against the stern, and over one thwart the Urchin's jacket,
+just as he had thrown it down. And the boat was as empty as the cave.</p>
+
+<p>Into Fiona's eyes came a sudden fear.</p>
+
+<p>"He must have fallen again, and be lying somewhere," she said.</p>
+
+<p>They went back, searching every nook and corner of the cave, turning
+the light into every crevice, under every rock, making a minute
+examination of the rock barrier; and there was no sign.</p>
+
+<p>And then Fiona broke down.</p>
+
+<p>"He is drowned," she said, and just sat and sobbed.</p>
+
+<p>After a few moments the old man came and sat down beside her. In his
+gentle voice he said that the Urchin could not possibly be drowned.
+The water was quite shallow at the edge, and he was a good swimmer,
+was he not? And even if he had not been, the swell would have rolled
+him ashore. He himself had no doubt that all would come right.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>Fiona ceased sobbing and turned on him.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know where he is?" she demanded bluntly.</p>
+
+<p>"How would I know when you do not know?" said the old man. "Could I
+see what you could not see?" And then "Listen."</p>
+
+<p>Down the waterway came voices, and the sound of oars. It was in fact
+Jeconiah's boat entering the cave.</p>
+
+<p>Fiona caught at the straw.</p>
+
+<p>"He may have swum out to the other boat," she said.</p>
+
+<p>But there was no one in the other boat but Jeconiah and his two men.
+They had powerful lanterns, and the boat was full of sacks. Jeconiah
+himself was purple with suppressed rage and impatience. The moment he
+could get ashore, he waddled up to Fiona and shook the map of the cave
+in her face, exclaiming, "Remember, if you have found anything it
+belongs to me and I claim it."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona had only one thought in her mind at the moment, and the foolish
+impertinence of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> the little fat man was to her merely so much
+unnecessary sound. Her answer was "Have you seen the Urchin? We have
+lost him. Did he not swim out to your boat?" She was almost sobbing
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Confound the brat!" said Jeconiah roughly. "I've not come here to
+play hide-and-seek with a parcel of children. Tell me at once what
+you've found."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona straightened herself, and looked at Jeconiah as though he were
+some noxious reptile.</p>
+
+<p>"There was nothing here to find," she said. "And this cave belongs to
+my father. And anything in it he gave to the Urchin."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he's not here," said Jeconiah brutally, "and I am. Who finds,
+keeps."</p>
+
+<p>And calling to his men to bring the lights, he set off, between
+stumbling and crawling, for the rock barrier. One of the men had the
+decency to stop a moment and tell Fiona that they had seen nothing of
+any boy; Jeconiah turned and abused him for a laggard.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>With a good deal of difficulty the two men hoisted and shoved Jeconiah
+over the rock barrier. Once over, he took a light himself, told the
+men to wait where they were, and after a good look at the map set out
+for the recess where the Urchin had found the doubloon. Fiona followed
+him; there was some vague idea in her mind of protecting the Urchin's
+property; behind that there was still a faint subconscious hope that
+in some way or other the Urchin would suddenly reappear, and laugh at
+her terrors.</p>
+
+<p>Jeconiah reached the recess. He saw and understood the marks of the
+boxes on the sand. He swung round on Fiona with a snarl like that of a
+hungry wolf.</p>
+
+<p>"You think you're clever, don't you, you and your father," he said. "I
+suppose you've had the stuff moved. But I'll have it if I go to the
+middle of the earth for it."</p>
+
+<p>It was the old hawker who shouted. He had stood apart, a silent
+spectator of the scene. And at this moment he called out,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> in a voice
+of surprising power for so frail a body:</p>
+
+<p>"Look out above you. Jump."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona, who had learned to obey, jumped back just in time. But Jeconiah
+had never learnt to obey any orders but his own. He stood, stupidly
+staring, as a bit of the roof of the cave bowed downward, gave way,
+and came cascading about him in a shower of earth and big stones, that
+filled the air with thick dust. When the dust cleared again, they saw
+Jeconiah lying on his back in the middle of the cliff fall,
+motionless, and to all appearance dead.</p>
+
+<p>But Fiona was not looking at Jeconiah. She was looking at the place
+where the roof of the cave had bowed itself before falling; and into
+her mind came crowding dim forgotten legends, legends of fear and
+hope. And she was saying over and over again to herself, as though she
+might miss its purport, that behind the cliff fall, as if impelling
+and directing it, she had seen a small brown elfin hand.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p><hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>It was the old hawker who took charge of the situation. The two men,
+who at first had looked as if they would run, became amenable when he
+spoke to them. They carried Jeconiah's body to his boat, and laid it
+in the stern-sheets. One of the men pointed out that there was no mark
+at all on his face or head, and that he did not believe he had been
+struck.</p>
+
+<p>"Died of fright, I expect," he said curtly.</p>
+
+<p>"Lucky we stood out for wages in advance," said his companion. It
+looked as if this might be Jeconiah's fitting epitaph.</p>
+
+<p>The old man himself went with Fiona in her boat. But he was too feeble
+to row far, so he landed on the island and went in search of Angus. In
+due course Angus came down and rowed Fiona home, saying that the old
+man was going to look after his sheep for him till he returned. It did
+not occur to Fiona, until they had gone too far to turn back, that it
+looked as though the old man wished to avoid questions. Her mind was
+in a helpless whirl in which everything seemed unreal, except<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> the
+Urchin and that small brown hand. She could not give her father any
+very coherent account of what had happened; but he went out at once to
+find a boat and men to search the cave.</p>
+
+<p>Jeconiah was laid on his bed in the big house, and there was much
+commotion there; this one must go for the doctor and that one for the
+Student; scared maids stood and whispered in the corridors; the two
+loafers, heroes of the hour, feasted happily in the kitchen. Then the
+doctor came, and went upstairs with a grave face, as befitted the
+occasion; but he did not come down again, and surmise grew. Half an
+hour passed before the door opened, and the doctor, smiling and
+rubbing his hands together, came into the library, where the Student
+had just entered and was talking to the housekeeper.</p>
+
+<p>"He's not dead at all," said the doctor. "It's catalepsy&mdash;suspended
+animation, you know. Like the frog in the marble. Had a shock, you
+tell me? Just so, just so. How<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> long? Oh, he may be an hour, and he
+may be a month; no one can ever say. Never had the good luck to see a
+case before. Not <i>very</i> uncommon, no. Mustn't try to rouse him, you
+know; might be dangerous. Just wait. Send for me at once if he comes
+to. Can get two nurses to watch him, if you like; just as well
+perhaps. Sometimes they are odd when they wake; think they are someone
+else for a bit, you know, change their habits, and so on. Dual
+personality? Oh, yes, several well-attested cases; but I don't mean as
+much as that. Might arise this way, of course; but what I mean is more
+just queer. But of course he need not be; might wake up as if he'd
+been asleep. If it lasts long, take away all the almanacs and things,
+in case he gets a shock. Well, good day, good day."</p>
+
+<p>And the doctor went; and Jeconiah's body lay still on the bed, waiting
+till his soul, if he had one, should return to it.</p>
+
+<p>So the Student went home again; and on his way he met the old hawker,
+who stopped and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> spoke to him; and for a few moments the two walked
+together, the old man talking rather quickly. Fiona, watching from the
+window of the bookroom, could see that her father first looked puzzled
+and then grave and then considerably relieved; in a dim kind of way
+she found herself thinking that Angus must have rowed back very fast
+to Scargill, if the old hawker were already landed. She was wondering
+who he really was and why her father talked to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell Anne to get us something to eat&mdash;anything," said the Student.
+"The boat will be here directly."</p>
+
+<p>The Student, by straining what remained of old loyalty as far as he
+dared, had found half a dozen volunteers, good men, to face the
+haunted cave, provided he went himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want to come, Fiona?" he said. Of course Fiona meant to come.</p>
+
+<p>And while they waited, the Student questioned Fiona, and had the whole
+story coherently, except the hand. That part Fiona<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> felt she could not
+tell; there, in the cheerful bookroom, it seemed so impossible. Once
+or twice he nodded, and said, "That would be so"; and at the end he
+pointed out that whatever had happened had happened when her back was
+turned, as she faced the coming footsteps. She had not thought of
+that. What puzzled her, and hurt her a little, was that, though her
+father seemed to feel for <i>her</i>, he did not appear to be particularly
+concerned about the Urchin. "I believe it will come right," was all he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>The boat arrived, rowed by strong hands; the men worked with a will,
+and the distance to the cave seemed short. They had brought good
+lights, and the Student had a powerful electric torch. High and low
+they searched the cave, and found nothing. One man, who was a good
+swimmer, dived several times and found nothing there either. Tracking
+footsteps was impossible; the sand, where there was any, had been
+hopelessly trampled.</p>
+
+<p>When nothing more could be done, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> Student said that he wanted to
+look for a thing himself which he had an idea of. He went down to the
+end of the cave with his torch and tapped the wall with a geological
+hammer. Fiona sat on the rock barrier and watched him; what he was
+seeking she had no idea. He came slowly back down the cave, tapping
+the wall, till he reached the recess where the Urchin had picked up
+the doubloon. He went straight to the back of the recess and tapped
+the wall there; and even as he did so a large piece of stone fell from
+above, and smashed the electric torch in his hand. He came back to the
+rock barrier quite unperturbed, looking as if he had found what he
+sought.</p>
+
+<p>"Not very safe, this cave," he said calmly; and told the men to push
+off the boat. "There is nothing more we can do," he said; "the boy is
+certainly not here."</p>
+
+<p>The men's courage was fast ebbing away; they were glad to get out of
+the haunted place.</p>
+
+<p>Fiona sat in silence all the way home. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> was dark before they
+reached the house. She waited while Anne bustled over supper; she
+thought she would never see her father alone. At last supper was over,
+and he went into the bookroom and began to light his pipe; she
+followed him. Her words came out in a torrent.</p>
+
+<p>"Daddy," she said, "what does it all mean? and why are you so strange
+and unconcerned? What did that old man tell you? If I couldn't see,
+<i>he</i> must have seen, for he was facing. What is it you know? And why
+have you told me nothing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down, little daughter," said the Student. He drew her beside his
+knee, with her head on his arm. "I will tell you now what I can. The
+old man gave me a sort of hint. He did not really see, for the lamp
+was the other way; I fancy he guessed. I wanted to test what he said
+to me. I have tested it now with my hammer; it all agrees. I am
+absolutely certain that no harm has come to the Urchin. But I can do
+nothing for him myself. And I must not even tell you what I think;
+for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> if I do it ruins everything. All I may tell you is this, that you
+are the only person who can do anything. You will have to do it all
+yourself and by yourself, little daughter. I believe you have ways and
+means of your own of finding out. Are you going through with it,
+Fiona?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I am, daddy," she said. "How can I do anything else? If
+only I knew what it is I have to do to find him&mdash;how to begin even."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot even tell you that," said the Student. But his fingers
+played with the copper bangle on her wrist. And out of some dim corner
+of subconsciousness she seemed to hear a small voice which said "If
+you can't get what you want by beginning at the top you must start
+again at the bottom." Her father, with his learning, was the top; the
+bottom .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;?</p>
+
+<p>Fiona went to bed less miserable than she had expected.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br />
+<span class="smalltext">THE OREAD</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>Fiona was out long before breakfast next morning, digging furiously in
+her garden. Not many minutes passed before she was rewarded by a glint
+of something yellow in a shovelful of earth, and there was the
+centipede.</p>
+
+<p>"You dear creature," she said, and caught it up quickly before it
+could wriggle away.</p>
+
+<p>"How polite we are this morning," said the centipede, swelling with
+conscious pride. "I suppose we want something."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona's mind was far too completely taken up with her one object to
+notice or resent any insinuations.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do," she said. "You told me that if I could not get what I
+wanted by beginning at the top I must start again at the bottom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> I
+can do nothing from the top this time, so I've come to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Flattered, to be sure," said the centipede. "How frank we are."</p>
+
+<p>"Please don't be cross," said Fiona, humbly. "I am only doing what you
+told me to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Bless you, child, I'm not cross," said the centipede. "I'm a
+philosopher."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't philosophers get cross?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Never," said the centipede. "And when they do they call it something
+else. What's the matter with me is, that I've sprained my seventh
+ankle on bow side, counting from the tail. Don't say you're sorry, for
+you're not. Anyone can see you're not."</p>
+
+<p>"You are horrid to-day," said Fiona. "And the other day you were so
+nice."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what makes me such a charming companion," said the centipede.
+"You never know what to expect. So I never pall."</p>
+
+<p>"I want to know where the Urchin is, and how I am to find him," said
+Fiona.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>"Is that all?" said the centipede. "Fancy interrupting my breakfast on
+account of that boy. Well, one question at a time. We'll have the last
+one first; I'm in that sort of mood to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"How can I find the Urchin, then, please?" asked Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you've been told <i>that</i> already," said the centipede. "Haven't
+you a memory?"</p>
+
+<p>Fiona thought and thought, but could make nothing of it.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend the bookworm was there at the time," said the centipede,
+"and heard the shore lark tell you that the last man went up a hill.
+Very well. Go up a hill."</p>
+
+<p>"But that was for something quite different," said Fiona. "That was
+for my treasure. I am not thinking of any treasure now."</p>
+
+<p>"Silly of you, then," said the centipede. "I would be. Ever studied
+philosophy?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a pity," said the centipede. "Then you've never heard of Hegel
+and the unity of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> opposites? Black and white are only different
+aspects of the same thing, you know. And as soon as you begin to think
+about it, you see at once how sensible it is. Well, a treasure-hunt
+and a boy-hunt are only different aspects of a hunt, aren't they?
+Therefore they are the same thing. Therefore what does for one does
+for the other. Therefore you go up a hill. There's logic for you," and
+once more he swelled proudly.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you very much," said Fiona. "And now will you please tell me
+where the Urchin is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell you!" exclaimed the centipede. "Why, it was you told me. You
+prophesied the whole thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't remember it, then," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with <i>you</i>," said the centipede, "is that you
+refuse to exert your intelligence, such as it is. You should take a
+lesson by me. You humans are all forgetting nowadays that the spoken
+word is an instru<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>ment of great power, and that once it is launched it
+goes on and on, and can work magic on its own account, quite
+independently of you. If you say a thing will happen, it frequently
+does happen."</p>
+
+<p>"But what did I say?" asked Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"You told the Urchin that if he hurt the shore lark the Little People
+would take him. Well, they've taken him. That's all."</p>
+
+<p>And the centipede slid down on to the ground, and with something like
+a chuckle vanished. He had evidently learned from his philosophy to
+bear with resignation the misfortunes of others.</p>
+
+<p>But Fiona did not set off up a hill at once. After breakfast she went
+to the bookroom and spoke to her father.</p>
+
+<p>"I have found out where the Urchin is, daddy," she said. "He was
+carried off by the fairies."</p>
+
+<p>The Student showed no surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"You have not been long finding out,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> Fiona," he said. "I thought you
+had ways and means of your own."</p>
+
+<p>"But, daddy," she said, "I don't <i>really</i> believe it, you know. It
+sounds so absurd nowadays. Do you believe it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe it, yes," said the Student. "I knew yesterday. Now that you
+know, I may talk to you about it, so far."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that I do really know," she said. "Things like that
+don't <i>really</i> happen, do they? Whoever heard of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"You and I have heard of it," he answered. "And that is enough. The
+proposition that people are not carried off by fairies is a mere
+working hypothesis, liable to be overthrown by any one case to the
+contrary. Well, we've got a case to the contrary, and that's the end
+of the hypothesis."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm arguing against myself, daddy, you know," she said. "I want to
+believe that we do know where he is."</p>
+
+<p>"No difficulty at all," said the Student, "to anyone with a properly
+trained mind, like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> yours and mine. Take it this way. No one has ever
+crossed the South Arabian desert or explored the snow ranges of New
+Guinea, have they? Well, for all anyone can say to the contrary,
+people may be carried off by fairies every day of the week in New
+Guinea or South Arabia, mayn't they? It may even be the rule there. It
+may be a working hypothesis among the pygmies of New Guinea that such
+a thing <i>always</i> happens&mdash;at death, for instance. It would be just as
+good a working hypothesis as it is that it <i>never</i> happens."</p>
+
+<p>"But, daddy, it would be so extraordinary, wouldn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit more extraordinary," he said, "than the inside of a bit of
+radium, or the inside of an egg, for that matter. It is probably
+simpler for the Urchin to become a fairy than for an egg to become a
+bird, or a caterpillar a butterfly. It would not be nearly as strange
+as it is that there is a water beast which can shed its gills and
+become a land beast, or that Uranus moons go round the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> wrong way. You
+can't knock it out by any reasoning of that kind, Fiona. It's merely a
+matter of fact; and if we have found a case we <i>have</i> found a case."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you knew yesterday, daddy?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"I had a very fair idea," he answered. "That is why I was tapping in
+the cave with a hammer. Can you guess why?"</p>
+
+<p>Fiona saw.</p>
+
+<p>"To find the rest of the cave," she said. "That is where he would be."</p>
+
+<p>"Just so," said the Student. "These caves cannot end in a wall, as
+that one seems to. I thought the wall must ring hollow somewhere, and
+the hollow is in the recess where the stone nearly fell on me. The
+apparent end of the cave is not in the line of the true cave at all."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the same place where the stones fell on Mr. Johnson," said
+Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"That is strange," said the Student.</p>
+
+<p>And then Fiona told about the hand she had seen.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>"Of course, of course," said the Student. "That explains the whole
+thing. They threw the stone down on me too. They did not wish me to
+know that the wall was hollow just there. They must use it as a
+doorway. They will have carried the boy through at the moment that you
+turned your back, of course. I suppose he invited them in some way;
+they could have no power otherwise."</p>
+
+<p>"He said he would go <i>anywhere</i> to find his treasure," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"That would be quite sufficient for them to act on," said the Student.</p>
+
+<p>"Then the stories about the cruelty of the Little People are true,"
+asked Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Only in part," said the Student. "I take it that they are all sorts,
+like ourselves. They are, as you know, the vanished d&eacute;bris of all the
+peoples that have helped to make this planet what it is. Good people,
+many of them. But they cannot altogether love those who have driven
+them under the ground."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>"And who is the old hawker, daddy," she asked, "and what has he to do
+with it all?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't talk about anything except what you already know," said the
+Student. "Have you found out yet how to start?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am to go up a hill," said Fiona. "And I am going up Heleval now.
+And I came to see if you would come with me."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could; I wish very much I could," said the Student. "I do
+not know what you may find; but I know well that if I went with you,
+you would find nothing but grass and rock. I am too old to see the
+things you can see, you know. You have to do it alone, little
+daughter."</p>
+
+<p>So Fiona filled her pocket with bread and cheese, and started; and the
+Student, after a useless attempt to settle down to his inscriptions,
+set up a little three-inch telescope with which he sometimes
+entertained Fiona on fine nights, gazing at Jupiter's moons or
+Saturn's rings, and followed her across the moor as far<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> as he could.
+It was the only way he could go with her.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>There are many worse things in the world than setting out to climb
+Heleval on a beautiful morning on the first of October, when the grass
+in unsunned corners is still pearly with the frost of the night, and
+the whole earth is touched with the wonderful caress of the cool
+autumn sunshine. Fiona's way lay along the shore road, past the bank
+of heather and fern which in August had been gay with flowers, napperd
+and potentilla, blue milkwort and starry eye-bright, and alive with
+butterflies, blues and small heaths and pearl-bordered fritillaries;
+but the flowers were faded now, and in their place, in the little burn
+where the hazelnuts grew, was a tapestry of purple burrs and scarlet
+hips. The shore road ended at a little burn; here an old stone bridge,
+grown over with grass, crossed the pool which in times of spate would
+hold a fat, white sea-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>trout, and here Fiona and the Urchin had used
+to come in summer to gather globe flowers. From this point a sheep
+track led up the valley beside the burn, through great spaces of
+yellowing bracken, by little swampy springs where late forget-me-nots
+still lingered and an early snipe might rise with a skeep, and across
+low-lying wastes of bog-myrtle, perfuming all the air with its dying
+leaves; then the ground began to rise, and fern and bog-myrtle gave
+place to short, hard grass tufted with bulrushes, and beds of matted
+unburnt heather, seamed with rabbit tracks.</p>
+
+<p>After a time Fiona left the valley and began to climb the hillside,
+rising steeply through heather and red grass and heather again, most
+of it dying by now, but with patches still in full flower, worked by
+the wild bees and making the moorland smell like a honey-pot. Then
+more grass, and limestone ridges, and she stood on the crest of the
+moor, which billowed away on her right, wave after wave, till it ran
+down to the low ground and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> the sea, and rose up on her left till it
+ended in the great mass of Heleval, standing up into the cloudless
+sky. The ground before her was scarred with deep peat-hags, their gray
+banks touched with the tiny scarlet blossoms of the trumpet-moss,
+while from their crumbling sides projected bits of the whitened trunks
+of trees long since dead, last vestiges of the forests that had
+clothed the island ere ever the Gael first fought his way in. Walking
+became impossible, and she jumped from gray bank to gray bank,
+occasionally floundering across a little lake of soft peat, where the
+wild cotton grass still bloomed, and the mountain hares had left
+telltale tracks. Now and again a hare itself would scurry away before
+her up one of the peat ditches, rising to the moor level as soon as he
+thought he was out of gunshot and sitting up on his haunches to watch;
+now and again an old grouse, his head and hackles red as a berry in
+the sunlight, would rise, crow, and swing away over the brow of the
+moor. And presently from behind Hele<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>val came drifting a gray bird
+with a long bill who on hovering wings wheeled three times in the air
+above her and gave his full spring call, the most wonderful sound that
+the hills ever hear; then he stooped close over her head and with
+wings spread sickle-wise shot away for the sea. One may see a curlew
+on the moor in October, but he will not give his spring call; and
+Fiona felt of good courage, for she knew that the bird had called for
+her, to tell her she was in the right way.</p>
+
+<p>So she came to the foot of Heleval itself, and started to climb the
+steep slope of short grass, slippery as polished board, which led up
+to the rock pinnacle above; the hillside twinkled with the white scuts
+of rabbits racing up before her to their holes, as round the side of
+the mountain came their enemy, perhaps the last kite in the island,
+glittering in the sun as only a glede can, till the beautiful cowardly
+creature caught sight of Fiona and swept away across the valley. She
+passed the great cairn where the hill foxes live, and began the last
+climb<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> to the pinnacle of rock that fronts the flat crest of the
+mountain. And now something white on the rock, which she had noticed
+from below without taking account of, began to become insistent. It
+could not possibly be a patch of snow yet, she thought. Perhaps the
+shepherd had hung a sheepskin there. But no sheepskin was ever so
+white.</p>
+
+<p>Then she came up near the pinnacle, and saw. Standing upright against
+it was a girl, not much older than herself. Her long dark hair blew
+back over the rock; her white body was half hidden in a trembling veil
+of white light, which shimmered and played all about her, waving with
+every breath of the wind. Her face was beautiful and cold, like a
+frosty moonrise; her eyes shone like the drip of phosphorescent water
+under the stars.</p>
+
+<p>"You have come at last," said the girl. "Every day for many days I
+have watched for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you, you beautiful girl?" asked Fiona.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>"I am an Oread," said the girl. "I am the spirit of Heleval."</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard," said Fiona, "that long ago people used to believe that
+everything had a spirit of its own, mountains and rivers and trees. Is
+it true then?"</p>
+
+<p>"It <i>was</i> true," said the girl. "The world was full of my sisters,
+once. There were the Naiads in the streams, and the Hamadryads in the
+woods, and we, the Oreads, in the mountains. Men were wiser and
+simpler in those days. But now my sisters are nearly all gone. When a
+tree has become so many cubic feet of timber, how can it shelter a
+Dryad? When a stream is merely so many units of waterpower, how can a
+Naiad dwell there? Only the barren mountains, if they contain neither
+gold nor iron, have been left unappraised and unexploited; and a few
+Oreads still linger here and there. Once in a while a man fancies that
+he sees one of us; then he must climb and climb till the day he dies,
+hoping to see her indeed; down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> in your world people call him mountain
+mad."</p>
+
+<p>"How is it then that I have seen you?" asked Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>The Oread touched her bracelet.</p>
+
+<p>"Partly because of this," she said. "But chiefly because you are a
+child, and can still see. What is it you have come to ask me?"</p>
+
+<p>"How to find the Urchin," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"You know of course where he is?" the girl asked; and Fiona said,
+"Yes, he is in Fairyland; but I do not know the way to go."</p>
+
+<p>"That is easily told," said the Oread. "The King of the Woodcock will
+let you in, and any of his people can tell you where to find him. But
+do you know the danger? If you do arrive, which is very doubtful, the
+fairies will make you wish a wish; and if your wish be one that does
+not find favor with them, they will keep you there forever, till you
+lose your memory and yourself and become even as one of them."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>"I will take the risk," said Fiona, "for I must go and try to bring
+him back."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you want to bring him back?" asked the Oread. "He is much
+better where he is. Will he thank you for bringing him back? Not a
+bit. You will have the labor and the danger, and he will take it all
+for granted. And then he will become a man, and what use is that? He
+may be a financier, and cheat somebody; or a politician, and slander
+somebody; or a learned man, and hinder wisdom. He is much better in
+Fairyland. Why are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help it," said Fiona. "You can't leave people in the lurch,
+you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you can," said the Oread. "Be sensible and go home; eat,
+drink, and be merry."</p>
+
+<p>"O, don't you understand?" said Fiona. "Don't you see that there are
+some things you <i>can't</i> do, whatever anybody says? It's not the reason
+of the thing; it's only just because I am I, and he is lost. You are
+so beautiful; haven't you any heart?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>"Neither heart nor soul," said the Oread. "So I ought to be perfectly
+happy. You have a heart and a soul, and you are not. Which of us is
+the better off?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't change, anyhow," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>The Oread laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you wouldn't. It is I who would change if I could. But as I
+have no soul, and cannot get one, and do not know what it would mean
+to get one, it is no use worrying; it is best to be happy as I am. In
+any case, I would not care to be like men and women. I would not mind
+having a child's heart, like you. I had a heart once, but it is so
+long ago that I have almost forgotten what it was like. How old do you
+think I am?"</p>
+
+<p>"You <i>look</i> about seventeen," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"I am exactly as old as Heleval," said the girl. "And that is more
+hundreds of thousands of years than you or I could ever count. I am
+older than any of the fishes or birds or beasts; far older than men or
+fairies. Look at that," and the Oread swept her arm over the glorious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+prospect around her; the two great wings of the Isle of Mist stretched
+far out into the sea, the Atlantic throbbing and sparkling under the
+blue sky, and across the loch the jagged gray range of the Cuchullins,
+peak upon peak. "Isn't it all beautiful? We came into being together.
+Heleval was a giant in those days, a king among other kings; and there
+was no sea there, and the Cuchullin Hills stood right up into the sky,
+and twisted and bubbled while the Earth cooled and cracked, and my
+sisters of the Fire came out of the cracks and taught us mountain
+spirits the fire dance, and we danced it all night on the great peaks
+till the stars reeled to watch us. And then the fiery summits cooled
+and sank down, and my sisters of the Fire sank with them, and a mighty
+river went foaming out down the valley yonder to a distant sea; and
+every evening my sisters the Naiads came floating up in a circle with
+garlands of green on their hair, and they taught us mountain spirits
+the water dance, and we danced it all night on the moonlit water,
+while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> the Ocean crept nearer and nearer to gaze. And then the sea
+came up, and the river carved Heleval out as you see it, and shrank
+away, and my sisters the Naiads shrank away with it; and the island
+was covered with great forests, and my sisters the Hamadryads came out
+of the tree-trunks and taught us mountain spirits the tree dance, and
+we danced it all night in the forest glades, till one night men saw;
+and men felled the forests to capture my sisters of the trees and
+enslave them, but they vanished as the trees vanished. And to-day only
+the hills are left, and we, the Oreads, a people few and fading away;
+and we no longer dance, for we have lost all our sisters, and we no
+longer have hearts."</p>
+
+<p>The girl's face had filled with color as she spoke, and her eyes had
+become soft, and her voice sounded like the music of waters far away.
+Fiona looked at her in wonder.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, indeed, you have your heart still," she said. "And you are
+far more beautiful even than I thought you were. Come home<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> with me,
+and I will love you as you loved your sisters."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not possible," said the Oread. "It is not free to me to leave
+Heleval. I <i>am</i> Heleval. And I shall be here till one day men find
+iron or copper in my mountain, and come up with great engines to carve
+it and tear its flanks and carry it away; and then I shall go too, as
+my sisters have gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you die?" asked Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know what death means," said the girl. "I shall just go
+back, like a drop of water when it falls into the sea. But do you know
+what you have done to-day? For a few moments, because you are brave
+and loyal, you have given me back my heart, which was lost thousands
+of years ago. It will all fade away again; but before it fades, will
+you kiss me?"</p>
+
+<p>So Fiona took her in her arms and kissed her, and then turned and went
+down the hill. Once she faced round, and saw the Oread standing,
+frosty and white, against the pin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>nacle of rock, holding out her arms;
+and she started to go back to her. And even as she moved the whiteness
+vanished, and there was nothing there but the rocky pinnacle, shining
+in the slanting sunlight. Rather sadly she went home.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br />
+<span class="smalltext">THE KING OF THE WOODCOCK</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>That night Fiona told her father that she believed she had found the
+way to go. They also discussed the question of catching a woodcock;
+with the result that Fiona was up at dawn and off to the kennels
+behind the big house, where the Urchin's father kept his dogs. She
+understood that she must take advantage both of the night frost and
+the habits of the keeper, who was apt to lie in bed awhile when no one
+was about.</p>
+
+<p>The two setters stood on their hind legs to greet her, and pawed at
+the bars, whining and dancing with joy. Artemis was white and brown
+and Apollo was white and black. Fiona threw open the door, and they
+were out in a moment, tumbling over each other as they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> made wild
+rings round the grass, and dashing back in between to lick her hand.
+She had to sit down and wait till the first exuberance was over, and
+they came and lay down at her feet with their tongues out.</p>
+
+<p>"It is good to be out so early," said Apollo.</p>
+
+<p>"It's so slow in the kennel," said Artemis. "And we can't even talk to
+each other, because Apollo was broken in English and doesn't know any
+Gaelic, and I was broken by another man in Gaelic and don't know any
+English."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll interpret, won't you?" said Apollo. "Of course we've the
+international code, but it doesn't take one much further than the
+passwords."</p>
+
+<p>So for the rest of the morning Fiona had not only to interpret but to
+make every remark twice over, once in each language. But it will do if
+the reader takes this for granted.</p>
+
+<p>"What are we going to do?" asked Apollo.</p>
+
+<p>So Fiona explained to them that she wanted to catch a woodcock and ask
+him a question, and she hoped they would help her.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>"Of course we will," said Artemis. "We know all about woodcock. When
+we go out with himself, we find them for him and stand still, and then
+he makes a noise and they fall down dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes," said Apollo.</p>
+
+<p>"Generally," corrected Artemis, loyally. "Will you make them fall down
+dead?"</p>
+
+<p>Fiona explained that she only wanted to catch one and talk to it.</p>
+
+<p>"We never saw that done," said Apollo. "But we will find one, and then
+you can catch it."</p>
+
+<p>"It's very early for woodcock," said Artemis. "There won't be any in
+the heather on the second of October. But there may be an early pair
+in the ferns."</p>
+
+<p>"The first ones always pitch in the ferns on Glenollisdal," said
+Apollo.</p>
+
+<p>So to Glenollisdal they went, down the shore road and across the
+little bridge and then by the shepherd's track along the top of the
+black cliffs, over grass and stones all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> rough and white with the
+frost. The cold morning air was like new wine, and Fiona had to shade
+her eyes from the low sun. Then the track left the cliffs and began to
+climb up a sunless valley, across little burns beautiful with fading
+ferns, till between two great moorland crags it reached the pass, more
+a watercourse now than a track; and then came the cairn at the summit
+of the pass, with its glorious view of sea and mountain, and down at
+one's very feet the deep narrow valley that was Glenollisdal, seamed
+from crest to foot by its deep burn, which ran half its length through
+faded brown heather and then out to sea through a huge bed of dying
+bracken, the whole bathed in the bright morning sun.</p>
+
+<p>"We always come here the first day," said Apollo. "Oh, we are going to
+have fun."</p>
+
+<p>The three followed the track down to where it passed the top of the
+fern bed. There was a good deal of grass there, dotted with sheep, and
+in one place, looking well out to sea, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> curious little hard circle
+in the grass, where no sheep ever came.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the fairy ring," said Artemis. "Where they dance, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"They dance on All Hallows E'en," said Apollo. "But no one ever sees
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"Because everyone's afraid to go and look," said Artemis.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, may we start?" said Apollo.</p>
+
+<p>"All you have to do is to wait till we point," said Artemis, "and then
+come to us."</p>
+
+<p>And the two dogs dashed off into the great fern bed, crossing each
+other backwards and forwards like a pair of scissors as they quartered
+it.</p>
+
+<p>They were not long about it. Apollo's gallop became a sort of run, a
+yard or two of stealthy crawl, and he stopped dead, tail stiff and
+throat distended, like a dog of marble, and looked round for Fiona.
+Artemis was just crossing him; she whipped round in her stride as if
+shot and became a second marble image where she stood.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>Fiona walked down to Apollo. But the ferns rustled a good deal as she
+made her way through, and as she reached the dog's side the cock rose,
+five yards away, with a lazy careless flap as if it felt only the
+bother of being disturbed. For a moment she had a vivid impression of
+the white patches at the end of its fan of tail feathers, and then it
+gradually gathered speed and swept away over the side of the valley;
+for an instant it showed black as it crossed the sky line, and then it
+was gone.</p>
+
+<p>Apollo turned to Fiona with unhappy eyes and licked her hand. But
+Artemis never moved a muscle.</p>
+
+<p>"Come to me," she said in a low whisper.</p>
+
+<p>Very quietly Fiona reached her side.</p>
+
+<p>"The other bird is here," whispered Artemis, "just under my nose.
+Stoop down."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona bent down between the stalks of the bracken. The woodcock was
+sitting with its back to her, a little brown bunch of feathers. Very
+gently she put her hand out, and even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> as she did so she became aware
+of a wise black eye looking at her, though the bird faced the other
+way. Her hand closed on the empty air, and the woodcock, with a
+wonderful spring, was well on its way to seek its mate.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe I could have put a foot on it," said Artemis regretfully.
+"But of course we are not allowed to."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how I came to be so foolish," said Fiona. "I ought to
+have spoken to it instead of trying to catch it. But I forgot."</p>
+
+<p>"Better luck next time," said Apollo; "we must try again."</p>
+
+<p>But though the dogs worked the whole of the ferns carefully, there was
+no other bird there.</p>
+
+<p>They came back and lay down beside Fiona, tongues out and panting.</p>
+
+<p>"It's no use trying the heather yet, I know," said Artemis. "Birds are
+never in it at this time of year."</p>
+
+<p>"There are some more ferns two miles on," said Apollo doubtfully. "I
+saw a bird there once, three years ago."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>"I wish I knew what to do," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"We can leave it for a day or two and come back," said Artemis. "Those
+two birds will be back again to look for each other."</p>
+
+<p>"But they won't be so confiding again," added Apollo.</p>
+
+<p>They were all so preoccupied that they never noticed the shepherd till
+he was quite close to them. He was striding down the track, a big,
+raw-boned man with red hair; a plaid was thrown loosely across his
+shoulder; at his heels followed a jet black collie.</p>
+
+<p>The dogs saw him first. It would seem that they did not like him.
+Every hair on their necks bristled; they shrank close to Fiona, making
+little moaning noises in their throats, and flattening themselves as
+if they were trying to burrow into the ground. Their eyes were full of
+terror.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Artemis, Apollo, what's the matter?" said Fiona. Then she looked
+up and saw the shepherd. "Why, it's only the new shepherd and his
+collie. There's nothing to be afraid of."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>"Collie!" said Apollo. "That thing's not a collie. Can't you see?"</p>
+
+<p>"Shepherd!" echoed Artemis. "That thing's not a shepherd. Oh, can't
+you see?"</p>
+
+<p>The shepherd came up to Fiona, and said that Miss Fiona was out early
+and was there anything he could be doing for her. He spoke in the soft
+correct English of the Gael.</p>
+
+<p>"I came out to catch a woodcock to talk to it," said Fiona, "and we
+can't catch one."</p>
+
+<p>It occurred to her, even as she spoke, that the statement sounded a
+little out of the ordinary. But the rough shepherd never let the least
+sign of this show on his face. He answered in the most matter-of-fact
+way, with the gentle courtesy of the west coast, that there would not
+be many woodcock in yet, and would he try to catch one for Miss Fiona?</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do you think you could?" said Fiona eagerly. "I should be so
+grateful."</p>
+
+<p>Then the shepherd saw the trouble of the dogs. He said something to
+them in a lan<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>guage that was neither English nor Gaelic, and waved his
+own dog to go. The collie went straight off up the moor, and sat down
+on the top of the nearest rock ledge, an odd little blot of black on
+the brown and yellow moorland. Apollo and Artemis got up and shook
+themselves violently.</p>
+
+<p>"It was the international password," said Apollo. "Goodness knows
+where he got it from. But we have to recognize it."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not happy," said Artemis. "I was well brought up. I never
+associated with this sort of thing before."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona, who knew that a new shepherd had been coming, could make
+nothing of their trouble, and did her best to smooth them down. The
+shepherd led the way up the hill, and on to a little rough plateau
+broken with rocks and bits of heather, lying under the main rise of
+the hill where it rounds away toward the Glenollisdal burn. "I am
+thinking that there should be a woodcock about here," he said.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>"This is one of the earliest places in all the heather," whispered
+Artemis to Fiona. "He must know this moor very well."</p>
+
+<p>"It's too early yet, all the same, even for here," said Apollo.</p>
+
+<p>It looked as if Apollo were right. For when at the shepherd's request
+Fiona threw the dogs off, they quartered the whole plateau and found
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>But the shepherd stuck to his guns.</p>
+
+<p>"I am thinking that there should be a bird here," he said. "Will Miss
+Fiona give me leave to try my own dog?"</p>
+
+<p>Fiona nodded and called the setters to heel; the shepherd waved his
+hand, and the black collie came racing to him. Some collies will work
+a ground like a spaniel, and some will even do a little pointing, but
+the black collie troubled himself neither with one nor the other. When
+the shepherd spoke to him, he just cantered straight forward to a
+small patch of heather on the sunless side of a rock, where the frost
+still lingered, and there sat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> down quite unconcerned, as though the
+matter in hand were altogether beneath the scope of his talents.</p>
+
+<p>"I think he has a bird," said the shepherd.</p>
+
+<p>"I tried that place," said Apollo. "There's nothing there."</p>
+
+<p>But the shepherd had gone up to his dog and was peering carefully into
+the heather. Then he beckoned Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Does Miss Fiona see the bird?" he asked, pointing.</p>
+
+<p>Fiona looked long before she saw. The woodcock had squeezed himself
+right into the roots of a frost-covered clump of heather, and even
+when the heather was parted nothing showed but his little orange tail,
+with its white and black points.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I catch him for Miss Fiona?" asked the shepherd; and Fiona
+said, "Oh yes, please, if you will."</p>
+
+<p>The shepherd knelt down and brought his two great hands slowly to
+either side of the tuft of heather; then he closed them with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> snap,
+and drew out the largest woodcock Fiona had ever seen. It struggled
+and thrashed at his wrists with its powerful wings.</p>
+
+<p>"Will Miss Fiona take the bird now?" he said. "Just behind the wings,
+with her thumbs on its back."</p>
+
+<p>So Fiona took her bird, and as she did so its back-seeing eye caught
+the glint of her copper bangle. It stopped thrashing with its wings
+and lay quite still in her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I say," he said, "why didn't you say before, instead of employing
+these people and frightening an honest bird out of his senses?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dogs couldn't find you," said Fiona. "And I think it was so good
+of the shepherd to find you for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Shepherd!" said the woodcock. "That wasn't a shepherd. And it wasn't
+a collie either."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona suddenly recollected that she had not yet thanked the shepherd,
+and turned to do so. But the shepherd and collie were gone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> They must
+have walked very quickly to have turned the corner of the hill
+already.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did he go?" she asked Artemis. Artemis shivered.</p>
+
+<p>"To his own place, I hope," said Artemis severely. "Well brought up
+dogs should not be asked to associate with things like that."</p>
+
+<p>"But it was only the new shepherd," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"There's the new shepherd," said Artemis, nodding toward a distant
+slope, where a figure with a brown collie could be seen gathering
+sheep.</p>
+
+<p>"What were they, then?" asked Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Two of the Little People, of course," said Apollo. "Oh dear, oh dear,
+I'm afraid you'll have trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"One generally dies," said Artemis, with cheerful consolation.</p>
+
+<p>"But they were very nice to me indeed," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course they were," said the woodcock. "You're privileged, you
+know. <i>We</i> all know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> it. And don't you mind the dogs, my dear. They
+are good creatures, but they and their forbears have lived so long
+with humans that they have forgotten most of the things we know. They
+are nearly as blind as humans now, saving your presence, my dear. And
+now what is it you want with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I want to find the King of the Woodcock," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Bless your heart," said the bird, "and who do you suppose We are? You
+never saw a woodcock Our size before, did you?" And indeed Fiona never
+had; for he was as big as a young grouse.</p>
+
+<p>"Eighteen and a half ounces, if I'm a pennyweight," said the woodcock.
+"I am the heaviest king that we have ever had. Will you please put me
+down if you want to talk to me? It is hardly consonant with my royal
+dignity to be held. I shan't fly away; <i>noblesse oblige</i>, you know."</p>
+
+<p>So Fiona put him down, and he arranged himself like a bunch of
+feathers on the ground,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> his head well back between his shoulders and
+his beady black eyes looking all round him at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't Apollo find you?" asked Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"No scent," said the woodcock, proudly. "I am not like a common bird.
+No dog can find a king woodcock; and no dog ever has. We can be beaten
+out of a wood, of course; my great-great-grandfather was shot like
+that when the family lived in Norfolk, many years ago. So we came up
+here to the open heather, and have been quite safe ever since. And now
+what do you want, my dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was told you could let me into Fairyland," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"I can let you in by the back door," the bird said. "But are you
+really going to Fairyland? You'll need some courage, you know, if you
+are going the back way."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there another way?" asked Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"There's the front door, of course," said the bird. "But no one can go
+that way without an invitation. Have you an invitation?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>"No," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"A pity," said the woodcock. "There is no danger that way. But without
+an invitation you could not even find the door. As it is, you'll have
+to go in by the back way and take your risks."</p>
+
+<p>"I have to go, whatever they are," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Noblesse oblige</i>," said the woodcock. "Quite so, quite so. Have you
+been told about the wish?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Fiona. "I know about that."</p>
+
+<p>"The other thing," continued the bird, "is that you must stick to the
+main path. Remember that. You must not turn out of it for any reason
+of any kind. You'll see lots of side paths, and you'll see other
+things too; but if you once leave the main path by so much as one step
+you'll never get home again. There are no short cuts to Fairyland."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you so much," said Fiona. "But how shall I know the main path?"</p>
+
+<p>With his long bill the woodcock tweaked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> the point feather out of one
+of his wings and gave it to her.</p>
+
+<p>"This will take you through," he said. "It will point the right way
+for you; that's why it is called the point feather. Just follow it. If
+you are frightened and want to leave your search and come home, tap on
+the ground with it and you will be back in Glenollisdal. But somehow I
+don't think you will. And whatever you do, don't lose it. When you
+reach the fairy grove, show it to the guardian, and he will let you
+in; and mind you don't go in unless he shows you its fellow. Oh, I'm
+all right, thank you; I'll have grown others long before they are
+needed. There is no great rush to Fairyland on the part of people who
+haven't <i>got</i> to go, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>"It all sounds so much more difficult than I thought," said poor
+Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing worth while is ever easy," said the woodcock. "And now I'll
+show you where to start. By the bye, you can't take the dogs with
+you."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>"This dog wouldn't go," said Artemis, shivering. "That black collie's
+there somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't bother about us," said Apollo. "We'll be home long before the
+keeper is out of bed."</p>
+
+<p>So Fiona took a warm farewell of the two dogs, who lamented her sad
+fate and wished her luck all in one breath, and then set off homeward
+with their long swinging gallop.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, if you want to be in time for the great gathering, which you
+humans call Hallow E'en, you'll have to hurry," said the woodcock.</p>
+
+<p>"But it's nearly a month to Hallow E'en," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll want every minute of it," said the bird. "Come on."</p>
+
+<p>And they started off for the fairy ring, the woodcock pattering along
+on his little feet at a pace which would have surprised anyone who had
+never seen a woodcock do it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>"How come you to be doorkeeper?" asked Fiona, as they went.</p>
+
+<p>"Hereditary," said the bird. "We used to go to all the lost lands, you
+know, like Lyonesse and Lemuria and Bresil and Atlantis. We still
+cross Ireland once a year and pass on into the Atlantic to salute the
+site of Plato's island, before we settle in Britain. And Fairyland is
+only another of the lost lands. Here we are."</p>
+
+<p>They had come to the fairy ring.</p>
+
+<p>"There's nothing more I can do now," said the woodcock. "A straight
+step and a stout heart, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona took the feather in her hand and stood in the fairy ring.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br />
+<span class="smalltext">FIONA IN THE FAIRY-WORLD</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>It was very, very dark. Fiona could not see her hand if she held it
+close before her eyes. It was just blackness. Only one thing broke it;
+far away&mdash;many miles it might be&mdash;was a tiny speck of white, like the
+point of a pin. All round her in the dark were little soft sounds;
+they brushed against her feet, and passed before her face; little soft
+sounds, apparently without bodies. She held the tiny point-feather
+firmly in the fingers of her left hand, and touched it from time to
+time with her right, as she felt her way, one foot before the
+other&mdash;she could not walk&mdash;towards the point of light. And with her
+and about her went the small soft sounds; one would have said that
+they whispered and chuckled in the darkness.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>How far and how long she went she could never guess; there was nothing
+by which to measure time or distance, and evidently she was not going
+to feel hunger or fatigue.</p>
+
+<p>At last she became conscious of a change. The white speck of light was
+growing brighter and larger; and the small soft sounds were becoming
+tangible. One brushed past her face, and she felt it; she put out a
+hand, and there was a scuffing and chuckling, as if they were playing
+blind man's buff with her. Then the light began to take shape; it was
+a circular pool lying on the floor and wall of the avenue of blackness
+down which she was passing; and it came from something on the other
+side. And the little soft sounds crowded round her; they laughed, they
+whispered, they clutched at her dress; they were trying to guide her
+in a certain direction. She tried to shake them off, and found that,
+though they could touch her, she could not touch them. And then she
+came into the pool of light.</p>
+
+<p>The light came down a sort of short passage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> between rocks, with a
+well-trodden floor; and at the end of it, not twenty yards from where
+she stood, she could see the fairy grotto. One grand white carbuncle,
+as big as an arc lamp, hung from the roof, filling the grotto with
+dazzling white light; and the radiance of the carbuncle was flung back
+in a million points of new splendor from the walls of the grotto,
+shifting and shimmering like the rainbow across a waterfall, ruby and
+orange, yellow and emerald, sapphire and violet, changing as each new
+facet came into play; for the walls of the grotto were set thick with
+cut jewels of every hue and color. A glorious sight it looked; and
+Fiona suddenly became aware that the soft things that clutched at her
+dress and the soft things that whispered in her ear, were all trying
+to draw her toward the beautiful grotto. But she felt her feather, and
+it pointed straight on into the dark. So she moved forward; and with
+the first step she saw the trap. The floor of the beautiful grotto
+yawned wide, showing the horrible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> abyss beneath it; and the darkness
+was full of soft flutterings, and the chuckling of mocking laughter.
+But they touched her no more at the time; and suddenly the darkness
+fell away on each side like a wall, and she stepped out into daylight.</p>
+
+<p>She was in the desert. The yellow burning sand stretched all round
+her, a mass of glittering particles that made the eyes sore; wave
+after wave, it went billowing away to the red burning hills that faced
+and flung back the burning sun. Mile after mile she stumbled along in
+that aching heat; and then, as she topped a great hillock of sand, she
+suddenly saw the fairy city. Very beautiful it looked, rose-pink on a
+wooded island in a fair lake of water, whose blue mirror gave back
+every trembling cupola and minaret; and toward it, down a broad track
+marked by tamarisk bushes, went a goodly company of merchants, with
+tinkling bells on their camels' necks and golden ornaments on their
+camels' heads, the company of a chief who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> rode ahead on a white Arab
+steed with his long jezail laid across his saddle-bow. Here could no
+doubt be; and Fiona all but stepped on to the broad path in the track
+of the caravan. But even as she turned she caught sight of the feather
+and checked herself just in time; and the beautiful city of mirage
+melted away, and there was no caravan there, but only sand marked by
+the bones of men, and in place of the tamarisk bushes were gray
+vultures feasting in a row. She followed the feather straight on
+across the burning desert; and on a sudden she walked out of the sand
+into shade.</p>
+
+<p>She was out in the forest. Huge trees rose like the pillars of a
+cathedral nave, branching far above her head and shutting out the
+daylight; and up their trunks ran starred creepers of every hue,
+fighting their way up to the sun. Down from the branches hung orchids
+of all fantastic shapes, in long still streamers, and great moon moths
+fluttered round them, taking their joy in the dim light. And the
+farther she went the thicker grew the forest,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> and the more oppressive
+the airless heat. Trailing plants ran across her feet and tried to
+trip her up; the great trunks closed together till there was barely
+room to force a way between; the thorns of the creepers tore at her
+flesh, and instead of the beautiful orchids there came on the trees
+huge funguses red as blood. And the small soft voices began again;
+they had caught her up; the forest was full of the same little sounds
+which she had heard before, whispering and chuckling and fingering her
+dress. And then, just as it seemed impossible to fight a way farther
+through the dense jungle, she came to the open glade. Full of grass
+and flowers and sunshine it was, and across it ran a gurgling brook,
+crossed by a little plank bridge; a sweet breeze moved the grass, and
+beyond the brook two little spotted deer were feeding; far in the
+distance were tiny peaks of snow. The soft fingers were all tugging at
+Fiona's dress, impelling her down the glade; but she had had ample
+warning of those soft fingers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> and she saw that the feather pointed
+straight on through the tangled forest. And even as she moved she saw
+that the little bridge was the back of a great water-python; and the
+fingers loosed their hold of her dress, and the air was full of soft
+whisperings and laughter. And she walked straight on into the tangled
+thicket before her; and the forest parted to right and left, and she
+walked out.</p>
+
+<p>She was in a fair country of green grass and temperate airs, where the
+path lay true and straight before her through vineyards and groves of
+oranges. Here and there a cherry tree swung its crown of white blossom
+above her head, or a cypress stood up tall and straight as a sentinel
+on duty. Purple flags bloomed under the rocks, and on a clump of brown
+orchises sat two little jewelled butterflies, burnished green as old
+copper; up the path of the sunlight came a swallowtail with its
+stately glancing flight. Everything spoke to her here of fair peace
+and security; and when she heard the air still rustling with little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
+soft sounds and chuckles, and knew that they had followed her, she
+began to wonder how it was that, now that she knew their ways, they
+should think it worth while. And they were becoming most active. The
+soft sounds brushed all round her; the soft fingers grasped her arms;
+tiny weightless bodies behind her seemed to be impelling her forward.</p>
+
+<p>And then before her she saw the inevitable two paths: the broad flat
+path that passed through a fair orchard of lemon trees, where the
+sunlight threw chequers on to the grass beneath, starred with scarlet
+and purple anemones; and the narrow stony track, terribly steep, which
+toiled away up the bare hillside in heat radiated from the rocks.
+Never had the soft sounds been so insistent; a myriad gentle hands
+were trying to steer her, even to push her by force, toward the lemon
+trees. She saw the folly of them so very clearly; and her foot was
+actually raised to take the first step up the hill path, when she felt
+the feather turn of itself in her hand, and she became ice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> from head
+to foot as she realized that she had all but destroyed herself by
+despising her opponents. They had striven this time to force her into
+the <i>true</i> path, believing that she would certainly take the opposite
+one.</p>
+
+<p>She saw now the end of the fatal hill path, the sudden crumbling
+precipice which flung men on to pointed rocks far below; and the air
+behind her became full of woe, voiceless wailings and silent howls of
+rage, and she saw what she had fought against; a troop of small
+formless black things, like immature bats, with pale fingers, that
+fled moaning down the path of the sunlight. She knew now that they
+would not vex her again.</p>
+
+<p>She passed on through the lemon orchard, and out on to a bare
+hillside, rough with stones and dotted here and there with great oak
+trees; plants of asphodel were thrusting their blossoms up among the
+coarse tufts of grass, and far below, in all its laughing splendor,
+lay the sea. And as she turned the shoulder of the hill she saw the
+temple, a fair<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> Doric temple of gray marble, standing in lonely beauty
+among the scattered oak trees. Its metopes were carved with the
+figures of gods and heroes of an older day, and round it ran a frieze
+of warriors who fought with Amazon women. The singing was just over,
+it seemed; and the double choir of white-robed girls, who had been
+giving strophe and antistrophe of some festival ode, had broken into
+groups, these playing at ball, those reclining in the shade or
+strolling about with their arms round each other's waists. In her
+chair in the cool portico sat the fair-faced matronly priestess, still
+crowned with red roses, and before her two little boys poured wine
+into a crystal goblet. And as she saw Fiona she rose from her chair
+and greeted her by name, calling her happy that she had now come
+safely through the path of danger and that her troubles were ended.</p>
+
+<p>"Come here to us," she said, "and rest, for it is but a little way now
+that you must go, and there is ample time; slake your thirst<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> at this
+crystal goblet, and lie awhile in the shade, while these maidens crown
+you with flowers."</p>
+
+<p>But Fiona had learnt her lesson, and she looked at her feather; and
+the feather pointed straight along the hillside. So she passed on
+without a look or a word; and as she passed came a noise as of the
+earth opening; and the pillars of the temple bowed themselves, and the
+middle of the building collapsed stone by stone, till only the outer
+columns remained among a mass of fallen blocks, and triglyph and
+metope and sculptured frieze lay in fragments about them. And among
+the ruins a red fox with two cubs sat and snarled, as she watched a
+company of toads crawling in the dust; and of that fair scene all that
+had not changed was the pallid asphodel, the asphodel whose home is in
+those other meadows where walk the pallid dead.</p>
+
+<p>And as Fiona passed on, the hillside itself dissolved in mist, and
+there before her lay the fairy grove. And the guardian of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> grove,
+with white beard sweeping the ground, and old trembling hands, came
+out to meet her. And she showed him her feather, and from his belt he
+drew out and held up its fellow; and she knew that the path of danger
+was over.</p>
+
+<p>"No one has come through by the way you have come for more years than
+my old memory can follow," he said. "They always fail at the lemon
+orchard. How did you escape?"</p>
+
+<p>And Fiona told him how the feather had turned in her hand of itself.</p>
+
+<p>The old man bowed almost to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"That was the direct grace of the King," he said. "You must be a
+person of the greatest consequence."</p>
+
+<p>And when Fiona said, "I am just an ordinary girl," he again bowed low
+and said: "Young lady, I take leave to doubt it."</p>
+
+<p>Then he gave Fiona her directions for finding the King, and warned her
+that she must not loiter in the fairy grove, for the fairies were
+already gathering for All Hallows E'en.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>So Fiona walked swiftly through the grove, not seeing one half of its
+beauties, though she would have loved to have lingered among the
+trees. For in the grove grew every tree and plant famous in legend or
+in history, of which not the tenth part can be told here. There was
+the Norse ash, whose roots bind together the framework of the earth;
+there the Irish hazel, of whose nuts could a man but taste he would
+know all knowledge and all wisdom; there the African pomegranate, but
+for whose sweetness the Corn-spirit would have disdained to stay
+beneath the earth, and the race of men would have perished. There
+stood Deborah's terebinth and Diotima's plane, and the B&ocirc;-tree beneath
+whose branches Gautama Buddha sought and found the path of
+Enlightenment. There grew the paper-reeds of Egypt, the repository
+through many centuries of a whole world's learning, the paper-reeds
+that grow no longer in their old home, even as the prophet Isaiah
+foretold; and there the clove, for whose perfumed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> pistils great
+nations had warred together and brave men died under torture. There
+stood the English trees, the oak and the white acacia, which had built
+the three-deckers for the greatest sea captain the world has seen.
+There was that great traveller, the mulberry, which had left its home
+on the Yangtse to follow the old Silk Route across Asia; which had
+crossed the stony Gobi, where wild camels run and the Djinn light
+their lamps at night to decoy travellers; which had seen the Khotan
+girls wading knee-deep in the Khotan River, searching for the previous
+white jade which should make gods for China, as erstwhile for Nineveh
+and Troy; which had skirted the wandering lake of Lop-nor, and had
+tarried awhile in old dead cities, now buried under the sands of the
+dreaded Taklamakan; which had seen the turquoise mines of Khorassan,
+and voyaged on the broad Oxus stream, till from Iran its way lay clear
+to the west. There grew the cedars of the Atlas, which had aided their
+great mountain to support the sky, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> had sailed south with Hanno to
+the Guinea Gulf, to bring home those gorilla hides which lay on the
+altar of Melcarth at Carthage; and there the most famous of all the
+trees of the forest, the proud cedars of Lebanon, which had once
+exulted with their voices over the fall of the king of Assyria, which
+had built for Solomon his temple and his house for the daughter of
+Pharaoh, and which had given to the princes of Tyre the ships in
+which, greatly daring, they had ranged the three seas, bringing home
+the gold of India and the silver of Spain and the tin of Cornwall, the
+wealth of the east and the west, myrrh and frankincense and purple
+dye, ivory and apes and peacocks. And last of all was the twisted gray
+olive, beloved of gray-eyed Pallas Athene, the symbol of all that
+raises man above the savage, the tree in whose train, as it moved out
+from its home in Asia, had grown up all the civilizations that ringed
+the Mediterranean.</p>
+
+<p>So Fiona passed through the grove and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> came out on a broad place of
+grass, and right before her stood the fairy ring. But not such a one
+as the ring on Glenollisdal which she knew. This ring was of vast
+size, and round it grew in a circle huge red toadstools splotched with
+white, the red toadstools from which the witches of Lapland had used
+to brew philtres of love and death. But vast as it was, it could not
+hold all the creatures that swarmed round it. It was a gathering such
+as Fiona had never dreamt of. On the outskirts stood an innumerable
+host of little strange beings, of every sort and shape, elves and
+brownies, gnomes and pixies, trolls and kobolds, goblins and
+leprechauns; and the babel of them as they whispered together was like
+the noise of a flock of fieldfares. And within them and around the
+ring itself stood the fairies.</p>
+
+<p>All the lost peoples and nations and languages, it seemed, were there
+in miniature; everyone that Fiona had ever heard her father speak of,
+and many another of which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> even he knew nothing. There were fairies of
+the Old Stone peoples, brave-eyed, clad in pelts of the saber-tooth,
+bearing the blade-bones of bisons on which were carved pictures of the
+mammoth and the reindeer. Fairies from Egypt, clad in fine white linen
+with girdles of topaz and aquamarine, with fillets round their brows
+from which the golden ur&aelig;us lifted its snake's head, bearing blossoms
+of the blue lotus. Fairies from Babylon, glowing in coats of scarlet
+or of many colors, their eyes deep with immemorial learning, bearing
+clay tablets on which were signs like the footprints of birds. Fairies
+from Crete, light of foot in the dance, in flounced skirts adorned
+with golden butterflies, crowned with yellow crocuses and bearing
+vases on which were painted the creatures of the sea, nautilus and
+flying fish and polyp. Fairies of the Iberians, black-haired and
+black-eyed, clad in black cloaks, small and shy and dusty, bearing
+ingots of tin. Fairies from Cappadocia, in peaked shoes, and pelisses
+of lion's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> skin trimmed with the fur of hares, moving to the clash of
+cymbals, bearing grapes and ears of corn. Fairies from Mexico, with
+heavy cheek bones, resplendent in mantles woven of the plumage of the
+quetzal bird, carrying bricks of gold. Fairies from Ethiopia, black as
+the black diamond, clad in leopard skins and plumed with the feathers
+of ostriches, carrying tusks of ivory. Fairies from the land of Sheba,
+well skilled in riddles, in cloaks of camel's hair buckled with clasps
+of onyx, bearing caskets of agate filled with spices. Buddhist fairies
+of the Naga race, with the sevenfold cobra's hood springing from their
+shoulders and shadowing them, languorous and heavy-eyed, carrying
+crimson water lilies. Fairies from Cambodia, in stiff dresses of cloth
+of gold, with gilded faces and scarlet eyebrows, bearing pagoda bells
+which tinkled. Fairies of the Golden Horde, bandy-legged, with pug
+noses and slits of eyes, clad in dyed sheepskins and carrying the
+tails of horses. Fairies of the Picts, tattooed to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> eyelids, their
+plaids dyed with crotal and the root of the yellow iris, wearing
+badges of mountain fern or bog-myrtle and bearing jars of heather ale.
+Fairies of Britain, in deerskin cloaks fastened with brooches of
+enamel, with golden torques circling their throats, bearing sprays of
+mistletoe. Fairies of the Tuatha-d&eacute;, with all the youth of the world
+in their eyes, clad in robes of saffron, crowned with rowans and
+bearing harps. Fairies from Greece, erect and lissom, beautiful as a
+sculptor's dream, crowned with wild olive and bearing each the roll of
+a book. Fairies of old England, in Lincoln green, with feathers of the
+gray goose in their caps, bearing bows of yew and branches of the may.
+Fairies from Baghdad, radiant as visions of the night-time, their
+turbans and their crooked scimitars jewelled with rubies of Badakshan,
+bearing magic lamps. Fairies from Quinsay, dainty as porcelain, their
+silken robes embroidered with blossoms of the almond and the peach
+tree, bearing jars of coral lac wrought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> in the likeness of dragons,
+and on their heads the poppy flowers that bring sleep.</p>
+
+<p>And in the middle of the ring stood a throne carved out of a single
+beryl, green as the sea; and on the throne sat the King of the
+Fairies, with eyes bright as the dawn and deep as the sea caves, in a
+cloak of Tyrian purple with clasps of amethyst. His crown and sceptre
+were of white gold, white gold which has long since perished out of
+the upper world, and in the end of his sceptre was set a double
+pentacle of clear crystal brought from the Island of Desire. And in
+the beryl throne, if he looked at it through the crystal, were shown
+to him the reflections of all things that he might wish to see. If he
+looked directly, he saw all that had happened in the world in the
+past; and if he reversed the crystal, he saw all that should happen in
+the future; but if he held the pentacle edgewise, then he saw the
+present, which no man ever sees, and was the greatest magic of all.
+Round the throne stood his guards, black as Moors,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> in jackets and
+trousers of emerald green clasped with orange zircons; half of them
+bore trumpets of silver, and half of them carried spears with heads of
+green obsidian as sharp as steel. And on either side of the throne, on
+a stool, sat a strange creature, a little wizened elf with a large
+book on his knee. One wore a white cap, and he bore an inkhorn and a
+bundle of long quills; the other wore a black cap, and he bore a
+penknife.</p>
+
+<p>Fiona edged herself as far forward as she could into the ring of
+strange beings, and found herself next an old Leprechaun with a face
+like a wrinkled apple, who seemed quite inclined to be friendly.</p>
+
+<p>"A human!" he said. "We do not see as many as we used to. But they say
+there are two to be tried to-night. As you see, we have attempted
+something out of the ordinary in the way of a welcome." And he waved
+his arm proudly round the enormous assembly. "Had far to come?" he
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>Fiona told him how long it had taken her.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>"That's nothing," he said. "There are people here to-night who, as
+soon as the dance is over, will start travelling as fast as they can,
+and will only just arrive in time for next year's meeting. Good for
+the shoemaking trade!"</p>
+
+<p>"Where do they try the prisoners?" she asked him.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, in the ring," said the Leprechaun. "The King tries them.
+There's the Public Prosecutor," and he pointed to a fairy of pompous
+aspect, with a hooked nose and a Roman toga, and a roll under his arm.
+"He's a terrible fellow. And there's the King's Remembrancer, those
+two with the books."</p>
+
+<p>"Why are there two?" asked Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"One to remember and one to forget, of course, stupid," said the
+Leprechaun. "Whereever were you educated? Do you think kings want to
+remember <i>everything</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"It must be very easy forgetting," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Hardest job in Fairyland," said the Leprechaun. "I suppose you know
+lots of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> people with perfect memories; but you never knew one with a
+perfect forgetfulness, eh? Whitecap there only has to write his book
+up; but poor Blackcap&mdash;he's the one that forgets&mdash;his book is written
+up to start with, and he has to get the pages clean again with his
+penknife. He never gets them <i>quite</i> clean. They say he has nightmare
+every night over the things he can't forget altogether."</p>
+
+<p>The King had been talking to one of the officers of his guard. He now
+rose and held out his sceptre, and there was a great silence round the
+Fairy ring.</p>
+
+<p>"Before we dance to-night," he said, "we have, as you know, to try two
+prisoners." He turned to the officer of the guard, and said, "Let them
+be produced."</p>
+
+<p>The officer at once produced the Urchin from nowhere in particular, as
+a conjurer produces half-crowns. The boy looked rather large among the
+Little People, but otherwise he was much as Fiona had last seen him;
+his shirt and knickerbockers were covered with earthstains<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> and he
+still had the same length of useless rope coiled round his waist.</p>
+
+<p>But Jeconiah? Was this the prosperous financier, this wretched apology
+for a living being which the officer held out on the palm of his hand?
+Not two inches high, its white waistcoat hanging in loose flaps,
+speechless, and wide-eyed with terror and abject entreaty, it was like
+the ghost of a parody; the officer had to set it on one of the great
+toadstools, and mark the place with a stick, lest it should be lost.
+The King regarded it with interest.</p>
+
+<p>"I understood that the elder prisoner was a very stout man," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"That was so, your Majesty," said the officer. "He was so stout that
+we thought it useless to attempt to take him through the doorway as he
+was, so we left his body behind and only brought away the essential
+part of him. This is all that there really is of him, sire; the rest
+was wind. When we began to sift him we were afraid that he had no
+real<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> existence at all, and that there would be nothing to bring
+before you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," said the King, "there's enough of him to be tried,
+anyhow. Are the prisoners provided with counsel?"</p>
+
+<p>The Public Prosecutor was understood to say that they were not yet
+represented.</p>
+
+<p>"Counsel had better be assigned them in the usual way," said the King.
+"Catch, somebody."</p>
+
+<p>He took a guinea from his pocket and flung it, apparently without
+looking, into the crowd. But thick as the crowd was, the guinea passed
+straight through the forest of hands held out for it, and fell into a
+tiny brown hand behind them. Fiona knew where she had seen that hand
+before.</p>
+
+<p>The owner of the hand at once stepped forward into the ring. He seemed
+to be the most singular being in Fairyland. Fiona's first impression
+was that he was just a large bald head, the color of parchment and
+wrinkled all over; and this impression remained, even when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> she
+realized that he did possess a small body, with the usual allowance of
+arms and legs. Out of his great head looked a pair of quite
+incongruous eyes, bright as beads, and full of happy drollery. Behind
+him came a couple of stout goblins, each laden with dusty law books.
+They piled the books up in a stack on the ground, and the singular
+creature with the head proceeded to climb to the top of the stack,
+where he sat down, cracking his fingers and laughing hugely at some
+jest of his own, evidently on the best of terms both with himself and
+his audience. Then he caught Fiona's eye, and deliberately winked at
+her; but somehow it carried no offence, for the creature seemed
+absolutely free from malice.</p>
+
+<p>"Privilege honorable profession defend oppressed," he remarked; "duty
+clients submit large number points," and he patted the books he sat
+on. He had a habit of clipping his words as he spoke which was totally
+destructive of the smaller parts of speech, and made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> his remarks
+sound like a series of unedited cablegrams.</p>
+
+<p>"We will take the younger prisoner first," announced the King;
+whereupon the Public Prosecutor proceeded to read, all in one breath,
+the indictment against the Urchin, to the effect that he did on or
+about the 20th day of September then last past in despite of the peace
+of the realm and the safety of the lieges with a stone or some other
+missile or thing throw at and break the wing of or otherwise hit, cut,
+hurt, maim, destroy and do wrong to one of the said lieges, to wit, a
+shore lark, and so forth. When he had finished, instead of evidence
+being taken, the King merely glanced into the beryl throne.</p>
+
+<p>"True in fact," he said. "Any defence?"</p>
+
+<p>The creature on the bookstack began at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Please Majesty duty client submit series points. First point no
+intention."</p>
+
+<p>But Fiona did not wait to hear what it had to say. Forcing her way
+into the ring, she said:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>"Please, your Majesty, it was my fault. I told him he couldn't."</p>
+
+<p>The King turned to look at her.</p>
+
+<p>"So this is the young lady," he said. "Very good of you to come, you
+know. We rarely receive visitors now. We shall try to make you welcome
+when the trial is over." He turned again to the bookstack, and said:
+"I will hear the defence."</p>
+
+<p>"It was my fault, your Majesty," said Fiona again.</p>
+
+<p>With grave patience the King started to explain to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Your part of it was your fault, of course. But we are not trying you,
+for you have come here of your own free will, so we can neither try
+nor punish. But his part of it was equally his own fault, and unless
+there is a good defence he will have to be punished."</p>
+
+<p>The creature on the bookstack was nodding and signing to Fiona, but
+she was too engrossed with a single thought to notice him.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>"Then I claim my wish, your Majesty," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite in order," said the King. "The trial will be suspended while
+the young lady wishes. Officer!"</p>
+
+<p>And immediately the fairy ring was strewn with a strange collection of
+objects, looking rather like the contents of an old curiosity shop
+that had gone bankrupt. The officer held them up one by one for Fiona
+to see.</p>
+
+<p>"When we heard you were coming," said the King, "we collected a few
+little things for your inspection. It is so long since we had any use
+for any of them that many of them seem to have developed serious
+defects, which we regret; but they are the best we could find at short
+notice. This," he pointed to an old ring, "is a common wishing ring.
+It used to do all the usual things. The genie attached to it has
+unfortunately become very deaf with age; but if you can make him hear,
+we believe he is still in fair working order. This," as a frayed
+girdle was held up, "is the famous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> cestus of Aphrodite, which she
+lent to Helen of Troy. Its wearer used to become the most beautiful
+and unpopular creature in the world. It will still confer beauty,
+though hardly suited to the modern style; the unpopularity we
+guarantee. This," pointing to a huge book, "contains the truth of that
+which in your world passes as knowledge. It would delight your father.
+He might publish selected chapters, and watch the critics cut them to
+pieces. This," as a battered trumpet was exhibited, "is Fame. Your
+praises would be sung all over the world; and the world would say,
+'Never mind what she has <i>achieved</i>; tell us about her faults.' This,"
+and he contemplated an old iron sceptre, "is Power. You would become a
+great ruler, and would probably die in exile. And under this," and he
+pointed to a sheet of black velvet, thrown loosely over some object,
+"under this is the treasure of the Isle of Mist, which I am told that
+you have heard of. Do any of these please you? If not, we have
+others."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>Fiona never thought about it for a moment, of course. She had not done
+all that she had done to hesitate now. She did not look at the King's
+face, and she took not the least notice of the creature with the head,
+who was dancing about in a perfect agony, trying to attract her
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>"Please your Majesty," she said in breathless haste, "I came here to
+find the Urchin and take him home with me. That is my wish."</p>
+
+<p>She had hardly spoken the words when her instinct told her something
+was wrong. A sort of chill seemed to run through the air, and the
+color seemed to go out of the fairy world. The creature with the head
+stopped dancing about and began to wring its little hands. She looked
+up at the King's face, and read there, was it disappointment? was it
+regret? She hardly knew.</p>
+
+<p>"A very natural and proper wish," said the King gravely. "We shall of
+course accept it as such, and grant it with great pleasure. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
+younger prisoner is discharged. Take the next case."</p>
+
+<p>And then Fiona saw. She saw the thing which had once been Jeconiah,
+with that look of abject terror and entreaty in its eyes; and she
+realized that it would have meant nothing to her to have included
+Jeconiah in her wish, and that for Jeconiah it would have meant
+everything. And she realized also that, worthless and evil as he had
+been in life, selfish, mean, a thief and a liar, he was still a human
+being, and had a soul and possibilities of which the fairy world could
+know nothing. She felt a wave of humiliation pass over her; and she
+resolved that, whatever he was, and whatever happened, she would not
+go home without Jeconiah.</p>
+
+<p>The charges against Jeconiah were then read: stealing a treasure, and
+being a worthless character.</p>
+
+<p>"Any defence?" said the King.</p>
+
+<p>The creature with the head got to work.</p>
+
+<p>"Please Majesty," he said, "admit second count. Character worthless.
+Object pity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> however not vindictive punishment. Behalf client offer
+submit State cure. First count plead not guilty; intention steal
+treasure admitted but did not succeed."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona, in her new-found humility, had been listening to what the
+creature with the head was saying. And suddenly it dawned on her that,
+all through, both he and the King had been trying to help her, so far
+as was consistent with their own rules; and that perhaps the creature
+with the head, for all his oddity, knew what he was doing. She asked
+the Leprechaun who he was.</p>
+
+<p>"You might have asked that with advantage before you interrupted him,"
+said the Leprechaun severely. "He is our Chancellor here. He is the
+King's most intimate friend, and far the ablest lawyer in Fairyland."</p>
+
+<p>"Defence to first count not admitted," the King was saying. "Your
+client cannot plead his own bungling of the theft in mitigation of his
+wrongdoing. Only the intention counts here."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>The Chancellor looked immensely relieved at the King's words, though
+it passed Fiona's wit to see why.</p>
+
+<p>"Apply formal ruling," he said. "Take down," this to Whitecap.</p>
+
+<p>"I hold that nothing counts here but the intention," said the King.</p>
+
+<p>"Majesty pleases," said the Chancellor. "Settles point. Retire defence
+this prisoner. Submit excellent point younger client."</p>
+
+<p>"We will pass sentence here first," said the King. "Jeconiah P.
+Johnson, your counsel has very properly thrown up his brief. You are
+convicted of stealing a treasure, and it is admitted that you are a
+worthless character. On the first count, I sentence you to be handed
+over to the executioner to be extended until you become a proper size.
+If you survive, you will then undergo, as offered by your counsel, the
+State cure at the hands of the State hypnotizer." He turned to the
+Chancellor. "Any further submission?"</p>
+
+<p>Fiona had gone over to the stack of books,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> and bent down over the
+little creature with the head.</p>
+
+<p>"I have made a most terrible mistake," she said, in a low voice. "I
+have spoilt everything. I see that you are kind; can you help us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Should have come me first," said the creature, quite gently. "Tried
+attract attention. Never neglect anyone merely because odd and ugly.
+May have good heart. Sad mess now; but think see daylight. Any
+influence that boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," said Fiona eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Right," said the creature. "Make boy wish. Now follow my argument."
+And he turned to the King.</p>
+
+<p>"Please Majesty submit good point. Majesty just ruled nothing counts
+here but intention. Younger prisoner no intention hurt shore lark;
+therefore on Majesty's ruling same as if did not hurt it. Therefore
+never was guilty. Human prisoner adjudged not guilty is just same as
+if came here own free will; so held Majesty's father"; and by some
+extra<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>ordinary trick he got the top book open and flopped down among
+the leaves, from which position he read out bits of an ancient
+judgment. "Consequently younger prisoner both entitled and bound
+wish."</p>
+
+<p>The King consulted Whitecap.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems a sound chain of reasoning," he said. Then he turned to the
+Public Prosecutor. "Have you anything to urge against it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only that, if he wishes wrong, we can't detain him, because of the
+young lady's wish," said that official.</p>
+
+<p>"Daniel come judgment," cried the Chancellor triumphantly. "Heads win,
+tails can't lose. Younger prisoner wish."</p>
+
+<p>He turned to Fiona and whispered to her, "Mind he wishes right."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona started to go over to the Urchin; instantly the guard crossed
+their spears before her.</p>
+
+<p>"No interference allowed with anyone who is going to wish," said the
+officer.</p>
+
+<p>Then she tried to call to him, and found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> that she could not speak. It
+was like a nightmare. She looked helplessly at the Chancellor; he
+nodded, and spelt on his fingers the word "think."</p>
+
+<p>Then Fiona understood what he had meant by asking her if she had any
+influence over the Urchin. She knew that she had a good deal; and bits
+of conversations with her father came back into her mind. She had made
+one bad blunder, and she had to correct it as best she could; and
+without more ado she concentrated her whole mind on taking possession
+of the mind of the Urchin. Could it be done at all? And if so could it
+be done in time?</p>
+
+<p>The King stretched out his sceptre, and there was silence.</p>
+
+<p>"The younger prisoner is going to wish," said the King. "Officer!"</p>
+
+<p>And immediately there appeared in the middle of the ring six great
+boxes, old sea chests made of Spanish chestnut, battered and stained
+and clamped with bands of iron; and on each was the picture, half
+obliterated by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> time and salt water, of the Madonna of the Holy Cross.
+The officer flung back the lids, and showed each chest full to the
+brim of glittering golden doubloons.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the treasure from the Venetian galleon which you were
+seeking," said the King. "We removed it long ago into our safe
+custody, lest it should tempt men; but it would seem that it tempts
+them none the less. Now wish."</p>
+
+<p>The Urchin, his eyes bulging out of his head, stared at the shining
+gold. He murmured "gun," but fortunately so low that the King did not
+hear him.</p>
+
+<p>Fiona kept her eyes fixed hard on the boy, and bent every effort of
+mind and will to the one thought, that he must wish as she wished. If
+only he would turn round. She had already lost sight of the fairies;
+she now lost sight of the King; she was conscious only of the abject
+wretched creature that was Jeconiah, and of the back of the Urchin's
+head. He was still staring at the gold, but he had not yet spoken;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+that was to the good, and&mdash;no, it was not fancy&mdash;his ears were turning
+pink, as they always did when he was in a difficulty. Then he began to
+shuffle his feet uneasily. Fiona felt that every atom of life and
+force in her was being concentrated on that one act of will; she did
+not think she could go through with it many seconds longer, or she
+would collapse. And then the Urchin turned his head toward her; his
+face was scarlet, and his eyes were wavering before the fixed gaze of
+her own; he <i>must</i> do as she wished. She flung everything into one
+supreme effort&mdash;the last reserves which no one thinks they possess
+till utter necessity teaches them the contrary; and then the Urchin
+spoke, in a strange voice and all in one breath:</p>
+
+<p>"I want my uncle to go free."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona's will let go with a snap; she felt so dizzy that she had to
+lean against one of the great toadstools or she would have fallen.
+Round the assemblage ran a sound like the wind through the tree tops,
+the noise of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> thousands drawing in breath at once; and the Chancellor
+started a war dance on his stack of books, and nearly fell off on his
+head. The King rose from his throne, but he took no notice of the
+Urchin; he turned straight to Fiona and bowed to her.</p>
+
+<p>"My compliments, young lady," he said; "the prettiest piece of
+thought-transference it has ever been our privilege to see. Where did
+you learn to do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never learnt," stammered Fiona. "I made a great mistake, as your
+Majesty saw, and something had to be done, and your friend suggested
+this way."</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't mind having made a mistake," said the King. "If you don't
+make mistakes sometimes you'll never make anything else. And you have
+made something else this time with a vengeance. As for you, sirrah
+.&nbsp;.&nbsp;." and he shook his fist at the Chancellor.</p>
+
+<p>The creature snapped all its fingers in reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Majesty pleases," it began triumphantly. "Duty younger client submit
+new point arising<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> young lady's action. Client entitled wish. Did not
+wish himself; young lady wished. Therefore client still entitled wish.
+Propose develop point considerable length with authorities."</p>
+
+<p>The King raised his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I shall have to intervene," he said. "I believe you would
+submit points till cockcrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Submit points till next year, if Majesty pleases," said the creature,
+gleefully.</p>
+
+<p>"If these proceedings don't end soon," said the King, "there will be
+no time to dance; and if we didn't dance no one knows what would
+happen to the world above. Even I don't know that. So as we do not
+generally have three human beings here at once, and as substantial
+justice has been done, I propose now to exercise the royal prerogative
+of generosity. Jeconiah P. Johnson, you will, as requested, go free,
+so far as we can set you free. We cannot set you free from your own
+worthless character. In order, however, to do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> the best for you that
+can be done, before you leave us the State hypnotizer will take you in
+hand and instil into you a few decent feelings. He won't hurt you, and
+you won't remember. The effect, I fear, will not be permanent, but it
+will ease our conscience. And as a sign to the world above that we
+have treated you liberally, you will find that you will be unable to
+attend to business until you have told your nephew a fairy tale.
+Urchin! A doubt exists as to whether you have had your wish or not.
+You shall have the benefit of the doubt, so far as is good for you.
+You will find that you will get your gun."</p>
+
+<p>And then the King turned to Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Young lady," he said, "you have given us a display of courage which
+we are not likely to forget. You have rescued your friend; you have,
+which is much more to the point, rescued your enemy. You have got
+<i>two</i> wishes out of us, which no one ever did before; and you have
+asked nothing for yourself. And now what are we to do for you?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>"I think I have everything I want, now, thank your Majesty," said
+Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"Did we not hear talk of a treasure?" said the King.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Fiona; "but&mdash;I was not thinking about a treasure, your
+Majesty."</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said the King. "But I was; all the time."</p>
+
+<p>"I must leave it all in your Majesty's hands," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not here," said the King. "What you saw was only a pretence.
+And we cannot send for it to-night. But if you will honor us sometime
+by returning to our kingdom, we will see what can be done in memory of
+your visit. Any time you like. And by the front door, please. You will
+run no risks that way."</p>
+
+<p>"And now," said the King, stretching out his sceptre over the great
+throng, "we will dance." He turned to Fiona and the Urchin. "It will
+be a little while before Mr. Johnson is ready to accompany you home,"
+he said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> "Perhaps you will honor us meanwhile by attending the dance
+also."</p>
+
+<p>So the fairies danced before the King; and the fairy ring whirled and
+blazed with the color of them, till it was gayer than a gorse-bank in
+blossom, and brighter than a swarm of dragon-flies on a June
+grass-field, and more vivid than a fall of shooting stars; and the
+music that they made was wilder than the wind in the strings of a
+harp, and sweeter than the blackbird's song, and dearer than all the
+burns on the moor murmuring in unison. And the two children sat at the
+King's feet on the steps of the beryl throne and watched the dancers;
+and the Chancellor sat between them, and held Fiona's hand, and told
+them such stories as they had never heard before, till between
+laughter and tears they nearly fell off the steps of the throne, and
+the Chancellor laughed and cried with them for sheer joy in his own
+story-telling; and if there were three happier people in the world
+that night I do not know where they were. And the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> night itself passed
+away as a dream that men dream, and its hours seemed to them but as a
+few minutes&mdash;and then across the music and the dance cut the shrill
+harsh scream of a peacock as he greeted the day. The children saw the
+King rise from his throne and stretch his sceptre out over the ring;
+and the ring and the dancers were shrouded in a white mist which rose
+from the ground and wreathed its arms about them; and the beryl throne
+dissolved in mist, and the figure of the King above them, pointing,
+grew dim and huge, and spread and grew, a purple shadow that hung over
+them, .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. and they were standing alone in the fairy ring on
+Glenollisdal, under the purple sky, with the white mist wreathing
+itself about their feet, and the pale November dawn coming slowly up
+out of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Did the Urchin fling himself on the grass at Fiona's feet and thank
+her in broken accents for all she had done for him? I regret to state
+that the first thing which the Urchin did was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> to feel in his pocket
+and draw out the doubloon which he had found in the cave.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got this one, anyhow, Fiona," he said. "But I wonder how I'm
+going to get that gun."</p>
+
+<p>Then something seemed to prick him; he began to look uncomfortable and
+shuffle his feet, while his ears turned pink; and at last he managed
+to blurt out:</p>
+
+<p>"I say, Fiona, it was jolly decent of you, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Fiona only smiled, the wise smile of perfect understanding.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>That morning the doctor was hastily summoned with the news that
+Jeconiah was awake. The nurse met him in the passage, wide-eyed and
+rather frightened.</p>
+
+<p>"He's so strange," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Tut, tut," said the doctor; "told you he might wake like that. Kind
+of change in personality? Just so. Often happens. Seldom permanent
+though. What's he done?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>"Well, doctor, of course we all know Mr. Johnson's reputation," said
+the nurse. "He's thanked me three times, and hoped I didn't tire
+myself; and he had all the servants up and said he'd see their wages
+were raised, and the cook gave notice on the spot because she said she
+didn't like practical jokes; and he says he wants to go out and gather
+buttercups and daisies, and play with the little frogs; and he's sent
+for some old gun that he says he's got to buy for his nephew; and he
+hasn't opened any of the telegrams that have been waiting for him; he
+says he mayn't attend to business till he has learnt a fairy tale, and
+he's had the library ransacked, and he's tearing his hair because
+there's no such thing in it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well," said the doctor, "we must just have patience, nurse. I
+expected something of the sort. Just humor him; if you can't find a
+fairy tale, try him with a history book; he'll never know the
+difference; and I'll send him up a nice soothing mixture. Very
+interesting case; ve-ry interesting."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>And the doctor, calling up his best professional smile, bustled into
+Jeconiah's room.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>It was the same afternoon, a still afternoon of Indian summer, that
+the old hawker, accompanied again by the black terrier, was going down
+the shore road. He must have had business at the cottage on the beach.
+But his business was probably not urgent; for he stopped to watch with
+interest a group on the shore. It consisted of Jeconiah and the
+Urchin, and they sat on the little patch of sand at the mouth of the
+burn. The Urchin had across his knees the rusty old gun bought for him
+by Jeconiah, who had nevertheless exacted the doubloon from him in
+exchange. He fingered the gun lovingly, while he gazed with
+undisguised impatience at the proceedings of his uncle. Jeconiah's
+coat lay on the grounds beside a sheaf of unopened telegrams, and he
+was putting the finishing touches to a noble castle of sand; its
+drawbridge was supported by his double watch chain, and its turrets<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
+bore a suspicious resemblance in contour to the inside of his hat. He
+patted his work and gazed at it with pride.</p>
+
+<p>"Fine, isn't it?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"You'd better hurry up with that fairy tale," said the boy. "If you've
+got to, you've got to, you know; and you won't keep me much once I get
+some cartridges."</p>
+
+<p>Jeconiah began to look alarmed.</p>
+
+<p>"But I haven't found one yet," he said, and glanced anxiously at the
+pile of telegrams.</p>
+
+<p>"Make one up, then," said the boy. "Anybody can do it."</p>
+
+<p>Thus adjured, Jeconiah started.</p>
+
+<p>"Once upon a time there was a very grizzly old bear, and he lived in a
+beautiful place called Capel Court, and he used to hunt the wild bulls
+and the stags and the poor little guinea pigs that abounded in that
+salubrious locality. And there were two young ladies there, called
+Cora and Dora. .&nbsp;.&nbsp;."</p>
+
+<p>"Are those the princesses?" asked the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I think not," said Jeconiah. "They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> were of quite ordinary stock.
+Well, the old bear thought they were too high and mighty, and that he
+would like to take them down a point or two. .&nbsp;.&nbsp;."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, this won't do," said the Urchin rudely. "This isn't a <i>real</i>
+fairy tale at all. You must do something better than that."</p>
+
+<p>The wretched Jeconiah groaned, and looked again at his telegrams. Then
+he started afresh.</p>
+
+<p>"Once upon a time there was a great dragon with seven heads, and he
+ate seven princesses every day for dinner. .&nbsp;.&nbsp;."</p>
+
+<p>"That's better," said the boy, encouragingly, as he settled himself to
+listen.</p>
+
+<p>The old hawker resumed his walk.</p>
+
+<p>"They haven't made a very good job of him, after all," he remarked
+aloud, apparently to the terrier. "But I expect that sort is
+incurable."</p>
+
+<p>Was it a flicker of sunlight? Or did the black terrier really wink?</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br />
+<span class="smalltext">FIONA FINDS HER TREASURE</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>And Fiona?</p>
+
+<p>Fiona sat on the hearthrug in the bookroom, and told her father the
+whole story from beginning to end, as it has been told here. And
+sometimes he asked a question, and sometimes he said, "Yes, that would
+be so," and sometimes he stroked her hair and said nothing. And when
+she had ended, he said, "So you never found your own treasure after
+all, Fiona?"</p>
+
+<p>She said, "I suppose I can have it now, if I go back."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think you will go back?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>She replied with another question.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you found out what my treasure is, daddy?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>"I believe I could guess," he answered. "But you have found a good
+many things already, apart from treasure, haven't you, little
+daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>She sat silent and looked into the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I have," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"We won't enumerate them," said the Student. "It spoils things
+entirely, sometimes, to put them into words. But I will tell you
+something an old writer once said. He was talking of that particular
+kind of treasure which men call Truth; and he said that if he were
+offered Truth itself on the one hand, and the everlasting search for
+it on the other hand, he would choose the search. I expect you can
+understand that now; for you have seen what has happened to you over
+your own search."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I can understand," said Fiona. "I must be growing older,
+daddy."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll be too old soon to go back to Fairyland at all, little
+daughter," said the Student. "If you are going, you will have to go at
+once."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>"What do you think, daddy?" she questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"I can only tell you that, in my case, I went back," the Student
+answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, daddy, have you been in Fairyland too?" cried Fiona. "And you
+never told me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the Student. "Even a musty old scholar like myself was
+young once, you know," and he looked into the fire with eyes which
+seemed to see things very, very far away. "It was not quite the same
+as the Fairyland you have been in, Fiona; but we called it Fairyland."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you come back with me if I go daddy?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm too old now, little daughter," he said. "For good or for bad, I
+could never find the way again. I can only see it now through your
+eyes. I'll come as far as the door with you, and that's all that an
+old man can do. I suppose you know where the door is?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never felt there was any doubt," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>"Then we'll start first thing to-morrow, if it's calm enough," he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>But that evening was the last of the golden autumn; and when Fiona
+woke in the morning, the Isle of Mist was justifying its name. The
+southwest gale was raging round the house like a live animal, seizing
+it and shaking it, and wailing in the chimneys pitifully, like an
+unburied ghost; and before the gale the long lead-colored rollers were
+racing in from the Atlantic, smashing themselves on the crags and
+shooting up heavenward in columns of spray thrice the height of the
+cliffs, while the noise of the surf in the Scargill cave came booming
+across the water like the roar of a battleship's guns. The hills were
+all shrouded in mist, and the mist was fine salt rain that rolled in
+from the sea, driving in billows over the moor and across the fields;
+the gulls were tossed about in it like little bits of waste paper, and
+every green thing on the island opened its heart to the rain and drank
+till it could drink no more. Toward evening Fiona and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> Student, in
+oilskins and sou'-westers, went down to the rocks and out seaward as
+far as was possible, and there stood, unable to speak for the noise.
+They balanced themselves against the gusts, and felt the tingling
+drops of salt spray rattle like hail off their coats, while they
+watched the cliff waterfalls, unable to fall for the wind, go straight
+up heavenward in clouds of smoke, and the sea foam and tear at the
+rocks below; and once for a moment the cloud-mist parted, and the
+hills started out, their dark sides all gashed and seamed with white
+streaks where every tiny runlet and burn was rushing in spate down
+toward the sea. Fiona managed to shout, with her clear young voice,
+"No one can really love this island who only knows it in summer;" and
+then they went home, out of the dusk and the lashing of the wet wind,
+to the quiet bookroom and tea things, and lamps, and books; for man
+may love Nature, but he loves still better the contrast between Nature
+and the things which he has fashioned for himself.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>For three weeks the wind blew; and though there were days when the
+sea-mist lifted, there was no day on which the sea was calm enough for
+the launching of their small boat. Then one afternoon came change. The
+warm air turned chill, and the warm rain became sleet; that night the
+wind backed to the north, and next day was a blizzard of snow. And the
+night after the wind fell away, and the snow ceased, and Orion and his
+two dogs shone huge in a frosty sky; and Fiona woke to the glories of
+a scarlet sunrise on a great field of white.</p>
+
+<p>"We must hurry, daddy," she said. "It's perfectly calm."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a pet day," said the Student, sniffing the air. "It won't last;
+the wind backed too suddenly. But it's all right till sunset."</p>
+
+<p>Directly breakfast was over they launched the little boat, and
+started. The snow shone white in the sunshine, and the calm sea
+against the snow was as blue as a blue lotus; but the shadows on the
+snow were a wonder, and the woven complexity of their colorings would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>
+have taxed every hue on an artist's palette. So they pulled down and
+into the cave, at whose mouth the great bluff looked barer and blacker
+than ever against the world's whiteness; and they grounded their boat
+and climbed the rock barrier. There the Student sat down and filled
+and lit his pipe.</p>
+
+<p>"This is as far as I can go," he said. "If I mistake not, you will
+find that they have opened the door for you."</p>
+
+<p>So Fiona went on to the recess where the Urchin had found the
+doubloon, and where the torch had been smashed in her father's hand;
+and the solid wall of the cliff had opened, and there was an archway
+leading into the black vaulting of the long cave behind. Fiona passed
+through into the darkness .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. and the darkness parted to right and
+left of her, and she stood again in the fairy ring where she had stood
+on All Hallows E'en.</p>
+
+<p>But how changed. Of all the bright throng of fairies that had
+clustered round it, not one stood there to-day. The circle of scarlet
+toad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>stools was broken down and shattered, as though by a great storm;
+and the ring itself was no longer grass, but was covered deep in snow.
+Of all the things she had seen there that evening, only one remained.
+The beryl throne still stood lonely in the midst of the bare ring; and
+on the throne sat the King of the Fairies. His face rested on his
+hand, as though he were deep in thought; his eyes were looking at
+something far away. On the steps of the throne sat the Chancellor, the
+King's inseparable friend; and he, too, was deep in thought. It was a
+view of the fairy world which Fiona had never expected.</p>
+
+<p>The King must have heard her step, for he rose from his throne and
+came down to meet her.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you come for your treasure, Fiona?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>And she said, "I have come because you asked me to come back."</p>
+
+<p>The King held out his sceptre to her; and again the mist came up from
+the ground and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> enwrapped the beryl throne, and the figures of the
+King and the Chancellor wavered and became dim before her. <i>Were</i> they
+the King and the Chancellor? Was not what she saw, so dim through the
+mist, the figures of the shepherd who had helped her on Glenollisdal
+and his black collie? But the mist was wavering again about them, and
+again all was a blur; and then the mist suddenly cleared, and there
+was no one there at all but just the old hawker and the little terrier
+which followed him.</p>
+
+<p>"So you were the King of the Fairies all the time," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"All the time," said the old man gently. "We go about in the world as
+you see us. And some still entertain angels unaware. Have you come for
+your treasure, Fiona?"</p>
+
+<p>And this time Fiona answered, "Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"You have earned it," said the King. "And you have found much more
+than any treasure. Your father has told you that?"</p>
+
+<p>And again Fiona said, "Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot really give you your treasure,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> said the King, "for you
+have it already. I think you have had it all the time; but you did not
+know. But now you have learnt."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" asked Fiona. "But I think I can guess now."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the spirit of the island which you love," said the King, "and
+which henceforth loves you. You have spoken face to face with bird and
+beast and with the beings who knew and loved the land before your race
+was. To-day you have the freedom of the island, and of all living
+things in it; they are your friends forever. And to the dead in its
+graveyards you are kin. All that is there has passed into your blood,
+the old lost loves, the old impossible loyalties, the old forgotten
+heroisms and tendernesses; all these are yours; and yours are the
+songs that were sung long ago, and the tales which were told by the
+fireside; and the deeds of the men and women of old have become part
+of you. You can walk now through the crowded city and never know it,
+for the wind from the heather will be about you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> where you go; you can
+stand in the tumult of men and never hear them, for round you will be
+the silence of your own sea. That is the treasure of the Isle of Mist;
+the island has given you of its soul. You have found greater things
+already; you will find greater things yet again. But such as it is, it
+is the best gift which we of the fairy world have to give."</p>
+
+<p>"And now," continued the King, "you will not see us again. And I will
+take back the bracelet. It would be no further use to you, for you are
+no longer a child. You are too old for Fairyland."</p>
+
+<p>"But my father could see you," said Fiona.</p>
+
+<p>"He could only see me as I really am through your eyes," said the
+King. "It may be that some day you too will see me again through the
+eyes of a child. But for the present it is farewell."</p>
+
+<p>So Fiona stooped down and stroked the little dog, who looked at her
+with wistful eyes, and took her farewell of the King; and the King
+raised his hand, and the mist rose again<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> and enwrapped the fairy ring
+and those in it .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. and Fiona walked out through the archway into
+the cave, and there sat the Student on the rock barrier, just as she
+had left him, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. And even as she came
+to him there was a noise behind her, and when she looked round it was
+to see the archway blocked by a great fall of rock.</p>
+
+<p>"You will not use that way again, little daughter," said the Student.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not use any way again now, daddy," she said. "I am too old.
+But oh, daddy, it has been worth it."</p>
+
+<p>Then they launched their boat and paddled slowly out of the cave, out
+of the dark into daylight; and before them lay the quiet sea bathed in
+the winter sun, and the Isle of Mist dreaming under its mantle of
+white.</p>
+
+
+<p class="newchapter center">THE END.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p class="center"><b><i>A Selection from the<br />
+Catalogue of</i><br />
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</b></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 75px;">
+<img src="images/logo-3.png" width="75" height="66" alt="logo" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center"><b>Complete Catalogues sent<br />
+on application</b></p>
+
+
+<p class="center biggertext newchapter">THE MOON POOL</p>
+
+<p class="center">BY<br />
+<span class="bigtext">A. MERRITT</span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Romance, real romance, and wonderful adventure,&mdash;absolutely
+impossible, yet utterly probable! A story one almost regrets having
+read, since one can then no longer read it for the first time. Once in
+the proverbial blue moon there comes to the fore an author who can
+conceive and write such a tale. Here is one!</p>
+
+<p>Few indeed will forget, who, with the Professor, watch the mystic
+approach of the Shining One down the moon path,&mdash;who follow with him
+and the others the path below the Moon Pool, beyond the Door of the
+Seven Lights;&mdash;and would there were more characters in fiction like
+Lakla the lovely and Larry O'Keefe the lovable.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps you readers will know who were those weird and awe-inspiring
+Silent Ones.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="advert" />
+
+<p class="center"><span class="bigtext"><b>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</b></span><br />
+NEW <span style="word-spacing: 3em;">YORK      LONDON</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center biggertext newchapter">Visions and Beliefs in<br />
+the West of Ireland</p>
+
+<p class="center">By<br />
+<span class="bigtext">Lady Gregory</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">With Two Essays and Notes by W. B. Yeats</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Two Volumes. 12&ordm;</i></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>To those who have felt the haunting charm that inheres in the Celtic
+consciousness of an imminent supernaturalism, this collection of Irish
+fancy, belief, and folk-lore, gathered from the lips of the people
+with patient and reverent care, will have particular value. It has
+interest as an exceptionally thorough and representative study of
+psychic sensitiveness in Ireland, and the slightness of the barrier
+between worlds seen and unseen.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="advert" />
+
+<p class="center"><span class="bigtext"><b>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</b></span><br />
+NEW <span style="word-spacing: 3em;">YORK      LONDON</span></p>
+
+
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p class="biggertext newchapter">The Substance<br />
+of a Dream</p>
+
+<p>By<br />
+<span class="bigtext">F. W. Bain</span></p>
+
+<p>"In this new and wholly charming Hindu story a very old world speaks
+to us, but one that has not lost its childhood with age and
+sophistication. It is a world of innocent voluptuousness where passion
+is not contrary to faith but is itself faith.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Bain's people have character, as there are colors in moonlight, a
+character with a common beauty in all its diversities; and because of
+its utter and inner harmony, this creation of his has a very rare
+beauty."</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="advert" />
+
+<p class="center"><span class="bigtext"><b>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</b></span><br />
+NEW <span style="word-spacing: 3em;">YORK      LONDON</span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the
+original edition have been corrected.</p>
+
+<p>In Chapter II, a quotation mark was deleted after "the love of worms
+was the root of all evil".</p>
+
+<p>In Chapter III, a quotation mark was added after "if you could wait a
+few minutes .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.".</p>
+
+<p>In Chapter IV, <i>said Fiona," and you wriggle so."</i> was changed to
+<i>said Fiona, "and you wriggle so."</i>, and <i>"Urchin," she shouted;
+"Urchin.'</i> was changed to <i>"Urchin," she shouted; "Urchin."</i></p>
+
+<p>In Chapter V, quotation marks were added after "Go up a hill." and
+"the true cave at all."</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Treasure of the Isle of Mist, by W. W. Tarn
+
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+Project Gutenberg's The Treasure of the Isle of Mist, by W. W. Tarn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Treasure of the Isle of Mist
+
+Author: W. W. Tarn
+
+Release Date: November 23, 2010 [EBook #34410]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE OF THE ISLE OF MIST ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+TREASURE
+OF THE
+ISLE OF MIST
+
+BY
+W. W. TARN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+NEW YORK AND LONDON
+The Knickerbocker Press
+1920
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY
+W. W. TARN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+A FAIRY TALE FOR
+MY DAUGHTER
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  CHAPTER                                 PAGE
+  I.    THE GIFT OF THE SEARCH               1
+  II.   THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE            14
+  III.  THE HAUNTED CAVE                    31
+  IV.   THE URCHIN VANISHES                 47
+  V.    THE OREAD                           88
+  VI.   THE KING OF THE WOODCOCK           111
+  VII.  FIONA IN THE FAIRY-WORLD           131
+  VIII. FIONA FINDS HER TREASURE           181
+
+
+
+
+The Treasure of the Isle of Mist
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE GIFT OF THE SEARCH
+
+
+The Student and Fiona lived in a little gray house on the shores of a
+gray sea-loch in the Isle of Mist. The Student was a thin man with a
+stoop to his shoulders, which old Anne MacDermott said came of reading
+books; but really it was because he had been educated at a place where
+this is expected of you. Fiona, when she was doing nothing else, used
+to help Anne to keep house, rather jerkily, in the way a learned man
+may be supposed to like. She was a long-legged creature of fifteen,
+who laughed when her father threatened her with school on the
+mainland, and she had a warm heart and a largish size in shoes.
+Sometimes they had dinner; sometimes nobody remembered in time, and
+they had sunset and salt herrings, with a bowl of glorious yellow
+corn-daisies to catch the sunset.
+
+It was Anne who saw the old hawker crossing the field behind the
+house, and burst in on the bookroom to inform the Student that he
+wanted buttons. She was met by a patient remonstrance on her ambiguous
+use of language:
+
+"For," said the Student, "if you mean that buttons are lacking to me,
+there may be something to be said for you; but if you mean that I
+desire buttons, then indeed I do not desire buttons; I desire . . ."
+
+Whereon Anne fled, and went out to meet the hawker. The frail old man,
+bending under his pack, was crossing the meadow behind the house,
+brushing his way through the September clover. His white hair was
+uncovered save for the huge umbrella which he carried alike in sun
+and rain; but youth still lingered in his eyes, which were bright as
+the dawn and deep as the sea-caves. Behind him followed a little
+rough-haired terrier, black as jet, his inseparable companion. At the
+door he unslung his pack, and, leaving Anne to select her buttons,
+passed straight through, knocked at the bookroom door, and went in.
+
+The Student wheeled round in his chair and began to grope about.
+
+"Have you seen my spectacles?" he said. "I can't see who you are till
+I put them on, and I can't put them on till you find them for me, for
+I can't see to find them myself unless I have them on. Pardon this
+involved sentence."
+
+The old hawker picked up the missing spectacles and handed them over.
+
+"You wouldn't remember me, in any case," he said. "I last saw you
+twenty-five years ago, when you were trying to dig at Verria. There
+was an old man there, do you remember, being beaten by armed
+Bashi-Bazouks, and you held them up with an empty revolver, and took
+the old man to your camp and nursed him, and you said things to the
+Turkish Governor, and . . ."
+
+"My excavations came to an untimely end," said the Student. "I always
+owed that old man a grudge for being beaten before my tent. Why
+couldn't he have been beaten somewhere else? I should like to meet him
+again and tell him precisely what I thought of his conduct."
+
+"You have done both now," said the hawker. "And it is his turn."
+
+"Impossible," said the Student. "He was as old twenty-five years ago
+as you are now."
+
+"At my age," said the old man, "one grows no older. No one who walks
+the world as I do need ever grow any older. You can walk thirty miles
+on Monday when you are twenty years old; good. If you can do it on
+Monday you can do it on Tuesday; and if on Tuesday, then on Wednesday;
+therefore, by an easy reckoning, you can do it as well at eighty
+years old as at twenty. Thus you never age."
+
+"There's a flaw in that somewhere," said the Student. "I know; it's
+the Heap. How many grains of sand make a heap?"
+
+"How many buttons do you want?" said the hawker. "You saved my life
+once; you shall have all the buttons you want for nothing."
+
+"I thought you couldn't answer my question," said the Student. "But we
+are getting on much too fast; we haven't really begun yet. I suppose
+you came here to sell things? Anne seemed to know you, and she said I
+wanted buttons. I pointed out to her that her statement was either an
+untruth or a truism, and equally objectionable in either sense; and
+now you repeat it, just as I was beginning to consider you quite an
+intelligent person. By the way, who are you?"
+
+"I have a different name in most countries which I visit," said the
+old man. "But by profession I sell buttons--and other things."
+
+"What sort of things?" said the Student.
+
+"I have dreams," said the old man, "dreams and the matter of dreams;
+imaginings of the impossible come true; the wonder of the hills at
+sunrise; the quest of unearthly treasure among the moon-flowers; the
+look in the eyes of a child that trusts you."
+
+The Student took off his spectacles, rubbed his eyes hard, and settled
+his shoulders.
+
+"I desire something very much," he said. "If you can do all that, you
+can give me what I desire."
+
+The hawker frowned.
+
+"You are a scholar," he said, "and I can do nothing for scholars. You
+need no ideal, for you have one. You need no dreams, for your life is
+one. For you, the earth pours out hidden treasure, and the impossible
+comes true day by day. What you desire just now is a long definite
+inscription to settle a controverted point in your favor. And if I
+could give it you, just think how miserable you'd be. Nothing further
+to argue about, there; and several quite happy and contentious
+professors would be reduced to such straits that I don't know what
+crimes you might all commit. You might even take to making money."
+
+"If I wanted money," said the Student, "I should, being an intelligent
+person, at once proceed to make it. Then I should have to live in the
+big house again, instead of letting it, and my precious time would be
+spent in arguing with my gardener and endeavoring to conceal my
+ignorance from my chauffeur. As it is, we live anyhow, and I am
+happy."
+
+"Happiness doesn't score any points in the game," said the hawker.
+"What good do you and your inscriptions do, anyway?"
+
+"That's not my job here," said the Student. "That will come on
+afterwards. Besides, I don't want to do good. I am old-fashioned; why
+should I take my neighbor by the throat and say, 'Let me do good to
+you, or it shall be the worse for you and yours'? Besides, I can't do
+good. You can't dot the wilderness with prosperous homesteads when
+half the years the oats don't ripen till the year after. Besides, I
+do do good; I have let the big house to shooting tenants, and it's
+excellent for their health. Besides seventeen other reasons, which I
+can enumerate if you are able to bear them. Besides, Fiona is fond of
+me."
+
+"Yes," said the old man softly, "that's your real justification. And
+it's a great deal more than I could give you; my hawker's licence
+doesn't cover the big things. How many buttons do you want?"
+
+Fiona came scrambling through the open window, and curled herself up
+on the rug with her head on the Student's knee. The Student stroked
+her hair.
+
+"Tell me what it's all about," she said.
+
+"This gentleman," he said, "once interrupted a very important piece of
+work which I was doing, and I was just about to tell him exactly what
+I thought of him when you interrupted me."
+
+The old hawker had risen and bowed courteously to the girl.
+
+"My dear young lady," he said, "I have been searching my pack for a
+present for your father, and found nothing suitable. But perhaps I
+could find something for you."
+
+Fiona jumped up.
+
+"Have you a hedgehog?" was her question.
+
+"I do not carry them with me, as a general thing," said the old man.
+"No doubt one could be got. But why a hedgehog?"
+
+"I want one for the Urchin," she said. "You see, it's his namesake."
+
+"I see," said the old man, quite gravely. "And who is the Urchin?"
+
+"The Urchin," said the Student, "is a young rascal who is the son of
+my shooting tenant. He plunders my daughter of all her possessions,
+and she abets him in every form of villainy."
+
+"I do try to stop him throwing stones at things," said the girl.
+
+"Here are hedgehogs," said the hawker. "Isn't that lucky, now?"
+
+Past the window came five hedgehogs in a solemn row, two big and
+three little. Behind them, marshalling the procession, walked the
+black terrier, with an eye of happy drollery.
+
+"There's something wrong about those hedgehogs," said the girl. "They
+don't do things like that. I don't think I want a hedgehog any more,
+thank you. How did you make them do that? Is your dog a conjurer?"
+
+"I never harm anything," said the old man, "so that many creatures
+will come to me when I call. But I have better presents than that."
+
+"Choose for her, my friend," said the Student.
+
+The old man began talking to himself in a low voice.
+
+"Youth she has," he said, "and freedom, and the joy of life. Wonder
+also, and dim imaginings of unseen things. And of the things which men
+desire, fame and power are not worth giving, and love is not mine to
+give. I have it. I give you the Search," he said. "The search for the
+treasure of the Isle of Mist. Others have searched for it before; and
+some have found; but the treasure never grows less."
+
+"That's splendid," said the girl. "And when I find the treasure I will
+buy my father seven great books which no one else wants to read, and
+he will be perfectly happy."
+
+"But I did not promise treasure," said the old man. "I promised a
+search."
+
+Fiona's face fell.
+
+"Then am I not to find anything at the end of it?" she asked.
+
+The old man chuckled quietly.
+
+"I did not say that either," he said. "There _is_ a treasure, and you
+shall search for it; and you will find it if you are able. Many there
+are who helped to build it up. Cuchulain and the forgotten heroes who
+fought before Cuchulain; Ossian and the forgotten bards who sang
+before Ossian; Columba and the forgotten saints who died before
+Columba; each has added something to the pile. It is their treasure
+which you shall seek for; that is my gift to you."
+
+"How shall I know where to begin?" asked the girl. "And may I take the
+Urchin with me?"
+
+"Whether you can take the Urchin with you or not depends on his
+capacity to go," said the old man. "And as to beginning, I think you
+will find that the Search will begin itself, independently of you. It
+always does. But I can give you something that will help you," and he
+took out of his pocket a red copper bangle, rudely hammered out with
+some rough implement, which he slipped over her wrist. "That was made
+long ago," he said, "made by men to whom metal was a new toy, men who
+perhaps were nearer to the heart of things than we are."
+
+"You will stay and have some dinner, will you not?" said the Student.
+"At least, if this is a dinner night. Fiona, is this a dinner night?"
+
+"I have my doubts," said the girl. "Oat cake and honeysuckle, I
+expect."
+
+"And what better?" said the old man. "But I fear I could not dine with
+you, were it ortolans and Tokay. For I may never eat beneath a roof.
+The open moor is my dining hall, and the stars serve me. And the long
+white road is calling me even now. But I think that before the
+treasure is found you will see me again."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE
+
+
+"Man," said the Student, "is a weird creature. He dimly remembers that
+he began his evolution, not as a pair, but as a horde; and to the
+horde he still seeks, forming huge crowds during his working days, and
+on his holidays merely transferring the same crowds in their totality
+to some other place, accompanied by a great deal of purposeless noise.
+Apart from his crowd he apparently feels chilly, and without noise
+unhappy. Nothing is more striking to the reflective mind than the
+abdication of civilization in the face of meaningless noises."
+
+"Daddy," said Fiona, "I want your advice on the matter of treasure
+hunting. For if two go together, they don't make a crowd, and they
+needn't make a noise."
+
+"Quote correctly," said the Student. "What Homer said was, that if you
+and I went to look for a treasure, I, being a mere man, would find it
+at once by logical processes of induction and deduction, while you,
+being a superior woman, were losing yourself in the quicksands of the
+intuitive short cut."
+
+"Sir," said the girl, "your word is law to me. Therefore deduce."
+
+"Persiflage," said the Student, "is not to be encouraged in young
+children. Remember that if you were to force me to do so I might come
+with you, and then I should see exactly how you bungled the thing."
+
+"But that's what I want you to do, daddy," said Fiona.
+
+"I don't," said the Student. "Though treasure hunting is quite an
+ancient and respectable amusement. For treasure, some have descended
+the crater of Popocatapetl; some have dived at Tobermory; some have
+dug in Kensington Gardens. Alexander found a treasure at Persepolis,
+and Essex lost another in Cadiz harbor. The treasure of the Incas lies
+hid in a Peruvian ravine, known but to two Indians at a time; the
+plunder which Alaric took from Rome is still beneath the river which
+he diverted to guard it. No one has ever found the hoard of Captain
+Kidd, or the gold carried in the Venetian galleon which sailed with
+the Armada and went on the rocks in this loch. The pursuit of treasure
+is, therefore, no doubt, for the young, a legitimate pastime."
+
+"Daddy," said Fiona, "did one of the Armada ships really go ashore
+here?"
+
+"Yes, my dear," said the Student. "She was a great Venetian, called
+after the Madonna of the Holy Cross, and she carried the doubloons
+contributed by the Church."
+
+"That's not the treasure the old man meant," said the girl.
+
+"It is not," said the Student. "We know all about the Venetian ship.
+The crew were mostly knocked on the head, but the captain brought the
+doubloons ashore and hid them. He himself was saved by my ancestor for
+the time being, to whom he gave a map showing the place in the cave in
+which the treasure was hidden. He never came back for it. So far,
+everything proceeded on approved lines. Unhappily, my ancestor was a
+careless sort of person, and gambled the plan away. We never heard any
+more of it. It is, however, a family tradition that there was nothing
+on the plan to identify the cave; and as this coast, and the islands
+in the loch, are honeycombed with caves, it would be of little use if
+we had it. No one knows whereabouts the galleon went ashore. On calm
+nights her officers may be seen swimming round the cliffs, keeping
+guard still over their holy gold. Angus MacEachan saw one once, and
+tried to speak to him; but he turned into a seal, and just looked at
+Angus with large patient eyes; and Angus' boat was wrecked the week
+after."
+
+"And did you never search for the gold, daddy?" asked Fiona.
+
+"Never, my dear," he said. "In the first place, it would mean a minute
+examination of some 170 caves. In the second place, half of the caves
+are not mine. In the third place, it is not the kind of treasure I
+want. In the fourth place, I haven't time. In the fifth place, I am
+morally certain it is not there now. In the sixth place, the
+Government would claim it as treasure-trove. And in the seventh and
+last place, I never thought about it till you asked me."
+
+"I'm not getting any further with _my_ treasure hunting, daddy," said
+Fiona. "Let's go out together and start."
+
+"My dear," said the Student, "it's your search, not mine. It's no use
+my trying to come with you. And I have a fancy that it won't begin
+like that."
+
+"Can you tell me how to begin then, daddy?" she asked.
+
+"I suppose by taking no notice of it," he said. "It was to begin
+itself, wasn't it? And I have an uncomfortable suspicion that you hunt
+this kind of treasure by turning round and going the other way. So I
+think you'd better run out and find the Urchin, and I'll get back to
+my inscriptions."
+
+The Urchin was Fiona's principal ally; a troublesome ally, owing to
+his propensity for throwing stones. She found him now on the shore,
+steadily bombarding a shore lark, that would move a little way out of
+range and then sit down again, affording a splendid target. Luckily
+the enthusiasm of the persecutor in pursuit was well matched by the
+inaccuracy of his aim.
+
+"Urchin," she called out, "if you hurt that bird the Little People
+will take you; I thought I'd knocked that into you all right, even if
+you _are_ English and slow in the uptake."
+
+"All right," said the Urchin with a grin. "We conquered you, anyway."
+
+"As a matter of fact," said the girl, "it was we who annexed you. If
+your people were as bad shots as you, Urchin, it must have been quite
+easy. You can't hit a bird sitting."
+
+"Can't I?" said the Urchin. "You watch." Another fling, and horrors!
+the shore lark rolled over, twittering helplessly and miserably.
+
+Fiona was across the rocks like a young goat; and when the Urchin,
+contrite but defiant, arrived, she had the wounded bird in her hands
+and was holding it to her breast, feeling gently for its hurt. It lay
+quite still, panting, and watching her with quick bright eyes.
+
+"Broken wing," she said. "I believe it will mend. Urchin, you are a
+mere beast. You'd better go home; I don't want ever to see you again."
+
+The Urchin turned scarlet.
+
+"That's just like a girl," he said. "First you tell me I can't hit the
+old bird, which is the same thing as telling me to hit it; and then
+when I do hit it you turn round on me and call names; and all the time
+you're just as bad as I am." And the Urchin turned and stalked off,
+an heroic figure with the mien of a Marcus Curtius about to save his
+country by leaping into the gulf. Unhappily there was a real gulf, and
+the boy, head in air, rolled neatly into it, and emerged from between
+two rocks, dripping and no longer heroic, rubbing a torn stocking and
+a scraped shin.
+
+It was too much for Fiona's gravity.
+
+"Urchin," she called, "come back here, _quick_." And as the unhappy
+Urchin stood in doubt, hither and thither dividing the swift mind, she
+slid over the rocks and caught him. "My fault," she said, "and I'm
+sorry all the way through. Now I'll mend you first, and then we must
+mend the bird."
+
+"And then what'll we do?" said the boy. "Let's do something harmless
+for a bit, hunt for shells or shrimps or . . ."
+
+"Treasure," suggested Fiona, rather shyly. And by the time they had
+reached the house, and she had repaired the Urchin, and disposed the
+wounded bird as comfortably as possible, the boy had been put in
+possession of the essential facts of the case.
+
+"Mar-vellous," was the Urchin's comment. "Now, don't you see, Fiona?
+you can have your treasure when we find it, and I'll have the Spanish
+treasure when we find it, and there we both are. I want lots and lots
+and lots of those doubloons."
+
+"What for?" said Fiona.
+
+"Gun," said the Urchin. "Donald Ruadh has an old gun which he would
+sell me for two pounds. He says one barrel shoots all right sometimes.
+And I would use the rest of the doubloons to buy cartridges, and then
+I could kill curlews."
+
+"You little wretch," said the girl. "You won't kill my curlews while
+I'm about. And anyhow your old gun would probably blow you up first.
+And anyhow you haven't got the doubloons yet. And they're not yours if
+you do find them."
+
+"Whose would they be?" asked the Urchin.
+
+"I suppose my father's," said Fiona. "But it depends on which cave
+they were in."
+
+"Come on, then," said the boy. "I'm going to ask him for them."
+
+The Student took the interruption good-humoredly.
+
+"I am in the second century," he said. "Doubloons have not yet been
+coined. As to these doubloons, I am quite sure they are not there,
+wherever 'there' may be; but if they are there, I have no objection to
+the Urchin fighting the Government for them. Urchin, would you like a
+deed?"
+
+And, to the delight of the Urchin, the Student proceeded to make out a
+document, which called on all men to know that the said Student
+thereby assigned to the said Urchin all the estate, right, title, and
+interest, if any, of the said Student in and to a certain treasure of
+doubloons or other coins once carried in the galleon called _Our Lady
+of the Holy Cross_ were the same a little more or less ("all good
+deeds get that in somewhere," said the Student) to hold to the said
+Urchin and his heirs ("but I don't suppose the heirs will see much of
+it") to the intent that he might become a wiser and a better Urchin
+and not interrupt the said Student any more when he wanted to work.
+This being done, the Student signed his name at the end, made a
+beautiful blot of hot red sealing wax and put his signet ring on it,
+and made Fiona sign her name as witness ("which is probably not
+legal," he explained cheerfully); then he handed over the deed to the
+rejoicing Urchin, with the remark that it was quite as good as many
+lawyers' deeds, and drove the pair of them out of the bookroom.
+
+"Good," said the Urchin. "Now I've a treasure just the same as you."
+
+"If we find them," said Fiona.
+
+"Well, let's go and start hunting for them at any rate," said the boy.
+
+"Pardon me," said the shore lark, "if I interrupt; but you might be
+the better of a few hints."
+
+Fiona dropped on her knees and took the little bird in her hands
+again.
+
+"So you can talk," she said. "That's jolly. You've a first-rate chance
+of returning good for evil, and making us feel worms."
+
+"Don't talk of worms," said the shore lark, "you have entirely omitted
+to provide me with any. Send him to get some, and I'll tell you
+something. He can't understand what I'm saying, anyhow."
+
+"Urchin," said the girl, "he's asking for worms. Go and get him some."
+
+"One would think you and he could talk to each other," said the boy.
+"Silly, I call it, going on like that. I suppose that's what girls
+do."
+
+"Urchin," said Fiona, "when you and I have a row, what happens?"
+
+"_You_ happen," said the Urchin. "You've three years' pull; 'tisn't
+fair; just like a girl, to go and have three years' pull of a chap."
+
+"Stop grousing," said the girl, "and get me the worms, there's a dear
+little boy."
+
+The Urchin flung the nearest book at her, missed as usual, and, having
+thus made his honor white, departed, declaring in simpler language
+that the love of worms was the root of all evil.
+
+"I can't tell you much," said the shore lark, "but one sometimes picks
+up things, hopping about, and I heard you say treasure. If you mean
+the Venetian ship, don't start without consulting the finner. He is
+very old, and I believe that he knows everything that happens in this
+loch."
+
+"I don't really mean that," said Fiona. "That's half a jest. I mean my
+own search, the search for the treasure of the Isle of Mist."
+
+"We have all heard of it," said the shore lark, "and we all know that
+you cannot find it by looking for it. All I can tell you is this: the
+curlews have a tradition that the last man who found it went up a
+hill. That is what they tell each other when they call in the spring;
+and I believe they know."
+
+"They are like the spirits of the hills themselves," said Fiona.
+"Tell me why it is I can understand you."
+
+"I have no idea," said the shore lark. "I am only a little bird, and I
+don't know very much. I chanced speaking to you because I wanted
+worms."
+
+The girl slipped across into the bookroom.
+
+"Daddy," she said, "come back out of the second century, and tell me
+why I can understand the shore lark."
+
+The Student looked up with a patient smile in far-away eyes.
+
+"It isn't time to come back yet," he said. "And I have not fully
+grasped your meaning. You appear to refer to some conversation with
+some bird. There are precedents, of course. For instance, the
+philosopher Empedocles, having been a bird himself in a former life,
+remembered their speech; he ended by leaping into AEtna. Siegfried
+also, having bathed in the blood of Fafnir, followed the voice of a
+bird of the wood; he ended by losing his love and his life. There was
+once a sailor who took the advice of a parrot, and was hanged. Birds
+are light-minded, as the poet Aristophanes discovered; and it would
+seem that little good comes of talking to them."
+
+"My shore lark is a darling," said Fiona. "And I don't intend to be
+hanged."
+
+"That," said the Student, "is as Providence pleases. One never knows,
+as my poor ancestor said when he fell into a bear-trap and found the
+bear there before him."
+
+"O daddy," said the girl, "did he really? And what happened?"
+
+"This ancestor of mine," said the Student, "was a very strong man. If
+he had not been, someone else would have killed him first, and he
+would not have been my ancestor; the other man would have been someone
+else's ancestor, so to speak. Being a very strong man, he naturally
+killed the bear. He must have, or he would not have lived to be my
+ancestor. In those days everyone lived in caves, and he lived in a
+cave too; and he always killed the other man, sometimes fairly,
+sometimes, I regret to say, otherwise. He courted my ancestress by
+knocking her down from behind with the blunt end of a stone ax, a
+method which I do not defend; but when her senses returned she told
+him he had acted like a man, and they became a most devoted couple.
+This was partly due, no doubt, to the fact that he never saw the
+meaning of the things she said; she took good care that he shouldn't,
+for though slow of wit he was handy with his ax. Their life I think
+must have been very happy till one day he found a red stone which he
+could heat and shape with his ax, and he hammered out that copper
+bracelet you're wearing; and then came the deluge, for metal meant
+magic then, as you know. Next day my ancestress found him conversing
+with the local vulture; within a week he was giving exhibitions in the
+other caves with the vulture's assistance; in a month he had become
+the tribal god; and about two years after, owing to the persistent
+failure of some of his magic to come off, he was, for a brief moment,
+the tribal banquet. Now you know what comes of talking to shore
+larks."
+
+"Daddy," she said, "you can't know if that's true or not, can you?"
+
+"It may not all be what _you_ call true," said the Student, "but it's
+true in quite a lot of ways. It's true psychologically, and
+anthropologically, and palaeethnologically; and that does to start
+with. And I certainly _had_ ancestors. And there _is_ a bracelet. And
+you _were_ talking strange words about a shore lark. And you must
+really take care, my dear daughter; for you _ought_ now to become a
+tribal priestess, and be hurled from a high place into the sea the
+first season that the herring fail."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE HAUNTED CAVE
+
+
+A sunlit sheet of sea, violet and azure, clothed in slender cloud
+shadows and heaving gently to the long Atlantic ground-swell. Up
+through the calm water, to meet the eye of the gazer, came the green
+clearness of stone, and blinks of unveined sand showing white between
+the brown tangled blades of the great oar-weed; and you might see a
+school of little cuddies, heads all one way, playing hide and seek in
+the sea forest, and caring no whit for the clumsy armored crab beneath
+them, who crawled sideways, a laborious patch of color in the
+shimmering transparency. Up out of the deep water the gray rocks rose
+clear and fine, a mass of platforms and pinnacles, roughened with
+barnacles and tufted with dulse, whose crimson leaves floated and
+swung in the white foam of the lisping swell; and above the rocks and
+beyond the sea's reach the cliff stood up black, showing all the
+strata that had gone to the making of it outlined with little patches
+of coarse grass. On one such patch grazed without concern a sheep
+which had slipped over, happy in her ignorance of the fact that she
+could never be drawn up again alive; the wiser raven overhead was
+clanging away with short barks to tell his mate. On a ridge on the
+cliff side sat a pair of young scarfs, almost invisible save when they
+twisted their long necks about like two snakes, trying to make up
+their minds to follow their mother, who had just flopped clumsily into
+the water, feet first, and had turned there and then into a miracle of
+easy grace, as she used her head to dash the spray over her back. Out
+at sea a solan rose steadily in a sweeping spiral, the white and black
+of him glittering in the sun; suddenly he checked, reversed engines,
+and fell plump like an inverted cross, his long raking wings clapping
+to as he struck the water; a moment, and he was up, and there sat,
+choking and gobbling over his fish, ere he rose again in his majestic
+rings.
+
+The two children had grounded their boat on a little pebble beach
+between the rocks, and were sitting on a big tuft of sea pinks,
+munching handfuls of the sweet dulse and watching the solan at his
+fishing. They were by way of fishing themselves, but the afternoon was
+as yet too early and too clear for them. The Urchin had a pile of
+stones beside him, and was apparently trying to see how many times in
+twenty he could miss a large and obvious spur of rock. Fiona had a
+book of poetry, and was making intermittent efforts to read; but the
+world was too full of things to give poetry a fair chance.
+
+The Urchin threw his last stone away.
+
+"Silly sitting here," he said; "come and explore."
+
+So, scrambling and sliding, the two made their way across the rocks,
+stopping at every rock pool to raise its fringe of weed with careful
+hands and investigate the wonder of the little world below; sea
+flowers of every hue, white and green, gray and orange, purple and
+white and gray and purple again, some smooth and satisfied, others
+with tentacles greedily awash, that could be induced to suck at a
+small finger dexterously inserted; sea shells of every contour, some
+living and clutching at the rock, some cast off and dead, others again
+protruding alien claws, resurrected to a life of artificial movement
+by the little hermit crabs whose tails they sheltered; here and there
+the spiky pink globe of a sea urchin, waiting for the tide to float
+him off. And in one deep little pot, with sides green like a grotto of
+ferns, they found a miniature battle. A small green crab, who had cast
+his shell, sat humped in a recess of the grotto, a thing soft and
+vulnerable, a delight to the enemy; and in front of him, excited and
+transparent, were half a dozen shrimps, the horn on each forehead
+pointed at him; from time to time some young gallant would dash in to
+prod the helpless monster, and at once backwater again into the ranks
+of his friends. The crab bore his torment with a patience born of the
+knowledge that each minute his new carapace was hardening; the shrimps
+had no wit to count the cost, or reckon the odds that the rising tide
+might bear them away in safety from the day of vengeance.
+
+On hands and knees, not daring to breathe on the limpid surface of the
+pool, the children watched the little drama. From the cliff top the
+heated air rose dancing into the sky. So still were earth and air and
+sea that the old finner's rise sounded as though the cliff were
+falling. He had worked nearer in to the rocks than seemed possible for
+his ninety feet of blubber and muscle, and as his black side rolled
+over, the water about him boiled like a pot; but he did not splash,
+for he had been well brought up and always knew what his tail was
+doing, though it was so far away.
+
+"Shiver these rocks," he began in a rage, as he flung two fountains
+out of his nose. Then he caught sight of Fiona and the gleam of the
+red bracelet.
+
+"Oh my fins and flippers!" he spouted. "I ask pardon, young lady; I
+haven't the manners of a grampus. And they told me about you."
+
+"Who's they?" asked Fiona, ungrammatically.
+
+"Friends at Court, friends at Court," said the finner. "What a thing
+to have. 'No need of the old sailorman,' said I. But they said I must
+go. And I've scraped the barnacles off my precious tail. Will it run
+to some tobacco?"
+
+"Will what run?" said the girl. "Your tail? What is it you want?"
+
+"Hints are wasted, I see," said the whale. "'One question,' said I.
+Only one. But magic is magic, you know, even for a tough old
+sailorman. Come now, one question. I'm too far inshore for my
+liking."
+
+Fiona understood.
+
+"Is it about my treasure?" she said.
+
+"Yours, or that boy's there, whichever you like," said the whale. "But
+only one, only one."
+
+For about two seconds Fiona did some hard mental drill. Then she said:
+
+"Will you please tell me where the Urchin can find his treasure?"
+
+"You do have luck," said the finner. "Think of it, then. O you little
+fishes, think of it. If you'd asked the other, I didn't know the
+answer. Wouldn't have got an answer, and my tail all scraped for
+nothing. And this one, my great-great-grandmother saw it all, and
+nobody knows here but me and the seals and one man, and he's too fat
+to count. West cave, Scargill Island; and bring you luck, my dear.
+Will it run to some tobacco?"
+
+"Thank you so much," said Fiona politely. "And I'm sorry I haven't any
+tobacco with me. But if you could wait a few minutes . . ."
+
+"Shiver it, I'm scraping again," said the whale. "No tobacco and very
+few barnacles in this world. O my grandmother's flukes, I might as
+well be a bottlenose!"
+
+Once more the water boiled, and beneath it the huge black body shot
+away for the open sea.
+
+"Fiona," said the boy, "do you really think it's cricket?"
+
+"What isn't cricket?" she asked.
+
+"Fiona," he said, "I've been a brother to you. I have done all the
+things a brother ought to do. I have taught you to throw like a boy. I
+have pinched you for new clothes. I have called you names, to make you
+good-tempered. I have made remarks on your personal appearance, to
+prevent your being vain. I have even fought with you, solely for your
+good. And this is how you repay me. The other day you pretended to be
+talking to a shore lark; to-day it was an old whale, who spouted and
+banged his tail on the rock. If it's a joke, I don't see it. If it's
+not a joke, do go into a lunatic asylum, and let me find a simpler
+job."
+
+Fiona tossed up mentally between hitting him and laughing; it came
+down laughing.
+
+"Urchin," she said, "it's all right. I don't understand it much better
+than you do, but it has something to do with this bracelet of mine. I
+can really understand them and they can understand me. If you doubt my
+word, we will fight a duel with the boat stretchers, and I will bury
+you in the sand here afterwards."
+
+"Oh, I believe you when you talk like that," said the Urchin; "only
+it's worse than the Latin grammar. _Psittacus loquitur_, "the parrot
+talks"; but this thing seemed to be a whale; it was very like one."
+
+"It was a whale," said Fiona. "He said his great-great-grandmother had
+seen the Spanish captain land his doubloons, and that it was in the
+west cave on Scargill Island."
+
+"That means the big cave at the end facing the sea," said the boy.
+
+"The cave that no one has ever got to the end of," said Fiona.
+
+"The cave that's haunted," said the boy.
+
+"But of course it's haunted; it's the ghosts of the Spaniards. Silly
+of us not to have guessed."
+
+Fiona had a hazy recollection of things her father used to say.
+
+"I expect the haunting is thousands of years older than the
+Spaniards," she said. "Urchin, are you afraid of ghosts?"
+
+"Not a bit," said the Urchin stoutly. "They would be splendid to throw
+stones at. It wouldn't hurt them."
+
+"Come on then, let's go," said the girl. "There's lots of daylight."
+
+"None of the people here will go into it, you know," said the Urchin.
+
+"I know," said Fiona. "All the more reason for going on our own. There
+might really be something there, if no one ever goes to take it away."
+
+So the boat was launched, and the adventure also. Fiona pulled stroke;
+the Urchin was a clumsy and unpunctual bow, and the girl had to steer
+from the stroke oar, which needs more doing than you may think if you
+haven't tried it. But they made the end of Scargill in time, and then
+Fiona took both the oars and coasted, while the Urchin got out a
+couple of bamboo poles, garnished with white flies, and let the casts
+trail, occasionally getting one of the beautiful little scarlet lythe,
+that came at the fly with the spring and dash of a sea trout. For even
+adventurers need supper. And so they came, past many a smaller cave
+mouth in the black side of the island, to the huge bluff that fronts
+the full Atlantic, and the great west cave.
+
+Atlantic was half asleep to-day, and muttered drowsily to the quiet
+rocks outside. But the great cave was seldom quiet. In the winter,
+when Atlantic turned himself restlessly and spoke aloud, the sound of
+his speaking came back from its depths like the roar of a heavy gun;
+and even in the stillness the lisp of the swell in it echoed as from
+the roots of the island in a low intermittent boom. Outside, on the
+calm water, floated the whiskered head of a seal, watching the boat
+with gentle, fearless eyes,--"the officer on guard," Fiona
+whispered;--and from the black cliff's face, like a hanging fringe
+over the mouth of the cave, the water splashed down, trickle by
+trickle, in quick, heavy drops. The children rowed in through the
+little shower, and Fiona paddled gently up the cave. Its huge
+limestone walls stood up stark on either hand, rising into the
+darkness above, and sinking below into the green water, as far as eye
+could follow them. Near the water-line grew a little seaweed, and some
+white whelks clung; but as they went down the waterway these vanished,
+and gray cliff and green water alike began to turn black. Looking
+back, Fiona could see a bright patch, a patch of sky and
+sky-reflecting sea, framed in the narrow slit of the cave's mouth. The
+waterway was narrowing now; she shipped her oars and stood up, using
+one as a paddle, and instructing the Urchin how to fend off the boat's
+stern with his hands. In front, on a ledge in the cave's roof, it was
+just possible to make out a row of blue dots in the growing darkness;
+as the boat drew nearer, the blue dots fluttered, detached themselves
+from the cliff, and a swarm of pigeons came whirring over the boat and
+down the cave toward the sunlight;--"Your ghosts, Urchin," said the
+girl. Henceforward the cave was void of life, unless some strange,
+eyeless fish lurked in its inky depths. Darker and darker grew the
+waterway, and the last gleam of light vanished. Fiona was feeling her
+way now, aided by the phosphorescent drip from her oar blade; the
+Urchin, with unusual sense, splashed his hands in the water to
+increase the pale glow, which just revealed the line of the cliff.
+Neither dare speak now; possibly, had Fiona not had some idea of what
+was coming, she would have turned. But already there was a faint gleam
+ahead, faint as a glow worm, but still a gleam; and as the boat slid
+forward, and the low boom in the depths of the cave grew closer, the
+cave walls very slowly began to grow gray again out of the blackness.
+A few minutes more, and the walls were an outline, and before them, a
+fringe of white on round wet stones, the end of the waterway. And as
+the boat grounded, Fiona pointed up, and the Urchin, looking, saw a
+little round hole; a natural shaft ran down into the cave from the
+surface of the island, giving light enough for their eyes, now
+accustomed to the darkness, to distinguish outlines.
+
+They drew their boat up on the stones far enough for the swell not to
+dislodge it; then the same impulse seized them both and they burst out
+laughing, not aloud, for something in the place made it impossible to
+laugh or talk aloud, but in a kind of mirthless whisper.
+
+"We've come without any lights," said Fiona in an undertone.
+
+"We have," said the Urchin. "But probably the stuff is only a few
+yards above high-water mark; they wouldn't go far in."
+
+"They might have," said Fiona; "they'd have had torches or
+something."
+
+"Let's go as far as we can, anyway, as we are here," said the Urchin.
+
+So they started scrambling over the stones in the gray half-light.
+Presently there rose before them a great mass of rock and earth, half
+blocking the cave; it looked like some old landslip.
+
+"It's easy at this end, Fiona," said the boy; and up they went, to
+find that the rock barrier blocked most of what little light remained.
+Beyond was darkness.
+
+"We must go back and get light," said Fiona. "I can't even see the
+stones below." A pause; then, "Stop swinging your feet, Urchin; I want
+to listen."
+
+"I'm not," said the Urchin.
+
+Another pause, and then the Urchin spoke again, in a kind of stage
+whisper, "I'm frightened." The words seemed squeezed out of him.
+
+"We may as well go back, anyhow," said Fiona, in a strained voice.
+"Down you go, Urchin."
+
+The Urchin did go down at a considerable pace, and ran for the boat.
+Fiona managed to walk, by repeating to herself all the time under her
+breath, "You mustn't run, you mustn't run." But once in the boat she
+did not rebuke the Urchin for standing up and taking the other oar;
+and the pair paddled out, with many bumpings and scrapings, in a more
+speedy and less scientific manner than that in which they had entered.
+
+Once out in the sunlight they felt better. They started automatically
+to fish home, and presently were talking again. But neither of them
+referred to the thing that was uppermost in each mind, though each was
+wondering if the other knew. For as they had sat on the wall of rock,
+each had heard clearly, in the utter darkness of the unvisited cave,
+the sound of heavy footsteps.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE URCHIN VANISHES
+
+
+To most people there is some corner of the earth which means more than
+all others; and there are two or three in the world whose holy place
+is the old house on the sea-loch which the Student's humbler neighbors
+called the "big house." An old square building of gray stone, that
+matches the gray sky and the gray sea, it has small claims to beauty;
+it was built in the days of blank windows, and every wind in the
+island meets and screams round the battered iron balustrade which
+leads up its steps to the door, and strives to tear down the tendrils
+of ivy that cling to the east front. To the south front, lashed by the
+full Atlantic gales, not even ivy can cling; only a few twisted elders
+and stunted planes grow there, and take the first force of the winter
+wind; but the old lawn to the north bursts in summer into a cloud of
+white marguerites, whose ethereal beauty at sunset is like the ghosts
+of the dreams that haunt the place. For to some of us the old house is
+full of dreams, that cling to the dark passages and the uneven floors,
+and play in and out of the little windows that are still propped open
+with wood, as they were a hundred years ago; dreams of the bright
+lights and the bright voices that greeted us, coming in out of the
+blinding rain; dreams of the dance and the song, songs of old lost
+causes from which all bitterness has died away, leaving to-day nothing
+but beauty behind them; dreams of faded joys and forgotten sorrows, of
+loves that have passed elsewhere and of memories that abide; dreams of
+faces that are seen no more. Some day it will change ownership; it
+will be sold to someone from whom understanding of these things has
+been withheld, and who will see only the darkness of the old
+corridors, the shabbiness of the old doorway; and he will build new
+doors, and porticoes and a wide verandah, and make it fair within and
+without, levelling the floors and trimming the lawns; and he will have
+destroyed the old house and the fragrance of it, and it will never
+return. But to-day it still stands as it has stood for many a long
+year, clothed in the memories that never leave it and rich in all that
+the past has built into it; and to some who may never dwell there
+again it is yet ever present as the home of their hearts' desire, a
+true house of faery.
+
+The Student had let the old house to the Urchin's father. He was a
+tall, thin man with a hooked nose, and he knew more about one
+particular family of Coleoptera than anyone living. He had taken the
+place, not because he wanted it for its shooting, but because one of
+the beetles of his family was reputed to be plentiful in the
+neighborhood. He was never there long; he was never anywhere long. For
+thirty years he had pursued his beetles over five continents; his
+measurements of their wing cases alone filled nine enormous MS.
+volumes. His great work on the variation of the length of the wing
+case in beetles kept in captivity had become a classic. Scientific men
+had nothing but praise for the book; several even read it. The
+majority believed that he had re-founded Neo-Mendelism past any
+overthrowing; a small but persistent minority argued that, on the
+contrary, he had utterly overthrown the Neo-Mendelians. All, however,
+agreed that the book was epoch-making, even though they differed
+utterly as to the sort of epoch which it made. The author himself was
+a shy and modest person, who never lost his temper except when people
+sent him unpaid parcels from Timbuctoo or Khamchatka containing
+beetles of other families in which he took no interest. On the rare
+occasions when he could be induced to go into society, kind-hearted
+hostesses, who saw no reason why one crawling thing should not do as
+well as another had been known to try to please him by starting a
+conversation about ladybirds or earwigs; and it was said to be worth
+foregoing one's cigar to hear him explain, with a chuckle, that though
+earwigs or ladybirds were no doubt meritorious creatures in their
+several spheres, and possibly legitimate objects of study to others,
+they were not his subject; his subject was a particular family of
+Coleoptera. He and the Student had become great friends, and when he
+was in the island he would often drop in to see the Student's bookroom
+after dinner and there the two would sit, one on either side of the
+fire, each smoking at a tremendous pace and talking hard on his own
+subject. Neither ever expected an answer from the other; neither ever
+got one. But they had silently established an unwritten law that when
+one had talked for three minutes by the clock on the mantelpiece he
+was to stop and let the other have a turn; and when at last they said
+good night, each felt that they had both had a thoroughly enjoyable
+evening. And so they had.
+
+Unlike to unlike. The Urchin's father had married the daughter of a
+stockbroker, who, on her death, had left him two legacies; one was the
+Urchin, and the other was an occasional visitation from her brother
+Jeconiah. Mr. Jeconiah P. Johnson, the well-known promoter of
+companies, was a short, stout man with a red face and a shifty blue
+eye, always immaculately dressed in broadcloth with a huge expanse of
+white waistcoat, over which sprawled his double watch chain and his
+triple chin. There were possibly some good points even about Jeconiah,
+if anything so rotund could be said to have points; but there were
+certainly not many. He was supposed by some to possess what is called
+"a high standard of business morality"; it would be truer to say that
+his code was prehistoric. He had so far kept himself right with the
+law, because he had mastered the sordid maxim which proclaims that
+honesty is the best policy; no other reason was likely to occur to
+him. With some effort he had succeeded in formulating a rule of
+conduct of which he was rather proud: Do good to yourself and your
+friends and evil to those who stand in your way. If anyone had told
+him that the philosophy of ethics took its rise, some twenty-two
+centuries ago, in a reaction against a similar rule, he would have
+remarked jocosely that he never studied back numbers. Of anything more
+exalted than "policy," anything not to be reckoned in terms of L.s.d.,
+he was as ignorant as a hippopotamus.
+
+He was never very fond of his right hand's knowing what his left hand
+did; for while the right hand promoted companies, the left hand, by
+means of a manager and a registered alias, carried on a very useful
+little money-lender's business. He was never averse to putting the
+screw on, if there was anything to be got by it; and sometimes he got
+rather funny things. Recently he had had a broken debtor on his hands,
+and had taken what he could get; among other things, an old bureau
+full of papers. Jeconiah, being a methodical soul, had turned a clerk
+on to sort the papers; and the clerk had presently brought him the
+long lost map of the Scargill cave, and a sheet of paper containing
+somebody's rough explanation of what it was supposed to be. Jeconiah,
+who had heard the story, scented possibilities, and, it being a slack
+time in the City, promptly invited himself to his brother-in-law's
+house to recover from an attack of influenza. That is how Jeconiah
+comes into this story. It could not be helped, for he had the map. The
+finner had said he was too fat to count; but that is where the finner
+was wrong.
+
+Jeconiah forthwith gave his mind, such as it was, to the subject of
+caves. Diffidence was not his failing, and he cross-examined every
+person he could find, concealing, of course, his real object. He
+collected a splendid amount of rubbish; but he was acute enough where
+his pocket was concerned, and out of the rubbish he presently dragged
+forth the fact of the haunted cave which no one would enter. Whereon
+Jeconiah went over to Scargill to fish, and had a look at the lie of
+the island; settled with himself that it seemed a good enough place
+for a wreck, and told the keeper to row him into the west cave. But
+the keeper, who had no particular liking for Jeconiah, refused
+point-blank, and told him he would not find a man in the island who
+would do it; and Jeconiah, who had suddenly lost interest in the
+fishing, went home in a bad temper. This happened the day after the
+two children were in the cave; and the day after that the Urchin's
+father received an excited cablegram from Brazil on the subject of his
+beloved beetles. He rushed down at once to see the Student.
+
+"I am going to Brazil, I don't know for how long," he said. "And my
+boy can't go back to school for a month or more, as they have scarlet
+fever in the village there. And I don't like to leave him with the
+housekeeper, and I start in two hours. Will you take him?"
+
+"Delighted," said the Student. "Fiona will look after him."
+
+So the Urchin came, and with him came to Fiona a sense of
+responsibility for him. She couldn't help it.
+
+But Jeconiah showed no intention of moving. On the contrary, the
+after-effects of influenza were still troubling him sorely, it seemed.
+At last the Urchin's father had to tell him to stay a week or two
+longer, if he wanted to; the servants would be there anyhow. And
+Jeconiah thanked him and settled down to stay, as he had meant to do
+all along. But as soon as his brother-in-law was gone he took the car
+and went off for the day. The chauffeur said that he went to a lot of
+places and talked to a lot of people; and a couple of days later two
+strange men in a boat entered the bay and proceeded to camp out on a
+part of the shore which was not the Student's property. Jeconiah had,
+in fact, hired the boat, and found a couple of ne'er-do-wells from the
+mainland who knew nothing of him and were ready to row him anywhere in
+pursuit of his business, which was understood to be photographing wild
+birds for an illustrated paper.
+
+Jeconiah had, however, made one great mistake. He was aware that you
+must not neglect little things, and he had neglected quite a big
+little thing--the Urchin. He had never spoken to him about caves, or
+taken the least notice of the boy's movements. And the Urchin on his
+side had been hard at work. He had confessed to Fiona on the subject
+of the footsteps, and she to him; and they had agreed, under the broad
+healthy light of day, that probably they had been mistaken and afraid
+of the dark, and that with lanterns it would be all right. They
+agreed, however, that it was necessary to have a really good light,
+and the difficulty was to find one. It was the Urchin who came forward
+as the saviour of society by proposing to win over Jones, the
+chauffeur, and get the loan of one of the big acetylene head-lamps
+from the car. Jones, a newcomer, had not yet heard about the cave,
+and, being English, he had not yet found his feet among his fellows
+and was glad of any sort of diversion. The Urchin wound up a
+triumphant half hour of diplomacy by making Jones promise to lend him
+one of the headlights and show him how to work it. Then the Urchin
+fell, as many greater men have fallen; he was lifted up with pride,
+and told Jones that Fiona and he were going treasure-hunting. Jones
+grinned; but that evening he talked; and in due course Jeconiah heard.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Fiona was digging in her garden, or rather in the Urchin's, for she
+had assigned him one bit of it, which she had to cultivate for him;
+otherwise it would have run waste, for all the work the Urchin put
+into it. Her garden was one corner of the old walled garden of the
+Student's house, which was not very well kept now. Once it had been
+gay with flowers and rich with fruit; but now few flowers grew there
+save such as could look after themselves, and the fruit had come down
+to two gnarled old apple trees, in which Fiona had made her earliest
+experiments in climbing. Most of the ground, so far as it was in use,
+was now given over to cabbages and potatoes; but in June the borders
+were sweet with double white narcissus, and now in September there was
+a revel of unpruned roses, their blooms growing smaller year by year,
+and a mass of the dark-red blossoms of the little west coast fuchsia,
+which knows how to live through the winter. One deserted corner was
+gay with Turk's turban, which still had strength to push up through
+the ever-thickening tangle of weeds; and groups of winter crocus were
+coming up in the borders, and among them a few Shirley poppies which
+Fiona had sown herself. Fiona had had thoughts of taking the garden in
+hand, but the space enclosed by the old walls was far too large for
+her to manage unaided; and as there was no money to pay a proper
+gardener, she had had to content herself with clearing one corner.
+Here she had achieved a riot of color. She had made a little rockery
+of oak-leaf and beech ferns brought down from the hill, sentinelled by
+tall pink foxgloves; the worn-out plum trees against the wall behind
+were threaded and festooned with thick trailers of yellow and scarlet
+nasturtium; and in front of the rockery, her especial pride, was a
+great bed of velvet pansies, rich with every hue of the rainbow. They
+were flanked by simple annuals, filmy pink poppies, orange escholtzias
+and sweet-scented mignonette; and in a bed by themselves were the gold
+and crimson snapdragons which the Urchin had begged for her from the
+gardener at the big house.
+
+She must needs dig up a centipede, one of the small yellow ones. They
+were her special dislike. The centipede did not like being dug up
+either, and writhed himself into seven different sets of tangles at
+once, as is the way of the smaller centipedes.
+
+"You horrid little yellow beast," she said, forgetting that he could
+understand, and made a dab at him with her spade, which, to her
+relief, missed him. She felt she had done her duty by hitting at him,
+but did not hide from herself that she had really missed him on
+purpose.
+
+"Little's all right," said the centipede, "and yellow's all right; and
+though I'm not really a beast, we will let it go at that. But I'm not
+a bit horrid."
+
+"But I don't like you," said Fiona, "and you wriggle so."
+
+"In the circles in which I move," said the centipede, "my wriggling is
+much admired. And the mere fact that you do not like me--which, I may
+remind you, is only a subjective impression and has neither objective
+validity nor permanent value--does not entitle you to call me names.
+You ought to have learnt better, with that bangle of yours. For all
+you know, I may be a model of the more unselfish virtues."
+
+"But you eat the roots of my flowers," said Fiona.
+
+"That is the first I have heard of it," said the centipede. "But one
+lives and learns. It need not be the same one, though, who does both.
+So in the present case I propose that I should live and you should
+learn."
+
+"I wasn't going to kill you really," said Fiona.
+
+The centipede bowed.
+
+"A little courtesy does oil the creaking machinery of life, doesn't
+it?" he said. "Please lift me up, for I have something to tell you,
+and your head is so far away. Shouting at you hurts my throat."
+
+Fiona stooped down and took up the little yellow creature in her hand.
+
+"Congratulations," said the centipede. "We _are_ getting on. You
+wanted badly to shudder, and you didn't. We shall make something of
+you yet. My old friend the bookworm--who lives in your father's
+library, by the way--has recently supplied me with a new quotation
+from the great poet Virgil, who had once, you may remember, quite a
+reputation as a magician. It was to the effect that if you couldn't
+get what you wanted by beginning at the top, you should start again at
+the bottom. I am the bottom. I am not the _very_ bottom, but I am near
+enough to it for your purpose. Now you see what you have gained by
+not killing me."
+
+"I don't see anything yet, I'm afraid," said Fiona.
+
+"One must have patience with weaker vessels," said the centipede. "So
+I will explain. My friend the bookworm, who supplies me with my
+quotations, has a cousin of the same profession in the library at the
+big house. It was through him that I got the story I am going to tell
+you about the fat man."
+
+"Mr. Johnson!" exclaimed Fiona. "He has nothing to do with me." She
+disliked Jeconiah heartily, so far as she had given any thought to
+him.
+
+"Oh, yes, he has," said the centipede. "This is where I come in. My
+bookworm's cousin, who is a great linguist and understands English
+perfectly, was at work in the library the other evening, and the fat
+man was having his coffee there. After coffee he lit a cigar and began
+to walk up and down, and presently he started talking to himself out
+loud, as my informant says he often does when he is excited. And by
+piecing his talk together, my informant made out that he had the map
+of the Scargill cave, which one of your ancestors once gambled away,
+and that somehow or other he had found out that the cave of the map
+_was_ the Scargill cave, and that he was only waiting for a smooth day
+to go and locate the treasure."
+
+"Well?" said Fiona.
+
+"Oh, come now," said the centipede, "it's no use pretending. We all
+know that you are treasure-hunting--remember we can all understand
+everything _you_ say, whether we are linguists or not--and my advice
+to you is, to be quick about it, before the fat man can get his oar
+in."
+
+"Thank you so much," said Fiona. "And I am so sorry I began by being
+rude. Tell me, why have you told me all this when I began by being
+rude?"
+
+"Because I am a model of the more unselfish virtues, of course," said
+the centipede with a suppressed chuckle. "As a fact, I had an
+earth-phone from headquarters. But we are all backing you, you know.
+And now will you put me down, please; the upper air is chilly."
+
+He wriggled into a crack in the ground, and was gone.
+
+That evening Fiona and the Urchin made their final preparations, in
+case the morrow should fall calm. That evening also Jeconiah heard
+that he had rivals in the field. His language, as he walked up and
+down the library, would have been very bad for the bookworm's morals
+had that intelligent insect been able to understand it all; but the
+bookworm's English, though good, was literary, and much of the modern
+idiom employed by Jeconiah slid off its back. Jeconiah's plan had been
+to make sure that the gold was there, and then charter a launch from
+Glasgow and take it straight to railway-head; he saw now that he could
+not afford the time, and that unless he could deal with the children
+in some way he might have to take the gold off in his boat, which
+would entail some risk, as well as cost him a heavy sum to buy his two
+boatmen. Also he made up his mind that he must go the next morning,
+whatever the weather, if it were possible to launch the boat; he knew
+that the children, with their little skiff, could only go to sea on
+calm days.
+
+Unfortunately for Jeconiah, the night fell calm, and though he rose
+early, he had no notion of starting without a good breakfast. By the
+time his boat was launched and he himself aboard, he had the pleasure
+of seeing through his glasses the children's boat off the east or
+nearer end of Scargill. The wealth of adjectives which he employed in
+the circumstances filled his two loafers with awe and admiration.
+
+Fiona, having the Urchin securely under her roof, had breakfasted
+before dawn, and as soon as it was light enough the children launched
+their little boat. The Urchin had the precious headlight, ready
+charged, tied up in an old sack which would also serve to bring away
+the plunder; and round his waist he had twisted a length of cast-off
+rope. Its use was not apparent, but he thought it looked
+business-like. They saw that Jeconiah's boat was still drawn up
+ashore, and in good heart they started on their long pull. They had
+reached the island before Jeconiah had his boat out; having no
+glasses, they could not see if it was being launched or not. But off
+the eastern end of the island, which is low and grassy, they had a
+fright, for an empty boat was drawn ashore there. However, when they
+rowed close in to look at it, Fiona recognized it.
+
+"It's Angus MacEachan's boat," she said. "He has come to see after the
+sheep he has on the island. There he is, I can see him; he has got a
+sheep that has hurt its foot." And indeed they could see Angus tending
+a sick sheep.
+
+"Fiona," said the boy, "we are too silly for anything. Of course the
+footsteps we heard in the cave were Angus's. There is another way in
+somewhere, and he would be looking for a sheep."
+
+Fiona said nothing. As they neared the cave, the problem of the
+footsteps kept intruding itself more and more vividly upon her; but
+the Urchin was happy in his theory, and she did not think it necessary
+to remind him that the footsteps could not possibly have been those of
+Angus, who walked with a limp. She began to feel a vague sense of
+disquiet, which she tried in vain to put aside.
+
+They entered the cave, and the Urchin, with much pride, lit his great
+lamp. The powerful burner threw a wonderful circle of light on to
+black water and black walls, making them glow and sparkle with a soft
+radiance till they looked like the very gateway of fairyland. Outside
+the circle everything became black as pitch. They paddled quietly up
+the bright waterway, and grounded on the stones at the end. The Urchin
+was hot after his long row, and helping to draw the boat up on the
+stones did not make him any cooler; he took off his jacket and pitched
+it on to a thwart.
+
+"Yes, it is hot, and stuffy," said Fiona. She recollected some story
+she had read about a coal mine, and sniffed. "I hope there is no gas
+here," she said.
+
+The Urchin grinned.
+
+"Oh, you girls!" he said. "Who ever heard of gas in a sea cave. What
+you are smelling is the lamp."
+
+Fiona took the lamp up.
+
+"I'm going to take charge of this myself," she said. "You can carry
+the treasure."
+
+The Urchin picked up the sack and threw it over his shoulder.
+
+"Go ahead, lady with the lamp," he said, and grinned again. He felt
+very adventurous. He would rather have liked to be photographed.
+
+With considerable caution, necessitated by the heavy lamp, they
+climbed the rock barrier and descended into the darkness of the inner
+cave. The walking was better here; the rounded slippery boulders had
+given place to a floor of pebbles and sand. Quite a short way from the
+barrier the wall of the cave curved away in a semicircle on the
+right, its smooth surface forming a kind of small recess. Fiona swept
+the recess with her lamp, and on the sandy floor something gleamed
+back; the Urchin pounced on it and picked it up. It was a gold coin,
+not the least like any which the children had ever seen. It was, in
+fact, a doubloon.
+
+"This must be one of them," said the boy exultantly as he pocketed it;
+"one that got dropped. Come on, it can't be much farther."
+
+But Fiona held the lamp steady and stared at the sand.
+
+"Look at the marks on the sand," she said. "They are like the marks of
+heavy boxes. The treasure has been here, Urchin, and it's not here
+now. Someone has been here and taken it, and dropped one piece."
+
+"I don't think so," said the Urchin. "We shall find them a bit farther
+on."
+
+So they went on, but not very far. For the light of the lamp suddenly
+fell on a rock wall before them, the end of the cave. And it had
+ended, not as the other caves do, by the roof growing lower and lower
+till it meets the floor; it had ended in this huge chamber of high
+rocky walls.
+
+"So this is the cave that no one has ever reached the end of," said
+Fiona. "Why, it goes no distance at all."
+
+They retraced their steps to the recess, and then back to the end
+again, looking on this side and on that for openings, but it seemed
+quite clear that there were none.
+
+"The boxes must have been carried off by sea," said Fiona.
+
+But the Urchin had an idea.
+
+"No one would try to carry great heavy boxes over the rock barrier,"
+he said. "They'd just take the gold out in sacks."
+
+"The barrier may be a rock-fall," said Fiona. "The treasure may all
+have been cleared out long ago."
+
+And then there came to the Urchin the realization of the fact that he
+had lost his gun. He turned very red.
+
+"It's a shame," he said angrily, "an awful shame. It was given to me,
+and someone has taken it. Can't you think where it could be, Fiona?
+I'd go _anywhere_ to find it."
+
+Whatever Fiona may have been going to say, her words tailed off into
+sudden silence. For from beyond the cave wall, as it seemed, sounded
+again the footsteps which they had heard before; and this time they
+knew that there was no cave there, and that It was walking through
+solid rock as if along a road. There was no question this time of any
+concealment or pretence; both frankly turned tail and made for the
+rock barrier. Halfway there the Urchin tripped and fell heavily on his
+head. Fiona put the lamp down and helped him up, dizzy and shaking.
+
+"Can you go on, Urchin?" she said. "If not, I'll try and carry you."
+
+The Urchin looked back into the blackness, unrelieved by any ray of
+the lamp, which faced the other way. The footsteps were steadily
+drawing nearer, neither hasting nor staying. What the Urchin may have
+thought he saw Fiona could not guess; he gave one shriek, slid out of
+her grasp, and bolted for the rock barrier as fast as his trembling
+feet would carry him.
+
+For one moment Fiona all but followed him. Then it suddenly came to
+her that she was responsible for the boy's safety. She never knew
+afterwards how she managed to do what she did; but she turned, and
+with the courage of utter desperation--the courage which enables the
+hen partridge to face the sparrow hawk--stood at bay, swinging up the
+heavy lamp to see and face whatever should come.
+
+And into the circle of lamplight quietly walked the figure of the old
+hawker.
+
+The revulsion of feeling was too much for Fiona. She sprang forward
+and caught the old man's hand and clung to it.
+
+"Oh," she said, "I'm so glad it's you. We heard the footsteps and we
+were so frightened." The relief of it all was overwhelming; she was
+almost crying, and went on saying anything, hardly knowing what she
+said, just for the mere human companionableness of it. "How did you
+come here? I suppose you came over with Angus in his boat. Of course
+you would. Then there must be another way into the cave after all, and
+we couldn't find it."
+
+"And so I frightened you?" said the old man gently, making no effort
+to withdraw his hand. "Yes, there is another way in." He made no
+attempt to answer all her questions.
+
+"Urchin," called Fiona, raising her voice. "Urchin, come back; it's
+all right."
+
+But there was no answer.
+
+"Urchin," she shouted; "Urchin."
+
+But there was no answer save the echoing of the empty cave.
+
+"He was going down to the boat," she said, loyally repressing the fact
+that the Urchin had bolted. "We must go after him, for he had hurt his
+head, and I am afraid of his falling again."
+
+They climbed the rock barrier, and made their way to the boat. The
+boat lay there as it had been left, half ashore, with the swell
+rippling against the stern, and over one thwart the Urchin's jacket,
+just as he had thrown it down. And the boat was as empty as the cave.
+
+Into Fiona's eyes came a sudden fear.
+
+"He must have fallen again, and be lying somewhere," she said.
+
+They went back, searching every nook and corner of the cave, turning
+the light into every crevice, under every rock, making a minute
+examination of the rock barrier; and there was no sign.
+
+And then Fiona broke down.
+
+"He is drowned," she said, and just sat and sobbed.
+
+After a few moments the old man came and sat down beside her. In his
+gentle voice he said that the Urchin could not possibly be drowned.
+The water was quite shallow at the edge, and he was a good swimmer,
+was he not? And even if he had not been, the swell would have rolled
+him ashore. He himself had no doubt that all would come right.
+
+Fiona ceased sobbing and turned on him.
+
+"Do you know where he is?" she demanded bluntly.
+
+"How would I know when you do not know?" said the old man. "Could I
+see what you could not see?" And then "Listen."
+
+Down the waterway came voices, and the sound of oars. It was in fact
+Jeconiah's boat entering the cave.
+
+Fiona caught at the straw.
+
+"He may have swum out to the other boat," she said.
+
+But there was no one in the other boat but Jeconiah and his two men.
+They had powerful lanterns, and the boat was full of sacks. Jeconiah
+himself was purple with suppressed rage and impatience. The moment he
+could get ashore, he waddled up to Fiona and shook the map of the cave
+in her face, exclaiming, "Remember, if you have found anything it
+belongs to me and I claim it."
+
+Fiona had only one thought in her mind at the moment, and the foolish
+impertinence of the little fat man was to her merely so much
+unnecessary sound. Her answer was "Have you seen the Urchin? We have
+lost him. Did he not swim out to your boat?" She was almost sobbing
+again.
+
+"Confound the brat!" said Jeconiah roughly. "I've not come here to
+play hide-and-seek with a parcel of children. Tell me at once what
+you've found."
+
+Fiona straightened herself, and looked at Jeconiah as though he were
+some noxious reptile.
+
+"There was nothing here to find," she said. "And this cave belongs to
+my father. And anything in it he gave to the Urchin."
+
+"Well, he's not here," said Jeconiah brutally, "and I am. Who finds,
+keeps."
+
+And calling to his men to bring the lights, he set off, between
+stumbling and crawling, for the rock barrier. One of the men had the
+decency to stop a moment and tell Fiona that they had seen nothing of
+any boy; Jeconiah turned and abused him for a laggard.
+
+With a good deal of difficulty the two men hoisted and shoved Jeconiah
+over the rock barrier. Once over, he took a light himself, told the
+men to wait where they were, and after a good look at the map set out
+for the recess where the Urchin had found the doubloon. Fiona followed
+him; there was some vague idea in her mind of protecting the Urchin's
+property; behind that there was still a faint subconscious hope that
+in some way or other the Urchin would suddenly reappear, and laugh at
+her terrors.
+
+Jeconiah reached the recess. He saw and understood the marks of the
+boxes on the sand. He swung round on Fiona with a snarl like that of a
+hungry wolf.
+
+"You think you're clever, don't you, you and your father," he said. "I
+suppose you've had the stuff moved. But I'll have it if I go to the
+middle of the earth for it."
+
+It was the old hawker who shouted. He had stood apart, a silent
+spectator of the scene. And at this moment he called out, in a voice
+of surprising power for so frail a body:
+
+"Look out above you. Jump."
+
+Fiona, who had learned to obey, jumped back just in time. But Jeconiah
+had never learnt to obey any orders but his own. He stood, stupidly
+staring, as a bit of the roof of the cave bowed downward, gave way,
+and came cascading about him in a shower of earth and big stones, that
+filled the air with thick dust. When the dust cleared again, they saw
+Jeconiah lying on his back in the middle of the cliff fall,
+motionless, and to all appearance dead.
+
+But Fiona was not looking at Jeconiah. She was looking at the place
+where the roof of the cave had bowed itself before falling; and into
+her mind came crowding dim forgotten legends, legends of fear and
+hope. And she was saying over and over again to herself, as though she
+might miss its purport, that behind the cliff fall, as if impelling
+and directing it, she had seen a small brown elfin hand.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was the old hawker who took charge of the situation. The two men,
+who at first had looked as if they would run, became amenable when he
+spoke to them. They carried Jeconiah's body to his boat, and laid it
+in the stern-sheets. One of the men pointed out that there was no mark
+at all on his face or head, and that he did not believe he had been
+struck.
+
+"Died of fright, I expect," he said curtly.
+
+"Lucky we stood out for wages in advance," said his companion. It
+looked as if this might be Jeconiah's fitting epitaph.
+
+The old man himself went with Fiona in her boat. But he was too feeble
+to row far, so he landed on the island and went in search of Angus. In
+due course Angus came down and rowed Fiona home, saying that the old
+man was going to look after his sheep for him till he returned. It did
+not occur to Fiona, until they had gone too far to turn back, that it
+looked as though the old man wished to avoid questions. Her mind was
+in a helpless whirl in which everything seemed unreal, except the
+Urchin and that small brown hand. She could not give her father any
+very coherent account of what had happened; but he went out at once to
+find a boat and men to search the cave.
+
+Jeconiah was laid on his bed in the big house, and there was much
+commotion there; this one must go for the doctor and that one for the
+Student; scared maids stood and whispered in the corridors; the two
+loafers, heroes of the hour, feasted happily in the kitchen. Then the
+doctor came, and went upstairs with a grave face, as befitted the
+occasion; but he did not come down again, and surmise grew. Half an
+hour passed before the door opened, and the doctor, smiling and
+rubbing his hands together, came into the library, where the Student
+had just entered and was talking to the housekeeper.
+
+"He's not dead at all," said the doctor. "It's catalepsy--suspended
+animation, you know. Like the frog in the marble. Had a shock, you
+tell me? Just so, just so. How long? Oh, he may be an hour, and he
+may be a month; no one can ever say. Never had the good luck to see a
+case before. Not _very_ uncommon, no. Mustn't try to rouse him, you
+know; might be dangerous. Just wait. Send for me at once if he comes
+to. Can get two nurses to watch him, if you like; just as well
+perhaps. Sometimes they are odd when they wake; think they are someone
+else for a bit, you know, change their habits, and so on. Dual
+personality? Oh, yes, several well-attested cases; but I don't mean as
+much as that. Might arise this way, of course; but what I mean is more
+just queer. But of course he need not be; might wake up as if he'd
+been asleep. If it lasts long, take away all the almanacs and things,
+in case he gets a shock. Well, good day, good day."
+
+And the doctor went; and Jeconiah's body lay still on the bed, waiting
+till his soul, if he had one, should return to it.
+
+So the Student went home again; and on his way he met the old hawker,
+who stopped and spoke to him; and for a few moments the two walked
+together, the old man talking rather quickly. Fiona, watching from the
+window of the bookroom, could see that her father first looked puzzled
+and then grave and then considerably relieved; in a dim kind of way
+she found herself thinking that Angus must have rowed back very fast
+to Scargill, if the old hawker were already landed. She was wondering
+who he really was and why her father talked to him.
+
+"Tell Anne to get us something to eat--anything," said the Student.
+"The boat will be here directly."
+
+The Student, by straining what remained of old loyalty as far as he
+dared, had found half a dozen volunteers, good men, to face the
+haunted cave, provided he went himself.
+
+"Do you want to come, Fiona?" he said. Of course Fiona meant to come.
+
+And while they waited, the Student questioned Fiona, and had the whole
+story coherently, except the hand. That part Fiona felt she could not
+tell; there, in the cheerful bookroom, it seemed so impossible. Once
+or twice he nodded, and said, "That would be so"; and at the end he
+pointed out that whatever had happened had happened when her back was
+turned, as she faced the coming footsteps. She had not thought of
+that. What puzzled her, and hurt her a little, was that, though her
+father seemed to feel for _her_, he did not appear to be particularly
+concerned about the Urchin. "I believe it will come right," was all he
+said.
+
+The boat arrived, rowed by strong hands; the men worked with a will,
+and the distance to the cave seemed short. They had brought good
+lights, and the Student had a powerful electric torch. High and low
+they searched the cave, and found nothing. One man, who was a good
+swimmer, dived several times and found nothing there either. Tracking
+footsteps was impossible; the sand, where there was any, had been
+hopelessly trampled.
+
+When nothing more could be done, the Student said that he wanted to
+look for a thing himself which he had an idea of. He went down to the
+end of the cave with his torch and tapped the wall with a geological
+hammer. Fiona sat on the rock barrier and watched him; what he was
+seeking she had no idea. He came slowly back down the cave, tapping
+the wall, till he reached the recess where the Urchin had picked up
+the doubloon. He went straight to the back of the recess and tapped
+the wall there; and even as he did so a large piece of stone fell from
+above, and smashed the electric torch in his hand. He came back to the
+rock barrier quite unperturbed, looking as if he had found what he
+sought.
+
+"Not very safe, this cave," he said calmly; and told the men to push
+off the boat. "There is nothing more we can do," he said; "the boy is
+certainly not here."
+
+The men's courage was fast ebbing away; they were glad to get out of
+the haunted place.
+
+Fiona sat in silence all the way home. It was dark before they
+reached the house. She waited while Anne bustled over supper; she
+thought she would never see her father alone. At last supper was over,
+and he went into the bookroom and began to light his pipe; she
+followed him. Her words came out in a torrent.
+
+"Daddy," she said, "what does it all mean? and why are you so strange
+and unconcerned? What did that old man tell you? If I couldn't see,
+_he_ must have seen, for he was facing. What is it you know? And why
+have you told me nothing?"
+
+"Sit down, little daughter," said the Student. He drew her beside his
+knee, with her head on his arm. "I will tell you now what I can. The
+old man gave me a sort of hint. He did not really see, for the lamp
+was the other way; I fancy he guessed. I wanted to test what he said
+to me. I have tested it now with my hammer; it all agrees. I am
+absolutely certain that no harm has come to the Urchin. But I can do
+nothing for him myself. And I must not even tell you what I think;
+for if I do it ruins everything. All I may tell you is this, that you
+are the only person who can do anything. You will have to do it all
+yourself and by yourself, little daughter. I believe you have ways and
+means of your own of finding out. Are you going through with it,
+Fiona?"
+
+"Of course I am, daddy," she said. "How can I do anything else? If
+only I knew what it is I have to do to find him--how to begin even."
+
+"I cannot even tell you that," said the Student. But his fingers
+played with the copper bangle on her wrist. And out of some dim corner
+of subconsciousness she seemed to hear a small voice which said "If
+you can't get what you want by beginning at the top you must start
+again at the bottom." Her father, with his learning, was the top; the
+bottom . . . ?
+
+Fiona went to bed less miserable than she had expected.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE OREAD
+
+
+Fiona was out long before breakfast next morning, digging furiously in
+her garden. Not many minutes passed before she was rewarded by a glint
+of something yellow in a shovelful of earth, and there was the
+centipede.
+
+"You dear creature," she said, and caught it up quickly before it
+could wriggle away.
+
+"How polite we are this morning," said the centipede, swelling with
+conscious pride. "I suppose we want something."
+
+Fiona's mind was far too completely taken up with her one object to
+notice or resent any insinuations.
+
+"Yes, I do," she said. "You told me that if I could not get what I
+wanted by beginning at the top I must start again at the bottom. I
+can do nothing from the top this time, so I've come to you."
+
+"Flattered, to be sure," said the centipede. "How frank we are."
+
+"Please don't be cross," said Fiona, humbly. "I am only doing what you
+told me to do."
+
+"Bless you, child, I'm not cross," said the centipede. "I'm a
+philosopher."
+
+"Don't philosophers get cross?" asked the girl.
+
+"Never," said the centipede. "And when they do they call it something
+else. What's the matter with me is, that I've sprained my seventh
+ankle on bow side, counting from the tail. Don't say you're sorry, for
+you're not. Anyone can see you're not."
+
+"You are horrid to-day," said Fiona. "And the other day you were so
+nice."
+
+"That's what makes me such a charming companion," said the centipede.
+"You never know what to expect. So I never pall."
+
+"I want to know where the Urchin is, and how I am to find him," said
+Fiona.
+
+"Is that all?" said the centipede. "Fancy interrupting my breakfast on
+account of that boy. Well, one question at a time. We'll have the last
+one first; I'm in that sort of mood to-day."
+
+"How can I find the Urchin, then, please?" asked Fiona.
+
+"Well, you've been told _that_ already," said the centipede. "Haven't
+you a memory?"
+
+Fiona thought and thought, but could make nothing of it.
+
+"My friend the bookworm was there at the time," said the centipede,
+"and heard the shore lark tell you that the last man went up a hill.
+Very well. Go up a hill."
+
+"But that was for something quite different," said Fiona. "That was
+for my treasure. I am not thinking of any treasure now."
+
+"Silly of you, then," said the centipede. "I would be. Ever studied
+philosophy?"
+
+"No," said Fiona.
+
+"That's a pity," said the centipede. "Then you've never heard of Hegel
+and the unity of opposites? Black and white are only different
+aspects of the same thing, you know. And as soon as you begin to think
+about it, you see at once how sensible it is. Well, a treasure-hunt
+and a boy-hunt are only different aspects of a hunt, aren't they?
+Therefore they are the same thing. Therefore what does for one does
+for the other. Therefore you go up a hill. There's logic for you," and
+once more he swelled proudly.
+
+"Thank you very much," said Fiona. "And now will you please tell me
+where the Urchin is?"
+
+"Tell you!" exclaimed the centipede. "Why, it was you told me. You
+prophesied the whole thing."
+
+"I'm sure I don't remember it, then," said Fiona.
+
+"What's the matter with _you_," said the centipede, "is that you
+refuse to exert your intelligence, such as it is. You should take a
+lesson by me. You humans are all forgetting nowadays that the spoken
+word is an instrument of great power, and that once it is launched it
+goes on and on, and can work magic on its own account, quite
+independently of you. If you say a thing will happen, it frequently
+does happen."
+
+"But what did I say?" asked Fiona.
+
+"You told the Urchin that if he hurt the shore lark the Little People
+would take him. Well, they've taken him. That's all."
+
+And the centipede slid down on to the ground, and with something like
+a chuckle vanished. He had evidently learned from his philosophy to
+bear with resignation the misfortunes of others.
+
+But Fiona did not set off up a hill at once. After breakfast she went
+to the bookroom and spoke to her father.
+
+"I have found out where the Urchin is, daddy," she said. "He was
+carried off by the fairies."
+
+The Student showed no surprise.
+
+"You have not been long finding out, Fiona," he said. "I thought you
+had ways and means of your own."
+
+"But, daddy," she said, "I don't _really_ believe it, you know. It
+sounds so absurd nowadays. Do you believe it?"
+
+"I believe it, yes," said the Student. "I knew yesterday. Now that you
+know, I may talk to you about it, so far."
+
+"I don't know that I do really know," she said. "Things like that
+don't _really_ happen, do they? Whoever heard of it?"
+
+"You and I have heard of it," he answered. "And that is enough. The
+proposition that people are not carried off by fairies is a mere
+working hypothesis, liable to be overthrown by any one case to the
+contrary. Well, we've got a case to the contrary, and that's the end
+of the hypothesis."
+
+"I'm arguing against myself, daddy, you know," she said. "I want to
+believe that we do know where he is."
+
+"No difficulty at all," said the Student, "to anyone with a properly
+trained mind, like yours and mine. Take it this way. No one has ever
+crossed the South Arabian desert or explored the snow ranges of New
+Guinea, have they? Well, for all anyone can say to the contrary,
+people may be carried off by fairies every day of the week in New
+Guinea or South Arabia, mayn't they? It may even be the rule there. It
+may be a working hypothesis among the pygmies of New Guinea that such
+a thing _always_ happens--at death, for instance. It would be just as
+good a working hypothesis as it is that it _never_ happens."
+
+"But, daddy, it would be so extraordinary, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Not a bit more extraordinary," he said, "than the inside of a bit of
+radium, or the inside of an egg, for that matter. It is probably
+simpler for the Urchin to become a fairy than for an egg to become a
+bird, or a caterpillar a butterfly. It would not be nearly as strange
+as it is that there is a water beast which can shed its gills and
+become a land beast, or that Uranus moons go round the wrong way. You
+can't knock it out by any reasoning of that kind, Fiona. It's merely a
+matter of fact; and if we have found a case we _have_ found a case."
+
+"Then you knew yesterday, daddy?" she said.
+
+"I had a very fair idea," he answered. "That is why I was tapping in
+the cave with a hammer. Can you guess why?"
+
+Fiona saw.
+
+"To find the rest of the cave," she said. "That is where he would be."
+
+"Just so," said the Student. "These caves cannot end in a wall, as
+that one seems to. I thought the wall must ring hollow somewhere, and
+the hollow is in the recess where the stone nearly fell on me. The
+apparent end of the cave is not in the line of the true cave at all."
+
+"It is the same place where the stones fell on Mr. Johnson," said
+Fiona.
+
+"That is strange," said the Student.
+
+And then Fiona told about the hand she had seen.
+
+"Of course, of course," said the Student. "That explains the whole
+thing. They threw the stone down on me too. They did not wish me to
+know that the wall was hollow just there. They must use it as a
+doorway. They will have carried the boy through at the moment that you
+turned your back, of course. I suppose he invited them in some way;
+they could have no power otherwise."
+
+"He said he would go _anywhere_ to find his treasure," said Fiona.
+
+"That would be quite sufficient for them to act on," said the Student.
+
+"Then the stories about the cruelty of the Little People are true,"
+asked Fiona.
+
+"Only in part," said the Student. "I take it that they are all sorts,
+like ourselves. They are, as you know, the vanished debris of all the
+peoples that have helped to make this planet what it is. Good people,
+many of them. But they cannot altogether love those who have driven
+them under the ground."
+
+"And who is the old hawker, daddy," she asked, "and what has he to do
+with it all?"
+
+"I can't talk about anything except what you already know," said the
+Student. "Have you found out yet how to start?"
+
+"I am to go up a hill," said Fiona. "And I am going up Heleval now.
+And I came to see if you would come with me."
+
+"I wish I could; I wish very much I could," said the Student. "I do
+not know what you may find; but I know well that if I went with you,
+you would find nothing but grass and rock. I am too old to see the
+things you can see, you know. You have to do it alone, little
+daughter."
+
+So Fiona filled her pocket with bread and cheese, and started; and the
+Student, after a useless attempt to settle down to his inscriptions,
+set up a little three-inch telescope with which he sometimes
+entertained Fiona on fine nights, gazing at Jupiter's moons or
+Saturn's rings, and followed her across the moor as far as he could.
+It was the only way he could go with her.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are many worse things in the world than setting out to climb
+Heleval on a beautiful morning on the first of October, when the grass
+in unsunned corners is still pearly with the frost of the night, and
+the whole earth is touched with the wonderful caress of the cool
+autumn sunshine. Fiona's way lay along the shore road, past the bank
+of heather and fern which in August had been gay with flowers, napperd
+and potentilla, blue milkwort and starry eye-bright, and alive with
+butterflies, blues and small heaths and pearl-bordered fritillaries;
+but the flowers were faded now, and in their place, in the little burn
+where the hazelnuts grew, was a tapestry of purple burrs and scarlet
+hips. The shore road ended at a little burn; here an old stone bridge,
+grown over with grass, crossed the pool which in times of spate would
+hold a fat, white sea-trout, and here Fiona and the Urchin had used
+to come in summer to gather globe flowers. From this point a sheep
+track led up the valley beside the burn, through great spaces of
+yellowing bracken, by little swampy springs where late forget-me-nots
+still lingered and an early snipe might rise with a skeep, and across
+low-lying wastes of bog-myrtle, perfuming all the air with its dying
+leaves; then the ground began to rise, and fern and bog-myrtle gave
+place to short, hard grass tufted with bulrushes, and beds of matted
+unburnt heather, seamed with rabbit tracks.
+
+After a time Fiona left the valley and began to climb the hillside,
+rising steeply through heather and red grass and heather again, most
+of it dying by now, but with patches still in full flower, worked by
+the wild bees and making the moorland smell like a honey-pot. Then
+more grass, and limestone ridges, and she stood on the crest of the
+moor, which billowed away on her right, wave after wave, till it ran
+down to the low ground and the sea, and rose up on her left till it
+ended in the great mass of Heleval, standing up into the cloudless
+sky. The ground before her was scarred with deep peat-hags, their gray
+banks touched with the tiny scarlet blossoms of the trumpet-moss,
+while from their crumbling sides projected bits of the whitened trunks
+of trees long since dead, last vestiges of the forests that had
+clothed the island ere ever the Gael first fought his way in. Walking
+became impossible, and she jumped from gray bank to gray bank,
+occasionally floundering across a little lake of soft peat, where the
+wild cotton grass still bloomed, and the mountain hares had left
+telltale tracks. Now and again a hare itself would scurry away before
+her up one of the peat ditches, rising to the moor level as soon as he
+thought he was out of gunshot and sitting up on his haunches to watch;
+now and again an old grouse, his head and hackles red as a berry in
+the sunlight, would rise, crow, and swing away over the brow of the
+moor. And presently from behind Heleval came drifting a gray bird
+with a long bill who on hovering wings wheeled three times in the air
+above her and gave his full spring call, the most wonderful sound that
+the hills ever hear; then he stooped close over her head and with
+wings spread sickle-wise shot away for the sea. One may see a curlew
+on the moor in October, but he will not give his spring call; and
+Fiona felt of good courage, for she knew that the bird had called for
+her, to tell her she was in the right way.
+
+So she came to the foot of Heleval itself, and started to climb the
+steep slope of short grass, slippery as polished board, which led up
+to the rock pinnacle above; the hillside twinkled with the white scuts
+of rabbits racing up before her to their holes, as round the side of
+the mountain came their enemy, perhaps the last kite in the island,
+glittering in the sun as only a glede can, till the beautiful cowardly
+creature caught sight of Fiona and swept away across the valley. She
+passed the great cairn where the hill foxes live, and began the last
+climb to the pinnacle of rock that fronts the flat crest of the
+mountain. And now something white on the rock, which she had noticed
+from below without taking account of, began to become insistent. It
+could not possibly be a patch of snow yet, she thought. Perhaps the
+shepherd had hung a sheepskin there. But no sheepskin was ever so
+white.
+
+Then she came up near the pinnacle, and saw. Standing upright against
+it was a girl, not much older than herself. Her long dark hair blew
+back over the rock; her white body was half hidden in a trembling veil
+of white light, which shimmered and played all about her, waving with
+every breath of the wind. Her face was beautiful and cold, like a
+frosty moonrise; her eyes shone like the drip of phosphorescent water
+under the stars.
+
+"You have come at last," said the girl. "Every day for many days I
+have watched for you."
+
+"Who are you, you beautiful girl?" asked Fiona.
+
+"I am an Oread," said the girl. "I am the spirit of Heleval."
+
+"I have heard," said Fiona, "that long ago people used to believe that
+everything had a spirit of its own, mountains and rivers and trees. Is
+it true then?"
+
+"It _was_ true," said the girl. "The world was full of my sisters,
+once. There were the Naiads in the streams, and the Hamadryads in the
+woods, and we, the Oreads, in the mountains. Men were wiser and
+simpler in those days. But now my sisters are nearly all gone. When a
+tree has become so many cubic feet of timber, how can it shelter a
+Dryad? When a stream is merely so many units of waterpower, how can a
+Naiad dwell there? Only the barren mountains, if they contain neither
+gold nor iron, have been left unappraised and unexploited; and a few
+Oreads still linger here and there. Once in a while a man fancies that
+he sees one of us; then he must climb and climb till the day he dies,
+hoping to see her indeed; down in your world people call him mountain
+mad."
+
+"How is it then that I have seen you?" asked Fiona.
+
+The Oread touched her bracelet.
+
+"Partly because of this," she said. "But chiefly because you are a
+child, and can still see. What is it you have come to ask me?"
+
+"How to find the Urchin," said Fiona.
+
+"You know of course where he is?" the girl asked; and Fiona said,
+"Yes, he is in Fairyland; but I do not know the way to go."
+
+"That is easily told," said the Oread. "The King of the Woodcock will
+let you in, and any of his people can tell you where to find him. But
+do you know the danger? If you do arrive, which is very doubtful, the
+fairies will make you wish a wish; and if your wish be one that does
+not find favor with them, they will keep you there forever, till you
+lose your memory and yourself and become even as one of them."
+
+"I will take the risk," said Fiona, "for I must go and try to bring
+him back."
+
+"Why do you want to bring him back?" asked the Oread. "He is much
+better where he is. Will he thank you for bringing him back? Not a
+bit. You will have the labor and the danger, and he will take it all
+for granted. And then he will become a man, and what use is that? He
+may be a financier, and cheat somebody; or a politician, and slander
+somebody; or a learned man, and hinder wisdom. He is much better in
+Fairyland. Why are you going?"
+
+"I can't help it," said Fiona. "You can't leave people in the lurch,
+you know."
+
+"Of course you can," said the Oread. "Be sensible and go home; eat,
+drink, and be merry."
+
+"O, don't you understand?" said Fiona. "Don't you see that there are
+some things you _can't_ do, whatever anybody says? It's not the reason
+of the thing; it's only just because I am I, and he is lost. You are
+so beautiful; haven't you any heart?"
+
+"Neither heart nor soul," said the Oread. "So I ought to be perfectly
+happy. You have a heart and a soul, and you are not. Which of us is
+the better off?"
+
+"I wouldn't change, anyhow," said Fiona.
+
+The Oread laughed.
+
+"Of course you wouldn't. It is I who would change if I could. But as I
+have no soul, and cannot get one, and do not know what it would mean
+to get one, it is no use worrying; it is best to be happy as I am. In
+any case, I would not care to be like men and women. I would not mind
+having a child's heart, like you. I had a heart once, but it is so
+long ago that I have almost forgotten what it was like. How old do you
+think I am?"
+
+"You _look_ about seventeen," said Fiona.
+
+"I am exactly as old as Heleval," said the girl. "And that is more
+hundreds of thousands of years than you or I could ever count. I am
+older than any of the fishes or birds or beasts; far older than men or
+fairies. Look at that," and the Oread swept her arm over the glorious
+prospect around her; the two great wings of the Isle of Mist stretched
+far out into the sea, the Atlantic throbbing and sparkling under the
+blue sky, and across the loch the jagged gray range of the Cuchullins,
+peak upon peak. "Isn't it all beautiful? We came into being together.
+Heleval was a giant in those days, a king among other kings; and there
+was no sea there, and the Cuchullin Hills stood right up into the sky,
+and twisted and bubbled while the Earth cooled and cracked, and my
+sisters of the Fire came out of the cracks and taught us mountain
+spirits the fire dance, and we danced it all night on the great peaks
+till the stars reeled to watch us. And then the fiery summits cooled
+and sank down, and my sisters of the Fire sank with them, and a mighty
+river went foaming out down the valley yonder to a distant sea; and
+every evening my sisters the Naiads came floating up in a circle with
+garlands of green on their hair, and they taught us mountain spirits
+the water dance, and we danced it all night on the moonlit water,
+while the Ocean crept nearer and nearer to gaze. And then the sea
+came up, and the river carved Heleval out as you see it, and shrank
+away, and my sisters the Naiads shrank away with it; and the island
+was covered with great forests, and my sisters the Hamadryads came out
+of the tree-trunks and taught us mountain spirits the tree dance, and
+we danced it all night in the forest glades, till one night men saw;
+and men felled the forests to capture my sisters of the trees and
+enslave them, but they vanished as the trees vanished. And to-day only
+the hills are left, and we, the Oreads, a people few and fading away;
+and we no longer dance, for we have lost all our sisters, and we no
+longer have hearts."
+
+The girl's face had filled with color as she spoke, and her eyes had
+become soft, and her voice sounded like the music of waters far away.
+Fiona looked at her in wonder.
+
+"Indeed, indeed, you have your heart still," she said. "And you are
+far more beautiful even than I thought you were. Come home with me,
+and I will love you as you loved your sisters."
+
+"It is not possible," said the Oread. "It is not free to me to leave
+Heleval. I _am_ Heleval. And I shall be here till one day men find
+iron or copper in my mountain, and come up with great engines to carve
+it and tear its flanks and carry it away; and then I shall go too, as
+my sisters have gone."
+
+"Will you die?" asked Fiona.
+
+"I do not know what death means," said the girl. "I shall just go
+back, like a drop of water when it falls into the sea. But do you know
+what you have done to-day? For a few moments, because you are brave
+and loyal, you have given me back my heart, which was lost thousands
+of years ago. It will all fade away again; but before it fades, will
+you kiss me?"
+
+So Fiona took her in her arms and kissed her, and then turned and went
+down the hill. Once she faced round, and saw the Oread standing,
+frosty and white, against the pinnacle of rock, holding out her arms;
+and she started to go back to her. And even as she moved the whiteness
+vanished, and there was nothing there but the rocky pinnacle, shining
+in the slanting sunlight. Rather sadly she went home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE KING OF THE WOODCOCK
+
+
+That night Fiona told her father that she believed she had found the
+way to go. They also discussed the question of catching a woodcock;
+with the result that Fiona was up at dawn and off to the kennels
+behind the big house, where the Urchin's father kept his dogs. She
+understood that she must take advantage both of the night frost and
+the habits of the keeper, who was apt to lie in bed awhile when no one
+was about.
+
+The two setters stood on their hind legs to greet her, and pawed at
+the bars, whining and dancing with joy. Artemis was white and brown
+and Apollo was white and black. Fiona threw open the door, and they
+were out in a moment, tumbling over each other as they made wild
+rings round the grass, and dashing back in between to lick her hand.
+She had to sit down and wait till the first exuberance was over, and
+they came and lay down at her feet with their tongues out.
+
+"It is good to be out so early," said Apollo.
+
+"It's so slow in the kennel," said Artemis. "And we can't even talk to
+each other, because Apollo was broken in English and doesn't know any
+Gaelic, and I was broken by another man in Gaelic and don't know any
+English."
+
+"You'll interpret, won't you?" said Apollo. "Of course we've the
+international code, but it doesn't take one much further than the
+passwords."
+
+So for the rest of the morning Fiona had not only to interpret but to
+make every remark twice over, once in each language. But it will do if
+the reader takes this for granted.
+
+"What are we going to do?" asked Apollo.
+
+So Fiona explained to them that she wanted to catch a woodcock and ask
+him a question, and she hoped they would help her.
+
+"Of course we will," said Artemis. "We know all about woodcock. When
+we go out with himself, we find them for him and stand still, and then
+he makes a noise and they fall down dead."
+
+"Sometimes," said Apollo.
+
+"Generally," corrected Artemis, loyally. "Will you make them fall down
+dead?"
+
+Fiona explained that she only wanted to catch one and talk to it.
+
+"We never saw that done," said Apollo. "But we will find one, and then
+you can catch it."
+
+"It's very early for woodcock," said Artemis. "There won't be any in
+the heather on the second of October. But there may be an early pair
+in the ferns."
+
+"The first ones always pitch in the ferns on Glenollisdal," said
+Apollo.
+
+So to Glenollisdal they went, down the shore road and across the
+little bridge and then by the shepherd's track along the top of the
+black cliffs, over grass and stones all rough and white with the
+frost. The cold morning air was like new wine, and Fiona had to shade
+her eyes from the low sun. Then the track left the cliffs and began to
+climb up a sunless valley, across little burns beautiful with fading
+ferns, till between two great moorland crags it reached the pass, more
+a watercourse now than a track; and then came the cairn at the summit
+of the pass, with its glorious view of sea and mountain, and down at
+one's very feet the deep narrow valley that was Glenollisdal, seamed
+from crest to foot by its deep burn, which ran half its length through
+faded brown heather and then out to sea through a huge bed of dying
+bracken, the whole bathed in the bright morning sun.
+
+"We always come here the first day," said Apollo. "Oh, we are going to
+have fun."
+
+The three followed the track down to where it passed the top of the
+fern bed. There was a good deal of grass there, dotted with sheep, and
+in one place, looking well out to sea, a curious little hard circle
+in the grass, where no sheep ever came.
+
+"That is the fairy ring," said Artemis. "Where they dance, you know."
+
+"They dance on All Hallows E'en," said Apollo. "But no one ever sees
+them."
+
+"Because everyone's afraid to go and look," said Artemis.
+
+"Please, may we start?" said Apollo.
+
+"All you have to do is to wait till we point," said Artemis, "and then
+come to us."
+
+And the two dogs dashed off into the great fern bed, crossing each
+other backwards and forwards like a pair of scissors as they quartered
+it.
+
+They were not long about it. Apollo's gallop became a sort of run, a
+yard or two of stealthy crawl, and he stopped dead, tail stiff and
+throat distended, like a dog of marble, and looked round for Fiona.
+Artemis was just crossing him; she whipped round in her stride as if
+shot and became a second marble image where she stood.
+
+Fiona walked down to Apollo. But the ferns rustled a good deal as she
+made her way through, and as she reached the dog's side the cock rose,
+five yards away, with a lazy careless flap as if it felt only the
+bother of being disturbed. For a moment she had a vivid impression of
+the white patches at the end of its fan of tail feathers, and then it
+gradually gathered speed and swept away over the side of the valley;
+for an instant it showed black as it crossed the sky line, and then it
+was gone.
+
+Apollo turned to Fiona with unhappy eyes and licked her hand. But
+Artemis never moved a muscle.
+
+"Come to me," she said in a low whisper.
+
+Very quietly Fiona reached her side.
+
+"The other bird is here," whispered Artemis, "just under my nose.
+Stoop down."
+
+Fiona bent down between the stalks of the bracken. The woodcock was
+sitting with its back to her, a little brown bunch of feathers. Very
+gently she put her hand out, and even as she did so she became aware
+of a wise black eye looking at her, though the bird faced the other
+way. Her hand closed on the empty air, and the woodcock, with a
+wonderful spring, was well on its way to seek its mate.
+
+"I believe I could have put a foot on it," said Artemis regretfully.
+"But of course we are not allowed to."
+
+"I don't know how I came to be so foolish," said Fiona. "I ought to
+have spoken to it instead of trying to catch it. But I forgot."
+
+"Better luck next time," said Apollo; "we must try again."
+
+But though the dogs worked the whole of the ferns carefully, there was
+no other bird there.
+
+They came back and lay down beside Fiona, tongues out and panting.
+
+"It's no use trying the heather yet, I know," said Artemis. "Birds are
+never in it at this time of year."
+
+"There are some more ferns two miles on," said Apollo doubtfully. "I
+saw a bird there once, three years ago."
+
+"I wish I knew what to do," said Fiona.
+
+"We can leave it for a day or two and come back," said Artemis. "Those
+two birds will be back again to look for each other."
+
+"But they won't be so confiding again," added Apollo.
+
+They were all so preoccupied that they never noticed the shepherd till
+he was quite close to them. He was striding down the track, a big,
+raw-boned man with red hair; a plaid was thrown loosely across his
+shoulder; at his heels followed a jet black collie.
+
+The dogs saw him first. It would seem that they did not like him.
+Every hair on their necks bristled; they shrank close to Fiona, making
+little moaning noises in their throats, and flattening themselves as
+if they were trying to burrow into the ground. Their eyes were full of
+terror.
+
+"Why, Artemis, Apollo, what's the matter?" said Fiona. Then she looked
+up and saw the shepherd. "Why, it's only the new shepherd and his
+collie. There's nothing to be afraid of."
+
+"Collie!" said Apollo. "That thing's not a collie. Can't you see?"
+
+"Shepherd!" echoed Artemis. "That thing's not a shepherd. Oh, can't
+you see?"
+
+The shepherd came up to Fiona, and said that Miss Fiona was out early
+and was there anything he could be doing for her. He spoke in the soft
+correct English of the Gael.
+
+"I came out to catch a woodcock to talk to it," said Fiona, "and we
+can't catch one."
+
+It occurred to her, even as she spoke, that the statement sounded a
+little out of the ordinary. But the rough shepherd never let the least
+sign of this show on his face. He answered in the most matter-of-fact
+way, with the gentle courtesy of the west coast, that there would not
+be many woodcock in yet, and would he try to catch one for Miss Fiona?
+
+"Oh, do you think you could?" said Fiona eagerly. "I should be so
+grateful."
+
+Then the shepherd saw the trouble of the dogs. He said something to
+them in a language that was neither English nor Gaelic, and waved his
+own dog to go. The collie went straight off up the moor, and sat down
+on the top of the nearest rock ledge, an odd little blot of black on
+the brown and yellow moorland. Apollo and Artemis got up and shook
+themselves violently.
+
+"It was the international password," said Apollo. "Goodness knows
+where he got it from. But we have to recognize it."
+
+"I'm not happy," said Artemis. "I was well brought up. I never
+associated with this sort of thing before."
+
+Fiona, who knew that a new shepherd had been coming, could make
+nothing of their trouble, and did her best to smooth them down. The
+shepherd led the way up the hill, and on to a little rough plateau
+broken with rocks and bits of heather, lying under the main rise of
+the hill where it rounds away toward the Glenollisdal burn. "I am
+thinking that there should be a woodcock about here," he said.
+
+"This is one of the earliest places in all the heather," whispered
+Artemis to Fiona. "He must know this moor very well."
+
+"It's too early yet, all the same, even for here," said Apollo.
+
+It looked as if Apollo were right. For when at the shepherd's request
+Fiona threw the dogs off, they quartered the whole plateau and found
+nothing.
+
+But the shepherd stuck to his guns.
+
+"I am thinking that there should be a bird here," he said. "Will Miss
+Fiona give me leave to try my own dog?"
+
+Fiona nodded and called the setters to heel; the shepherd waved his
+hand, and the black collie came racing to him. Some collies will work
+a ground like a spaniel, and some will even do a little pointing, but
+the black collie troubled himself neither with one nor the other. When
+the shepherd spoke to him, he just cantered straight forward to a
+small patch of heather on the sunless side of a rock, where the frost
+still lingered, and there sat down quite unconcerned, as though the
+matter in hand were altogether beneath the scope of his talents.
+
+"I think he has a bird," said the shepherd.
+
+"I tried that place," said Apollo. "There's nothing there."
+
+But the shepherd had gone up to his dog and was peering carefully into
+the heather. Then he beckoned Fiona.
+
+"Does Miss Fiona see the bird?" he asked, pointing.
+
+Fiona looked long before she saw. The woodcock had squeezed himself
+right into the roots of a frost-covered clump of heather, and even
+when the heather was parted nothing showed but his little orange tail,
+with its white and black points.
+
+"Shall I catch him for Miss Fiona?" asked the shepherd; and Fiona
+said, "Oh yes, please, if you will."
+
+The shepherd knelt down and brought his two great hands slowly to
+either side of the tuft of heather; then he closed them with a snap,
+and drew out the largest woodcock Fiona had ever seen. It struggled
+and thrashed at his wrists with its powerful wings.
+
+"Will Miss Fiona take the bird now?" he said. "Just behind the wings,
+with her thumbs on its back."
+
+So Fiona took her bird, and as she did so its back-seeing eye caught
+the glint of her copper bangle. It stopped thrashing with its wings
+and lay quite still in her hands.
+
+"Oh, I say," he said, "why didn't you say before, instead of employing
+these people and frightening an honest bird out of his senses?"
+
+"My dogs couldn't find you," said Fiona. "And I think it was so good
+of the shepherd to find you for me."
+
+"Shepherd!" said the woodcock. "That wasn't a shepherd. And it wasn't
+a collie either."
+
+Fiona suddenly recollected that she had not yet thanked the shepherd,
+and turned to do so. But the shepherd and collie were gone. They must
+have walked very quickly to have turned the corner of the hill
+already.
+
+"Where did he go?" she asked Artemis. Artemis shivered.
+
+"To his own place, I hope," said Artemis severely. "Well brought up
+dogs should not be asked to associate with things like that."
+
+"But it was only the new shepherd," said Fiona.
+
+"There's the new shepherd," said Artemis, nodding toward a distant
+slope, where a figure with a brown collie could be seen gathering
+sheep.
+
+"What were they, then?" asked Fiona.
+
+"Two of the Little People, of course," said Apollo. "Oh dear, oh dear,
+I'm afraid you'll have trouble."
+
+"One generally dies," said Artemis, with cheerful consolation.
+
+"But they were very nice to me indeed," said Fiona.
+
+"Of course they were," said the woodcock. "You're privileged, you
+know. _We_ all know it. And don't you mind the dogs, my dear. They
+are good creatures, but they and their forbears have lived so long
+with humans that they have forgotten most of the things we know. They
+are nearly as blind as humans now, saving your presence, my dear. And
+now what is it you want with me?"
+
+"I want to find the King of the Woodcock," said Fiona.
+
+"Bless your heart," said the bird, "and who do you suppose We are? You
+never saw a woodcock Our size before, did you?" And indeed Fiona never
+had; for he was as big as a young grouse.
+
+"Eighteen and a half ounces, if I'm a pennyweight," said the woodcock.
+"I am the heaviest king that we have ever had. Will you please put me
+down if you want to talk to me? It is hardly consonant with my royal
+dignity to be held. I shan't fly away; _noblesse oblige_, you know."
+
+So Fiona put him down, and he arranged himself like a bunch of
+feathers on the ground, his head well back between his shoulders and
+his beady black eyes looking all round him at once.
+
+"Why didn't Apollo find you?" asked Fiona.
+
+"No scent," said the woodcock, proudly. "I am not like a common bird.
+No dog can find a king woodcock; and no dog ever has. We can be beaten
+out of a wood, of course; my great-great-grandfather was shot like
+that when the family lived in Norfolk, many years ago. So we came up
+here to the open heather, and have been quite safe ever since. And now
+what do you want, my dear?"
+
+"I was told you could let me into Fairyland," said Fiona.
+
+"I can let you in by the back door," the bird said. "But are you
+really going to Fairyland? You'll need some courage, you know, if you
+are going the back way."
+
+"Is there another way?" asked Fiona.
+
+"There's the front door, of course," said the bird. "But no one can go
+that way without an invitation. Have you an invitation?"
+
+"No," said Fiona.
+
+"A pity," said the woodcock. "There is no danger that way. But without
+an invitation you could not even find the door. As it is, you'll have
+to go in by the back way and take your risks."
+
+"I have to go, whatever they are," said Fiona.
+
+"_Noblesse oblige_," said the woodcock. "Quite so, quite so. Have you
+been told about the wish?"
+
+"Yes," said Fiona. "I know about that."
+
+"The other thing," continued the bird, "is that you must stick to the
+main path. Remember that. You must not turn out of it for any reason
+of any kind. You'll see lots of side paths, and you'll see other
+things too; but if you once leave the main path by so much as one step
+you'll never get home again. There are no short cuts to Fairyland."
+
+"Thank you so much," said Fiona. "But how shall I know the main path?"
+
+With his long bill the woodcock tweaked the point feather out of one
+of his wings and gave it to her.
+
+"This will take you through," he said. "It will point the right way
+for you; that's why it is called the point feather. Just follow it. If
+you are frightened and want to leave your search and come home, tap on
+the ground with it and you will be back in Glenollisdal. But somehow I
+don't think you will. And whatever you do, don't lose it. When you
+reach the fairy grove, show it to the guardian, and he will let you
+in; and mind you don't go in unless he shows you its fellow. Oh, I'm
+all right, thank you; I'll have grown others long before they are
+needed. There is no great rush to Fairyland on the part of people who
+haven't _got_ to go, my dear."
+
+"It all sounds so much more difficult than I thought," said poor
+Fiona.
+
+"Nothing worth while is ever easy," said the woodcock. "And now I'll
+show you where to start. By the bye, you can't take the dogs with
+you."
+
+"This dog wouldn't go," said Artemis, shivering. "That black collie's
+there somewhere."
+
+"Don't bother about us," said Apollo. "We'll be home long before the
+keeper is out of bed."
+
+So Fiona took a warm farewell of the two dogs, who lamented her sad
+fate and wished her luck all in one breath, and then set off homeward
+with their long swinging gallop.
+
+"And now, if you want to be in time for the great gathering, which you
+humans call Hallow E'en, you'll have to hurry," said the woodcock.
+
+"But it's nearly a month to Hallow E'en," said Fiona.
+
+"You'll want every minute of it," said the bird. "Come on."
+
+And they started off for the fairy ring, the woodcock pattering along
+on his little feet at a pace which would have surprised anyone who had
+never seen a woodcock do it.
+
+"How come you to be doorkeeper?" asked Fiona, as they went.
+
+"Hereditary," said the bird. "We used to go to all the lost lands, you
+know, like Lyonesse and Lemuria and Bresil and Atlantis. We still
+cross Ireland once a year and pass on into the Atlantic to salute the
+site of Plato's island, before we settle in Britain. And Fairyland is
+only another of the lost lands. Here we are."
+
+They had come to the fairy ring.
+
+"There's nothing more I can do now," said the woodcock. "A straight
+step and a stout heart, my dear."
+
+Fiona took the feather in her hand and stood in the fairy ring.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FIONA IN THE FAIRY-WORLD
+
+
+It was very, very dark. Fiona could not see her hand if she held it
+close before her eyes. It was just blackness. Only one thing broke it;
+far away--many miles it might be--was a tiny speck of white, like the
+point of a pin. All round her in the dark were little soft sounds;
+they brushed against her feet, and passed before her face; little soft
+sounds, apparently without bodies. She held the tiny point-feather
+firmly in the fingers of her left hand, and touched it from time to
+time with her right, as she felt her way, one foot before the
+other--she could not walk--towards the point of light. And with her
+and about her went the small soft sounds; one would have said that
+they whispered and chuckled in the darkness.
+
+How far and how long she went she could never guess; there was nothing
+by which to measure time or distance, and evidently she was not going
+to feel hunger or fatigue.
+
+At last she became conscious of a change. The white speck of light was
+growing brighter and larger; and the small soft sounds were becoming
+tangible. One brushed past her face, and she felt it; she put out a
+hand, and there was a scuffing and chuckling, as if they were playing
+blind man's buff with her. Then the light began to take shape; it was
+a circular pool lying on the floor and wall of the avenue of blackness
+down which she was passing; and it came from something on the other
+side. And the little soft sounds crowded round her; they laughed, they
+whispered, they clutched at her dress; they were trying to guide her
+in a certain direction. She tried to shake them off, and found that,
+though they could touch her, she could not touch them. And then she
+came into the pool of light.
+
+The light came down a sort of short passage between rocks, with a
+well-trodden floor; and at the end of it, not twenty yards from where
+she stood, she could see the fairy grotto. One grand white carbuncle,
+as big as an arc lamp, hung from the roof, filling the grotto with
+dazzling white light; and the radiance of the carbuncle was flung back
+in a million points of new splendor from the walls of the grotto,
+shifting and shimmering like the rainbow across a waterfall, ruby and
+orange, yellow and emerald, sapphire and violet, changing as each new
+facet came into play; for the walls of the grotto were set thick with
+cut jewels of every hue and color. A glorious sight it looked; and
+Fiona suddenly became aware that the soft things that clutched at her
+dress and the soft things that whispered in her ear, were all trying
+to draw her toward the beautiful grotto. But she felt her feather, and
+it pointed straight on into the dark. So she moved forward; and with
+the first step she saw the trap. The floor of the beautiful grotto
+yawned wide, showing the horrible abyss beneath it; and the darkness
+was full of soft flutterings, and the chuckling of mocking laughter.
+But they touched her no more at the time; and suddenly the darkness
+fell away on each side like a wall, and she stepped out into daylight.
+
+She was in the desert. The yellow burning sand stretched all round
+her, a mass of glittering particles that made the eyes sore; wave
+after wave, it went billowing away to the red burning hills that faced
+and flung back the burning sun. Mile after mile she stumbled along in
+that aching heat; and then, as she topped a great hillock of sand, she
+suddenly saw the fairy city. Very beautiful it looked, rose-pink on a
+wooded island in a fair lake of water, whose blue mirror gave back
+every trembling cupola and minaret; and toward it, down a broad track
+marked by tamarisk bushes, went a goodly company of merchants, with
+tinkling bells on their camels' necks and golden ornaments on their
+camels' heads, the company of a chief who rode ahead on a white Arab
+steed with his long jezail laid across his saddle-bow. Here could no
+doubt be; and Fiona all but stepped on to the broad path in the track
+of the caravan. But even as she turned she caught sight of the feather
+and checked herself just in time; and the beautiful city of mirage
+melted away, and there was no caravan there, but only sand marked by
+the bones of men, and in place of the tamarisk bushes were gray
+vultures feasting in a row. She followed the feather straight on
+across the burning desert; and on a sudden she walked out of the sand
+into shade.
+
+She was out in the forest. Huge trees rose like the pillars of a
+cathedral nave, branching far above her head and shutting out the
+daylight; and up their trunks ran starred creepers of every hue,
+fighting their way up to the sun. Down from the branches hung orchids
+of all fantastic shapes, in long still streamers, and great moon moths
+fluttered round them, taking their joy in the dim light. And the
+farther she went the thicker grew the forest, and the more oppressive
+the airless heat. Trailing plants ran across her feet and tried to
+trip her up; the great trunks closed together till there was barely
+room to force a way between; the thorns of the creepers tore at her
+flesh, and instead of the beautiful orchids there came on the trees
+huge funguses red as blood. And the small soft voices began again;
+they had caught her up; the forest was full of the same little sounds
+which she had heard before, whispering and chuckling and fingering her
+dress. And then, just as it seemed impossible to fight a way farther
+through the dense jungle, she came to the open glade. Full of grass
+and flowers and sunshine it was, and across it ran a gurgling brook,
+crossed by a little plank bridge; a sweet breeze moved the grass, and
+beyond the brook two little spotted deer were feeding; far in the
+distance were tiny peaks of snow. The soft fingers were all tugging at
+Fiona's dress, impelling her down the glade; but she had had ample
+warning of those soft fingers, and she saw that the feather pointed
+straight on through the tangled forest. And even as she moved she saw
+that the little bridge was the back of a great water-python; and the
+fingers loosed their hold of her dress, and the air was full of soft
+whisperings and laughter. And she walked straight on into the tangled
+thicket before her; and the forest parted to right and left, and she
+walked out.
+
+She was in a fair country of green grass and temperate airs, where the
+path lay true and straight before her through vineyards and groves of
+oranges. Here and there a cherry tree swung its crown of white blossom
+above her head, or a cypress stood up tall and straight as a sentinel
+on duty. Purple flags bloomed under the rocks, and on a clump of brown
+orchises sat two little jewelled butterflies, burnished green as old
+copper; up the path of the sunlight came a swallowtail with its
+stately glancing flight. Everything spoke to her here of fair peace
+and security; and when she heard the air still rustling with little
+soft sounds and chuckles, and knew that they had followed her, she
+began to wonder how it was that, now that she knew their ways, they
+should think it worth while. And they were becoming most active. The
+soft sounds brushed all round her; the soft fingers grasped her arms;
+tiny weightless bodies behind her seemed to be impelling her forward.
+
+And then before her she saw the inevitable two paths: the broad flat
+path that passed through a fair orchard of lemon trees, where the
+sunlight threw chequers on to the grass beneath, starred with scarlet
+and purple anemones; and the narrow stony track, terribly steep, which
+toiled away up the bare hillside in heat radiated from the rocks.
+Never had the soft sounds been so insistent; a myriad gentle hands
+were trying to steer her, even to push her by force, toward the lemon
+trees. She saw the folly of them so very clearly; and her foot was
+actually raised to take the first step up the hill path, when she felt
+the feather turn of itself in her hand, and she became ice from head
+to foot as she realized that she had all but destroyed herself by
+despising her opponents. They had striven this time to force her into
+the _true_ path, believing that she would certainly take the opposite
+one.
+
+She saw now the end of the fatal hill path, the sudden crumbling
+precipice which flung men on to pointed rocks far below; and the air
+behind her became full of woe, voiceless wailings and silent howls of
+rage, and she saw what she had fought against; a troop of small
+formless black things, like immature bats, with pale fingers, that
+fled moaning down the path of the sunlight. She knew now that they
+would not vex her again.
+
+She passed on through the lemon orchard, and out on to a bare
+hillside, rough with stones and dotted here and there with great oak
+trees; plants of asphodel were thrusting their blossoms up among the
+coarse tufts of grass, and far below, in all its laughing splendor,
+lay the sea. And as she turned the shoulder of the hill she saw the
+temple, a fair Doric temple of gray marble, standing in lonely beauty
+among the scattered oak trees. Its metopes were carved with the
+figures of gods and heroes of an older day, and round it ran a frieze
+of warriors who fought with Amazon women. The singing was just over,
+it seemed; and the double choir of white-robed girls, who had been
+giving strophe and antistrophe of some festival ode, had broken into
+groups, these playing at ball, those reclining in the shade or
+strolling about with their arms round each other's waists. In her
+chair in the cool portico sat the fair-faced matronly priestess, still
+crowned with red roses, and before her two little boys poured wine
+into a crystal goblet. And as she saw Fiona she rose from her chair
+and greeted her by name, calling her happy that she had now come
+safely through the path of danger and that her troubles were ended.
+
+"Come here to us," she said, "and rest, for it is but a little way now
+that you must go, and there is ample time; slake your thirst at this
+crystal goblet, and lie awhile in the shade, while these maidens crown
+you with flowers."
+
+But Fiona had learnt her lesson, and she looked at her feather; and
+the feather pointed straight along the hillside. So she passed on
+without a look or a word; and as she passed came a noise as of the
+earth opening; and the pillars of the temple bowed themselves, and the
+middle of the building collapsed stone by stone, till only the outer
+columns remained among a mass of fallen blocks, and triglyph and
+metope and sculptured frieze lay in fragments about them. And among
+the ruins a red fox with two cubs sat and snarled, as she watched a
+company of toads crawling in the dust; and of that fair scene all that
+had not changed was the pallid asphodel, the asphodel whose home is in
+those other meadows where walk the pallid dead.
+
+And as Fiona passed on, the hillside itself dissolved in mist, and
+there before her lay the fairy grove. And the guardian of the grove,
+with white beard sweeping the ground, and old trembling hands, came
+out to meet her. And she showed him her feather, and from his belt he
+drew out and held up its fellow; and she knew that the path of danger
+was over.
+
+"No one has come through by the way you have come for more years than
+my old memory can follow," he said. "They always fail at the lemon
+orchard. How did you escape?"
+
+And Fiona told him how the feather had turned in her hand of itself.
+
+The old man bowed almost to the ground.
+
+"That was the direct grace of the King," he said. "You must be a
+person of the greatest consequence."
+
+And when Fiona said, "I am just an ordinary girl," he again bowed low
+and said: "Young lady, I take leave to doubt it."
+
+Then he gave Fiona her directions for finding the King, and warned her
+that she must not loiter in the fairy grove, for the fairies were
+already gathering for All Hallows E'en.
+
+So Fiona walked swiftly through the grove, not seeing one half of its
+beauties, though she would have loved to have lingered among the
+trees. For in the grove grew every tree and plant famous in legend or
+in history, of which not the tenth part can be told here. There was
+the Norse ash, whose roots bind together the framework of the earth;
+there the Irish hazel, of whose nuts could a man but taste he would
+know all knowledge and all wisdom; there the African pomegranate, but
+for whose sweetness the Corn-spirit would have disdained to stay
+beneath the earth, and the race of men would have perished. There
+stood Deborah's terebinth and Diotima's plane, and the Bo-tree beneath
+whose branches Gautama Buddha sought and found the path of
+Enlightenment. There grew the paper-reeds of Egypt, the repository
+through many centuries of a whole world's learning, the paper-reeds
+that grow no longer in their old home, even as the prophet Isaiah
+foretold; and there the clove, for whose perfumed pistils great
+nations had warred together and brave men died under torture. There
+stood the English trees, the oak and the white acacia, which had built
+the three-deckers for the greatest sea captain the world has seen.
+There was that great traveller, the mulberry, which had left its home
+on the Yangtse to follow the old Silk Route across Asia; which had
+crossed the stony Gobi, where wild camels run and the Djinn light
+their lamps at night to decoy travellers; which had seen the Khotan
+girls wading knee-deep in the Khotan River, searching for the previous
+white jade which should make gods for China, as erstwhile for Nineveh
+and Troy; which had skirted the wandering lake of Lop-nor, and had
+tarried awhile in old dead cities, now buried under the sands of the
+dreaded Taklamakan; which had seen the turquoise mines of Khorassan,
+and voyaged on the broad Oxus stream, till from Iran its way lay clear
+to the west. There grew the cedars of the Atlas, which had aided their
+great mountain to support the sky, and had sailed south with Hanno to
+the Guinea Gulf, to bring home those gorilla hides which lay on the
+altar of Melcarth at Carthage; and there the most famous of all the
+trees of the forest, the proud cedars of Lebanon, which had once
+exulted with their voices over the fall of the king of Assyria, which
+had built for Solomon his temple and his house for the daughter of
+Pharaoh, and which had given to the princes of Tyre the ships in
+which, greatly daring, they had ranged the three seas, bringing home
+the gold of India and the silver of Spain and the tin of Cornwall, the
+wealth of the east and the west, myrrh and frankincense and purple
+dye, ivory and apes and peacocks. And last of all was the twisted gray
+olive, beloved of gray-eyed Pallas Athene, the symbol of all that
+raises man above the savage, the tree in whose train, as it moved out
+from its home in Asia, had grown up all the civilizations that ringed
+the Mediterranean.
+
+So Fiona passed through the grove and came out on a broad place of
+grass, and right before her stood the fairy ring. But not such a one
+as the ring on Glenollisdal which she knew. This ring was of vast
+size, and round it grew in a circle huge red toadstools splotched with
+white, the red toadstools from which the witches of Lapland had used
+to brew philtres of love and death. But vast as it was, it could not
+hold all the creatures that swarmed round it. It was a gathering such
+as Fiona had never dreamt of. On the outskirts stood an innumerable
+host of little strange beings, of every sort and shape, elves and
+brownies, gnomes and pixies, trolls and kobolds, goblins and
+leprechauns; and the babel of them as they whispered together was like
+the noise of a flock of fieldfares. And within them and around the
+ring itself stood the fairies.
+
+All the lost peoples and nations and languages, it seemed, were there
+in miniature; everyone that Fiona had ever heard her father speak of,
+and many another of which even he knew nothing. There were fairies of
+the Old Stone peoples, brave-eyed, clad in pelts of the saber-tooth,
+bearing the blade-bones of bisons on which were carved pictures of the
+mammoth and the reindeer. Fairies from Egypt, clad in fine white linen
+with girdles of topaz and aquamarine, with fillets round their brows
+from which the golden uraeus lifted its snake's head, bearing blossoms
+of the blue lotus. Fairies from Babylon, glowing in coats of scarlet
+or of many colors, their eyes deep with immemorial learning, bearing
+clay tablets on which were signs like the footprints of birds. Fairies
+from Crete, light of foot in the dance, in flounced skirts adorned
+with golden butterflies, crowned with yellow crocuses and bearing
+vases on which were painted the creatures of the sea, nautilus and
+flying fish and polyp. Fairies of the Iberians, black-haired and
+black-eyed, clad in black cloaks, small and shy and dusty, bearing
+ingots of tin. Fairies from Cappadocia, in peaked shoes, and pelisses
+of lion's skin trimmed with the fur of hares, moving to the clash of
+cymbals, bearing grapes and ears of corn. Fairies from Mexico, with
+heavy cheek bones, resplendent in mantles woven of the plumage of the
+quetzal bird, carrying bricks of gold. Fairies from Ethiopia, black as
+the black diamond, clad in leopard skins and plumed with the feathers
+of ostriches, carrying tusks of ivory. Fairies from the land of Sheba,
+well skilled in riddles, in cloaks of camel's hair buckled with clasps
+of onyx, bearing caskets of agate filled with spices. Buddhist fairies
+of the Naga race, with the sevenfold cobra's hood springing from their
+shoulders and shadowing them, languorous and heavy-eyed, carrying
+crimson water lilies. Fairies from Cambodia, in stiff dresses of cloth
+of gold, with gilded faces and scarlet eyebrows, bearing pagoda bells
+which tinkled. Fairies of the Golden Horde, bandy-legged, with pug
+noses and slits of eyes, clad in dyed sheepskins and carrying the
+tails of horses. Fairies of the Picts, tattooed to the eyelids, their
+plaids dyed with crotal and the root of the yellow iris, wearing
+badges of mountain fern or bog-myrtle and bearing jars of heather ale.
+Fairies of Britain, in deerskin cloaks fastened with brooches of
+enamel, with golden torques circling their throats, bearing sprays of
+mistletoe. Fairies of the Tuatha-de, with all the youth of the world
+in their eyes, clad in robes of saffron, crowned with rowans and
+bearing harps. Fairies from Greece, erect and lissom, beautiful as a
+sculptor's dream, crowned with wild olive and bearing each the roll of
+a book. Fairies of old England, in Lincoln green, with feathers of the
+gray goose in their caps, bearing bows of yew and branches of the may.
+Fairies from Baghdad, radiant as visions of the night-time, their
+turbans and their crooked scimitars jewelled with rubies of Badakshan,
+bearing magic lamps. Fairies from Quinsay, dainty as porcelain, their
+silken robes embroidered with blossoms of the almond and the peach
+tree, bearing jars of coral lac wrought in the likeness of dragons,
+and on their heads the poppy flowers that bring sleep.
+
+And in the middle of the ring stood a throne carved out of a single
+beryl, green as the sea; and on the throne sat the King of the
+Fairies, with eyes bright as the dawn and deep as the sea caves, in a
+cloak of Tyrian purple with clasps of amethyst. His crown and sceptre
+were of white gold, white gold which has long since perished out of
+the upper world, and in the end of his sceptre was set a double
+pentacle of clear crystal brought from the Island of Desire. And in
+the beryl throne, if he looked at it through the crystal, were shown
+to him the reflections of all things that he might wish to see. If he
+looked directly, he saw all that had happened in the world in the
+past; and if he reversed the crystal, he saw all that should happen in
+the future; but if he held the pentacle edgewise, then he saw the
+present, which no man ever sees, and was the greatest magic of all.
+Round the throne stood his guards, black as Moors, in jackets and
+trousers of emerald green clasped with orange zircons; half of them
+bore trumpets of silver, and half of them carried spears with heads of
+green obsidian as sharp as steel. And on either side of the throne, on
+a stool, sat a strange creature, a little wizened elf with a large
+book on his knee. One wore a white cap, and he bore an inkhorn and a
+bundle of long quills; the other wore a black cap, and he bore a
+penknife.
+
+Fiona edged herself as far forward as she could into the ring of
+strange beings, and found herself next an old Leprechaun with a face
+like a wrinkled apple, who seemed quite inclined to be friendly.
+
+"A human!" he said. "We do not see as many as we used to. But they say
+there are two to be tried to-night. As you see, we have attempted
+something out of the ordinary in the way of a welcome." And he waved
+his arm proudly round the enormous assembly. "Had far to come?" he
+asked.
+
+Fiona told him how long it had taken her.
+
+"That's nothing," he said. "There are people here to-night who, as
+soon as the dance is over, will start travelling as fast as they can,
+and will only just arrive in time for next year's meeting. Good for
+the shoemaking trade!"
+
+"Where do they try the prisoners?" she asked him.
+
+"Here, in the ring," said the Leprechaun. "The King tries them.
+There's the Public Prosecutor," and he pointed to a fairy of pompous
+aspect, with a hooked nose and a Roman toga, and a roll under his arm.
+"He's a terrible fellow. And there's the King's Remembrancer, those
+two with the books."
+
+"Why are there two?" asked Fiona.
+
+"One to remember and one to forget, of course, stupid," said the
+Leprechaun. "Whereever were you educated? Do you think kings want to
+remember _everything_?"
+
+"It must be very easy forgetting," said Fiona.
+
+"Hardest job in Fairyland," said the Leprechaun. "I suppose you know
+lots of people with perfect memories; but you never knew one with a
+perfect forgetfulness, eh? Whitecap there only has to write his book
+up; but poor Blackcap--he's the one that forgets--his book is written
+up to start with, and he has to get the pages clean again with his
+penknife. He never gets them _quite_ clean. They say he has nightmare
+every night over the things he can't forget altogether."
+
+The King had been talking to one of the officers of his guard. He now
+rose and held out his sceptre, and there was a great silence round the
+Fairy ring.
+
+"Before we dance to-night," he said, "we have, as you know, to try two
+prisoners." He turned to the officer of the guard, and said, "Let them
+be produced."
+
+The officer at once produced the Urchin from nowhere in particular, as
+a conjurer produces half-crowns. The boy looked rather large among the
+Little People, but otherwise he was much as Fiona had last seen him;
+his shirt and knickerbockers were covered with earthstains and he
+still had the same length of useless rope coiled round his waist.
+
+But Jeconiah? Was this the prosperous financier, this wretched apology
+for a living being which the officer held out on the palm of his hand?
+Not two inches high, its white waistcoat hanging in loose flaps,
+speechless, and wide-eyed with terror and abject entreaty, it was like
+the ghost of a parody; the officer had to set it on one of the great
+toadstools, and mark the place with a stick, lest it should be lost.
+The King regarded it with interest.
+
+"I understood that the elder prisoner was a very stout man," he said.
+
+"That was so, your Majesty," said the officer. "He was so stout that
+we thought it useless to attempt to take him through the doorway as he
+was, so we left his body behind and only brought away the essential
+part of him. This is all that there really is of him, sire; the rest
+was wind. When we began to sift him we were afraid that he had no
+real existence at all, and that there would be nothing to bring
+before you."
+
+"Well, well," said the King, "there's enough of him to be tried,
+anyhow. Are the prisoners provided with counsel?"
+
+The Public Prosecutor was understood to say that they were not yet
+represented.
+
+"Counsel had better be assigned them in the usual way," said the King.
+"Catch, somebody."
+
+He took a guinea from his pocket and flung it, apparently without
+looking, into the crowd. But thick as the crowd was, the guinea passed
+straight through the forest of hands held out for it, and fell into a
+tiny brown hand behind them. Fiona knew where she had seen that hand
+before.
+
+The owner of the hand at once stepped forward into the ring. He seemed
+to be the most singular being in Fairyland. Fiona's first impression
+was that he was just a large bald head, the color of parchment and
+wrinkled all over; and this impression remained, even when she
+realized that he did possess a small body, with the usual allowance of
+arms and legs. Out of his great head looked a pair of quite
+incongruous eyes, bright as beads, and full of happy drollery. Behind
+him came a couple of stout goblins, each laden with dusty law books.
+They piled the books up in a stack on the ground, and the singular
+creature with the head proceeded to climb to the top of the stack,
+where he sat down, cracking his fingers and laughing hugely at some
+jest of his own, evidently on the best of terms both with himself and
+his audience. Then he caught Fiona's eye, and deliberately winked at
+her; but somehow it carried no offence, for the creature seemed
+absolutely free from malice.
+
+"Privilege honorable profession defend oppressed," he remarked; "duty
+clients submit large number points," and he patted the books he sat
+on. He had a habit of clipping his words as he spoke which was totally
+destructive of the smaller parts of speech, and made his remarks
+sound like a series of unedited cablegrams.
+
+"We will take the younger prisoner first," announced the King;
+whereupon the Public Prosecutor proceeded to read, all in one breath,
+the indictment against the Urchin, to the effect that he did on or
+about the 20th day of September then last past in despite of the peace
+of the realm and the safety of the lieges with a stone or some other
+missile or thing throw at and break the wing of or otherwise hit, cut,
+hurt, maim, destroy and do wrong to one of the said lieges, to wit, a
+shore lark, and so forth. When he had finished, instead of evidence
+being taken, the King merely glanced into the beryl throne.
+
+"True in fact," he said. "Any defence?"
+
+The creature on the bookstack began at once.
+
+"Please Majesty duty client submit series points. First point no
+intention."
+
+But Fiona did not wait to hear what it had to say. Forcing her way
+into the ring, she said:
+
+"Please, your Majesty, it was my fault. I told him he couldn't."
+
+The King turned to look at her.
+
+"So this is the young lady," he said. "Very good of you to come, you
+know. We rarely receive visitors now. We shall try to make you welcome
+when the trial is over." He turned again to the bookstack, and said:
+"I will hear the defence."
+
+"It was my fault, your Majesty," said Fiona again.
+
+With grave patience the King started to explain to her.
+
+"Your part of it was your fault, of course. But we are not trying you,
+for you have come here of your own free will, so we can neither try
+nor punish. But his part of it was equally his own fault, and unless
+there is a good defence he will have to be punished."
+
+The creature on the bookstack was nodding and signing to Fiona, but
+she was too engrossed with a single thought to notice him.
+
+"Then I claim my wish, your Majesty," she said.
+
+"Quite in order," said the King. "The trial will be suspended while
+the young lady wishes. Officer!"
+
+And immediately the fairy ring was strewn with a strange collection of
+objects, looking rather like the contents of an old curiosity shop
+that had gone bankrupt. The officer held them up one by one for Fiona
+to see.
+
+"When we heard you were coming," said the King, "we collected a few
+little things for your inspection. It is so long since we had any use
+for any of them that many of them seem to have developed serious
+defects, which we regret; but they are the best we could find at short
+notice. This," he pointed to an old ring, "is a common wishing ring.
+It used to do all the usual things. The genie attached to it has
+unfortunately become very deaf with age; but if you can make him hear,
+we believe he is still in fair working order. This," as a frayed
+girdle was held up, "is the famous cestus of Aphrodite, which she
+lent to Helen of Troy. Its wearer used to become the most beautiful
+and unpopular creature in the world. It will still confer beauty,
+though hardly suited to the modern style; the unpopularity we
+guarantee. This," pointing to a huge book, "contains the truth of that
+which in your world passes as knowledge. It would delight your father.
+He might publish selected chapters, and watch the critics cut them to
+pieces. This," as a battered trumpet was exhibited, "is Fame. Your
+praises would be sung all over the world; and the world would say,
+'Never mind what she has _achieved_; tell us about her faults.' This,"
+and he contemplated an old iron sceptre, "is Power. You would become a
+great ruler, and would probably die in exile. And under this," and he
+pointed to a sheet of black velvet, thrown loosely over some object,
+"under this is the treasure of the Isle of Mist, which I am told that
+you have heard of. Do any of these please you? If not, we have
+others."
+
+Fiona never thought about it for a moment, of course. She had not done
+all that she had done to hesitate now. She did not look at the King's
+face, and she took not the least notice of the creature with the head,
+who was dancing about in a perfect agony, trying to attract her
+attention.
+
+"Please your Majesty," she said in breathless haste, "I came here to
+find the Urchin and take him home with me. That is my wish."
+
+She had hardly spoken the words when her instinct told her something
+was wrong. A sort of chill seemed to run through the air, and the
+color seemed to go out of the fairy world. The creature with the head
+stopped dancing about and began to wring its little hands. She looked
+up at the King's face, and read there, was it disappointment? was it
+regret? She hardly knew.
+
+"A very natural and proper wish," said the King gravely. "We shall of
+course accept it as such, and grant it with great pleasure. The
+younger prisoner is discharged. Take the next case."
+
+And then Fiona saw. She saw the thing which had once been Jeconiah,
+with that look of abject terror and entreaty in its eyes; and she
+realized that it would have meant nothing to her to have included
+Jeconiah in her wish, and that for Jeconiah it would have meant
+everything. And she realized also that, worthless and evil as he had
+been in life, selfish, mean, a thief and a liar, he was still a human
+being, and had a soul and possibilities of which the fairy world could
+know nothing. She felt a wave of humiliation pass over her; and she
+resolved that, whatever he was, and whatever happened, she would not
+go home without Jeconiah.
+
+The charges against Jeconiah were then read: stealing a treasure, and
+being a worthless character.
+
+"Any defence?" said the King.
+
+The creature with the head got to work.
+
+"Please Majesty," he said, "admit second count. Character worthless.
+Object pity however not vindictive punishment. Behalf client offer
+submit State cure. First count plead not guilty; intention steal
+treasure admitted but did not succeed."
+
+Fiona, in her new-found humility, had been listening to what the
+creature with the head was saying. And suddenly it dawned on her that,
+all through, both he and the King had been trying to help her, so far
+as was consistent with their own rules; and that perhaps the creature
+with the head, for all his oddity, knew what he was doing. She asked
+the Leprechaun who he was.
+
+"You might have asked that with advantage before you interrupted him,"
+said the Leprechaun severely. "He is our Chancellor here. He is the
+King's most intimate friend, and far the ablest lawyer in Fairyland."
+
+"Defence to first count not admitted," the King was saying. "Your
+client cannot plead his own bungling of the theft in mitigation of his
+wrongdoing. Only the intention counts here."
+
+The Chancellor looked immensely relieved at the King's words, though
+it passed Fiona's wit to see why.
+
+"Apply formal ruling," he said. "Take down," this to Whitecap.
+
+"I hold that nothing counts here but the intention," said the King.
+
+"Majesty pleases," said the Chancellor. "Settles point. Retire defence
+this prisoner. Submit excellent point younger client."
+
+"We will pass sentence here first," said the King. "Jeconiah P.
+Johnson, your counsel has very properly thrown up his brief. You are
+convicted of stealing a treasure, and it is admitted that you are a
+worthless character. On the first count, I sentence you to be handed
+over to the executioner to be extended until you become a proper size.
+If you survive, you will then undergo, as offered by your counsel, the
+State cure at the hands of the State hypnotizer." He turned to the
+Chancellor. "Any further submission?"
+
+Fiona had gone over to the stack of books, and bent down over the
+little creature with the head.
+
+"I have made a most terrible mistake," she said, in a low voice. "I
+have spoilt everything. I see that you are kind; can you help us?"
+
+"Should have come me first," said the creature, quite gently. "Tried
+attract attention. Never neglect anyone merely because odd and ugly.
+May have good heart. Sad mess now; but think see daylight. Any
+influence that boy?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Fiona eagerly.
+
+"Right," said the creature. "Make boy wish. Now follow my argument."
+And he turned to the King.
+
+"Please Majesty submit good point. Majesty just ruled nothing counts
+here but intention. Younger prisoner no intention hurt shore lark;
+therefore on Majesty's ruling same as if did not hurt it. Therefore
+never was guilty. Human prisoner adjudged not guilty is just same as
+if came here own free will; so held Majesty's father"; and by some
+extraordinary trick he got the top book open and flopped down among
+the leaves, from which position he read out bits of an ancient
+judgment. "Consequently younger prisoner both entitled and bound
+wish."
+
+The King consulted Whitecap.
+
+"It seems a sound chain of reasoning," he said. Then he turned to the
+Public Prosecutor. "Have you anything to urge against it?"
+
+"Only that, if he wishes wrong, we can't detain him, because of the
+young lady's wish," said that official.
+
+"Daniel come judgment," cried the Chancellor triumphantly. "Heads win,
+tails can't lose. Younger prisoner wish."
+
+He turned to Fiona and whispered to her, "Mind he wishes right."
+
+Fiona started to go over to the Urchin; instantly the guard crossed
+their spears before her.
+
+"No interference allowed with anyone who is going to wish," said the
+officer.
+
+Then she tried to call to him, and found that she could not speak. It
+was like a nightmare. She looked helplessly at the Chancellor; he
+nodded, and spelt on his fingers the word "think."
+
+Then Fiona understood what he had meant by asking her if she had any
+influence over the Urchin. She knew that she had a good deal; and bits
+of conversations with her father came back into her mind. She had made
+one bad blunder, and she had to correct it as best she could; and
+without more ado she concentrated her whole mind on taking possession
+of the mind of the Urchin. Could it be done at all? And if so could it
+be done in time?
+
+The King stretched out his sceptre, and there was silence.
+
+"The younger prisoner is going to wish," said the King. "Officer!"
+
+And immediately there appeared in the middle of the ring six great
+boxes, old sea chests made of Spanish chestnut, battered and stained
+and clamped with bands of iron; and on each was the picture, half
+obliterated by time and salt water, of the Madonna of the Holy Cross.
+The officer flung back the lids, and showed each chest full to the
+brim of glittering golden doubloons.
+
+"That is the treasure from the Venetian galleon which you were
+seeking," said the King. "We removed it long ago into our safe
+custody, lest it should tempt men; but it would seem that it tempts
+them none the less. Now wish."
+
+The Urchin, his eyes bulging out of his head, stared at the shining
+gold. He murmured "gun," but fortunately so low that the King did not
+hear him.
+
+Fiona kept her eyes fixed hard on the boy, and bent every effort of
+mind and will to the one thought, that he must wish as she wished. If
+only he would turn round. She had already lost sight of the fairies;
+she now lost sight of the King; she was conscious only of the abject
+wretched creature that was Jeconiah, and of the back of the Urchin's
+head. He was still staring at the gold, but he had not yet spoken;
+that was to the good, and--no, it was not fancy--his ears were turning
+pink, as they always did when he was in a difficulty. Then he began to
+shuffle his feet uneasily. Fiona felt that every atom of life and
+force in her was being concentrated on that one act of will; she did
+not think she could go through with it many seconds longer, or she
+would collapse. And then the Urchin turned his head toward her; his
+face was scarlet, and his eyes were wavering before the fixed gaze of
+her own; he _must_ do as she wished. She flung everything into one
+supreme effort--the last reserves which no one thinks they possess
+till utter necessity teaches them the contrary; and then the Urchin
+spoke, in a strange voice and all in one breath:
+
+"I want my uncle to go free."
+
+Fiona's will let go with a snap; she felt so dizzy that she had to
+lean against one of the great toadstools or she would have fallen.
+Round the assemblage ran a sound like the wind through the tree tops,
+the noise of thousands drawing in breath at once; and the Chancellor
+started a war dance on his stack of books, and nearly fell off on his
+head. The King rose from his throne, but he took no notice of the
+Urchin; he turned straight to Fiona and bowed to her.
+
+"My compliments, young lady," he said; "the prettiest piece of
+thought-transference it has ever been our privilege to see. Where did
+you learn to do it?"
+
+"I never learnt," stammered Fiona. "I made a great mistake, as your
+Majesty saw, and something had to be done, and your friend suggested
+this way."
+
+"You needn't mind having made a mistake," said the King. "If you don't
+make mistakes sometimes you'll never make anything else. And you have
+made something else this time with a vengeance. As for you, sirrah
+. . ." and he shook his fist at the Chancellor.
+
+The creature snapped all its fingers in reply.
+
+"Majesty pleases," it began triumphantly. "Duty younger client submit
+new point arising young lady's action. Client entitled wish. Did not
+wish himself; young lady wished. Therefore client still entitled wish.
+Propose develop point considerable length with authorities."
+
+The King raised his hand.
+
+"I think I shall have to intervene," he said. "I believe you would
+submit points till cockcrow."
+
+"Submit points till next year, if Majesty pleases," said the creature,
+gleefully.
+
+"If these proceedings don't end soon," said the King, "there will be
+no time to dance; and if we didn't dance no one knows what would
+happen to the world above. Even I don't know that. So as we do not
+generally have three human beings here at once, and as substantial
+justice has been done, I propose now to exercise the royal prerogative
+of generosity. Jeconiah P. Johnson, you will, as requested, go free,
+so far as we can set you free. We cannot set you free from your own
+worthless character. In order, however, to do the best for you that
+can be done, before you leave us the State hypnotizer will take you in
+hand and instil into you a few decent feelings. He won't hurt you, and
+you won't remember. The effect, I fear, will not be permanent, but it
+will ease our conscience. And as a sign to the world above that we
+have treated you liberally, you will find that you will be unable to
+attend to business until you have told your nephew a fairy tale.
+Urchin! A doubt exists as to whether you have had your wish or not.
+You shall have the benefit of the doubt, so far as is good for you.
+You will find that you will get your gun."
+
+And then the King turned to Fiona.
+
+"Young lady," he said, "you have given us a display of courage which
+we are not likely to forget. You have rescued your friend; you have,
+which is much more to the point, rescued your enemy. You have got
+_two_ wishes out of us, which no one ever did before; and you have
+asked nothing for yourself. And now what are we to do for you?"
+
+"I think I have everything I want, now, thank your Majesty," said
+Fiona.
+
+"Did we not hear talk of a treasure?" said the King.
+
+"Yes," said Fiona; "but--I was not thinking about a treasure, your
+Majesty."
+
+"I know," said the King. "But I was; all the time."
+
+"I must leave it all in your Majesty's hands," said Fiona.
+
+"It is not here," said the King. "What you saw was only a pretence.
+And we cannot send for it to-night. But if you will honor us sometime
+by returning to our kingdom, we will see what can be done in memory of
+your visit. Any time you like. And by the front door, please. You will
+run no risks that way."
+
+"And now," said the King, stretching out his sceptre over the great
+throng, "we will dance." He turned to Fiona and the Urchin. "It will
+be a little while before Mr. Johnson is ready to accompany you home,"
+he said. "Perhaps you will honor us meanwhile by attending the dance
+also."
+
+So the fairies danced before the King; and the fairy ring whirled and
+blazed with the color of them, till it was gayer than a gorse-bank in
+blossom, and brighter than a swarm of dragon-flies on a June
+grass-field, and more vivid than a fall of shooting stars; and the
+music that they made was wilder than the wind in the strings of a
+harp, and sweeter than the blackbird's song, and dearer than all the
+burns on the moor murmuring in unison. And the two children sat at the
+King's feet on the steps of the beryl throne and watched the dancers;
+and the Chancellor sat between them, and held Fiona's hand, and told
+them such stories as they had never heard before, till between
+laughter and tears they nearly fell off the steps of the throne, and
+the Chancellor laughed and cried with them for sheer joy in his own
+story-telling; and if there were three happier people in the world
+that night I do not know where they were. And the night itself passed
+away as a dream that men dream, and its hours seemed to them but as a
+few minutes--and then across the music and the dance cut the shrill
+harsh scream of a peacock as he greeted the day. The children saw the
+King rise from his throne and stretch his sceptre out over the ring;
+and the ring and the dancers were shrouded in a white mist which rose
+from the ground and wreathed its arms about them; and the beryl throne
+dissolved in mist, and the figure of the King above them, pointing,
+grew dim and huge, and spread and grew, a purple shadow that hung over
+them, . . . and they were standing alone in the fairy ring on
+Glenollisdal, under the purple sky, with the white mist wreathing
+itself about their feet, and the pale November dawn coming slowly up
+out of the sea.
+
+Did the Urchin fling himself on the grass at Fiona's feet and thank
+her in broken accents for all she had done for him? I regret to state
+that the first thing which the Urchin did was to feel in his pocket
+and draw out the doubloon which he had found in the cave.
+
+"I've got this one, anyhow, Fiona," he said. "But I wonder how I'm
+going to get that gun."
+
+Then something seemed to prick him; he began to look uncomfortable and
+shuffle his feet, while his ears turned pink; and at last he managed
+to blurt out:
+
+"I say, Fiona, it was jolly decent of you, you know."
+
+Fiona only smiled, the wise smile of perfect understanding.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That morning the doctor was hastily summoned with the news that
+Jeconiah was awake. The nurse met him in the passage, wide-eyed and
+rather frightened.
+
+"He's so strange," she said.
+
+"Tut, tut," said the doctor; "told you he might wake like that. Kind
+of change in personality? Just so. Often happens. Seldom permanent
+though. What's he done?"
+
+"Well, doctor, of course we all know Mr. Johnson's reputation," said
+the nurse. "He's thanked me three times, and hoped I didn't tire
+myself; and he had all the servants up and said he'd see their wages
+were raised, and the cook gave notice on the spot because she said she
+didn't like practical jokes; and he says he wants to go out and gather
+buttercups and daisies, and play with the little frogs; and he's sent
+for some old gun that he says he's got to buy for his nephew; and he
+hasn't opened any of the telegrams that have been waiting for him; he
+says he mayn't attend to business till he has learnt a fairy tale, and
+he's had the library ransacked, and he's tearing his hair because
+there's no such thing in it."
+
+"Oh, well," said the doctor, "we must just have patience, nurse. I
+expected something of the sort. Just humor him; if you can't find a
+fairy tale, try him with a history book; he'll never know the
+difference; and I'll send him up a nice soothing mixture. Very
+interesting case; ve-ry interesting."
+
+And the doctor, calling up his best professional smile, bustled into
+Jeconiah's room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was the same afternoon, a still afternoon of Indian summer, that
+the old hawker, accompanied again by the black terrier, was going down
+the shore road. He must have had business at the cottage on the beach.
+But his business was probably not urgent; for he stopped to watch with
+interest a group on the shore. It consisted of Jeconiah and the
+Urchin, and they sat on the little patch of sand at the mouth of the
+burn. The Urchin had across his knees the rusty old gun bought for him
+by Jeconiah, who had nevertheless exacted the doubloon from him in
+exchange. He fingered the gun lovingly, while he gazed with
+undisguised impatience at the proceedings of his uncle. Jeconiah's
+coat lay on the grounds beside a sheaf of unopened telegrams, and he
+was putting the finishing touches to a noble castle of sand; its
+drawbridge was supported by his double watch chain, and its turrets
+bore a suspicious resemblance in contour to the inside of his hat. He
+patted his work and gazed at it with pride.
+
+"Fine, isn't it?" he said.
+
+"You'd better hurry up with that fairy tale," said the boy. "If you've
+got to, you've got to, you know; and you won't keep me much once I get
+some cartridges."
+
+Jeconiah began to look alarmed.
+
+"But I haven't found one yet," he said, and glanced anxiously at the
+pile of telegrams.
+
+"Make one up, then," said the boy. "Anybody can do it."
+
+Thus adjured, Jeconiah started.
+
+"Once upon a time there was a very grizzly old bear, and he lived in a
+beautiful place called Capel Court, and he used to hunt the wild bulls
+and the stags and the poor little guinea pigs that abounded in that
+salubrious locality. And there were two young ladies there, called
+Cora and Dora. . . ."
+
+"Are those the princesses?" asked the boy.
+
+"No, I think not," said Jeconiah. "They were of quite ordinary stock.
+Well, the old bear thought they were too high and mighty, and that he
+would like to take them down a point or two. . . ."
+
+"Oh, this won't do," said the Urchin rudely. "This isn't a _real_
+fairy tale at all. You must do something better than that."
+
+The wretched Jeconiah groaned, and looked again at his telegrams. Then
+he started afresh.
+
+"Once upon a time there was a great dragon with seven heads, and he
+ate seven princesses every day for dinner. . . ."
+
+"That's better," said the boy, encouragingly, as he settled himself to
+listen.
+
+The old hawker resumed his walk.
+
+"They haven't made a very good job of him, after all," he remarked
+aloud, apparently to the terrier. "But I expect that sort is
+incurable."
+
+Was it a flicker of sunlight? Or did the black terrier really wink?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+FIONA FINDS HER TREASURE
+
+
+And Fiona?
+
+Fiona sat on the hearthrug in the bookroom, and told her father the
+whole story from beginning to end, as it has been told here. And
+sometimes he asked a question, and sometimes he said, "Yes, that would
+be so," and sometimes he stroked her hair and said nothing. And when
+she had ended, he said, "So you never found your own treasure after
+all, Fiona?"
+
+She said, "I suppose I can have it now, if I go back."
+
+"Do you think you will go back?" he asked.
+
+She replied with another question.
+
+"Have you found out what my treasure is, daddy?"
+
+"I believe I could guess," he answered. "But you have found a good
+many things already, apart from treasure, haven't you, little
+daughter?"
+
+She sat silent and looked into the fire.
+
+"I suppose I have," she said.
+
+"We won't enumerate them," said the Student. "It spoils things
+entirely, sometimes, to put them into words. But I will tell you
+something an old writer once said. He was talking of that particular
+kind of treasure which men call Truth; and he said that if he were
+offered Truth itself on the one hand, and the everlasting search for
+it on the other hand, he would choose the search. I expect you can
+understand that now; for you have seen what has happened to you over
+your own search."
+
+"I think I can understand," said Fiona. "I must be growing older,
+daddy."
+
+"You'll be too old soon to go back to Fairyland at all, little
+daughter," said the Student. "If you are going, you will have to go at
+once."
+
+"What do you think, daddy?" she questioned.
+
+"I can only tell you that, in my case, I went back," the Student
+answered.
+
+"Why, daddy, have you been in Fairyland too?" cried Fiona. "And you
+never told me."
+
+"Yes," said the Student. "Even a musty old scholar like myself was
+young once, you know," and he looked into the fire with eyes which
+seemed to see things very, very far away. "It was not quite the same
+as the Fairyland you have been in, Fiona; but we called it Fairyland."
+
+"Can't you come back with me if I go daddy?" asked the girl.
+
+"I'm too old now, little daughter," he said. "For good or for bad, I
+could never find the way again. I can only see it now through your
+eyes. I'll come as far as the door with you, and that's all that an
+old man can do. I suppose you know where the door is?"
+
+"I never felt there was any doubt," said Fiona.
+
+"Then we'll start first thing to-morrow, if it's calm enough," he
+said.
+
+But that evening was the last of the golden autumn; and when Fiona
+woke in the morning, the Isle of Mist was justifying its name. The
+southwest gale was raging round the house like a live animal, seizing
+it and shaking it, and wailing in the chimneys pitifully, like an
+unburied ghost; and before the gale the long lead-colored rollers were
+racing in from the Atlantic, smashing themselves on the crags and
+shooting up heavenward in columns of spray thrice the height of the
+cliffs, while the noise of the surf in the Scargill cave came booming
+across the water like the roar of a battleship's guns. The hills were
+all shrouded in mist, and the mist was fine salt rain that rolled in
+from the sea, driving in billows over the moor and across the fields;
+the gulls were tossed about in it like little bits of waste paper, and
+every green thing on the island opened its heart to the rain and drank
+till it could drink no more. Toward evening Fiona and the Student, in
+oilskins and sou'-westers, went down to the rocks and out seaward as
+far as was possible, and there stood, unable to speak for the noise.
+They balanced themselves against the gusts, and felt the tingling
+drops of salt spray rattle like hail off their coats, while they
+watched the cliff waterfalls, unable to fall for the wind, go straight
+up heavenward in clouds of smoke, and the sea foam and tear at the
+rocks below; and once for a moment the cloud-mist parted, and the
+hills started out, their dark sides all gashed and seamed with white
+streaks where every tiny runlet and burn was rushing in spate down
+toward the sea. Fiona managed to shout, with her clear young voice,
+"No one can really love this island who only knows it in summer;" and
+then they went home, out of the dusk and the lashing of the wet wind,
+to the quiet bookroom and tea things, and lamps, and books; for man
+may love Nature, but he loves still better the contrast between Nature
+and the things which he has fashioned for himself.
+
+For three weeks the wind blew; and though there were days when the
+sea-mist lifted, there was no day on which the sea was calm enough for
+the launching of their small boat. Then one afternoon came change. The
+warm air turned chill, and the warm rain became sleet; that night the
+wind backed to the north, and next day was a blizzard of snow. And the
+night after the wind fell away, and the snow ceased, and Orion and his
+two dogs shone huge in a frosty sky; and Fiona woke to the glories of
+a scarlet sunrise on a great field of white.
+
+"We must hurry, daddy," she said. "It's perfectly calm."
+
+"It's a pet day," said the Student, sniffing the air. "It won't last;
+the wind backed too suddenly. But it's all right till sunset."
+
+Directly breakfast was over they launched the little boat, and
+started. The snow shone white in the sunshine, and the calm sea
+against the snow was as blue as a blue lotus; but the shadows on the
+snow were a wonder, and the woven complexity of their colorings would
+have taxed every hue on an artist's palette. So they pulled down and
+into the cave, at whose mouth the great bluff looked barer and blacker
+than ever against the world's whiteness; and they grounded their boat
+and climbed the rock barrier. There the Student sat down and filled
+and lit his pipe.
+
+"This is as far as I can go," he said. "If I mistake not, you will
+find that they have opened the door for you."
+
+So Fiona went on to the recess where the Urchin had found the
+doubloon, and where the torch had been smashed in her father's hand;
+and the solid wall of the cliff had opened, and there was an archway
+leading into the black vaulting of the long cave behind. Fiona passed
+through into the darkness . . . and the darkness parted to right and
+left of her, and she stood again in the fairy ring where she had stood
+on All Hallows E'en.
+
+But how changed. Of all the bright throng of fairies that had
+clustered round it, not one stood there to-day. The circle of scarlet
+toadstools was broken down and shattered, as though by a great storm;
+and the ring itself was no longer grass, but was covered deep in snow.
+Of all the things she had seen there that evening, only one remained.
+The beryl throne still stood lonely in the midst of the bare ring; and
+on the throne sat the King of the Fairies. His face rested on his
+hand, as though he were deep in thought; his eyes were looking at
+something far away. On the steps of the throne sat the Chancellor, the
+King's inseparable friend; and he, too, was deep in thought. It was a
+view of the fairy world which Fiona had never expected.
+
+The King must have heard her step, for he rose from his throne and
+came down to meet her.
+
+"Have you come for your treasure, Fiona?" he said.
+
+And she said, "I have come because you asked me to come back."
+
+The King held out his sceptre to her; and again the mist came up from
+the ground and enwrapped the beryl throne, and the figures of the
+King and the Chancellor wavered and became dim before her. _Were_ they
+the King and the Chancellor? Was not what she saw, so dim through the
+mist, the figures of the shepherd who had helped her on Glenollisdal
+and his black collie? But the mist was wavering again about them, and
+again all was a blur; and then the mist suddenly cleared, and there
+was no one there at all but just the old hawker and the little terrier
+which followed him.
+
+"So you were the King of the Fairies all the time," said Fiona.
+
+"All the time," said the old man gently. "We go about in the world as
+you see us. And some still entertain angels unaware. Have you come for
+your treasure, Fiona?"
+
+And this time Fiona answered, "Yes."
+
+"You have earned it," said the King. "And you have found much more
+than any treasure. Your father has told you that?"
+
+And again Fiona said, "Yes."
+
+"I cannot really give you your treasure," said the King, "for you
+have it already. I think you have had it all the time; but you did not
+know. But now you have learnt."
+
+"What is it?" asked Fiona. "But I think I can guess now."
+
+"It is the spirit of the island which you love," said the King, "and
+which henceforth loves you. You have spoken face to face with bird and
+beast and with the beings who knew and loved the land before your race
+was. To-day you have the freedom of the island, and of all living
+things in it; they are your friends forever. And to the dead in its
+graveyards you are kin. All that is there has passed into your blood,
+the old lost loves, the old impossible loyalties, the old forgotten
+heroisms and tendernesses; all these are yours; and yours are the
+songs that were sung long ago, and the tales which were told by the
+fireside; and the deeds of the men and women of old have become part
+of you. You can walk now through the crowded city and never know it,
+for the wind from the heather will be about you where you go; you can
+stand in the tumult of men and never hear them, for round you will be
+the silence of your own sea. That is the treasure of the Isle of Mist;
+the island has given you of its soul. You have found greater things
+already; you will find greater things yet again. But such as it is, it
+is the best gift which we of the fairy world have to give."
+
+"And now," continued the King, "you will not see us again. And I will
+take back the bracelet. It would be no further use to you, for you are
+no longer a child. You are too old for Fairyland."
+
+"But my father could see you," said Fiona.
+
+"He could only see me as I really am through your eyes," said the
+King. "It may be that some day you too will see me again through the
+eyes of a child. But for the present it is farewell."
+
+So Fiona stooped down and stroked the little dog, who looked at her
+with wistful eyes, and took her farewell of the King; and the King
+raised his hand, and the mist rose again and enwrapped the fairy ring
+and those in it . . . and Fiona walked out through the archway into
+the cave, and there sat the Student on the rock barrier, just as she
+had left him, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. And even as she came
+to him there was a noise behind her, and when she looked round it was
+to see the archway blocked by a great fall of rock.
+
+"You will not use that way again, little daughter," said the Student.
+
+"I shall not use any way again now, daddy," she said. "I am too old.
+But oh, daddy, it has been worth it."
+
+Then they launched their boat and paddled slowly out of the cave, out
+of the dark into daylight; and before them lay the quiet sea bathed in
+the winter sun, and the Isle of Mist dreaming under its mantle of
+white.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+_A Selection from the
+Catalogue of_
+
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Complete Catalogues sent
+on application
+
+
+
+
+THE MOON POOL
+
+BY A. MERRITT
+
+Romance, real romance, and wonderful adventure,--absolutely
+impossible, yet utterly probable! A story one almost regrets having
+read, since one can then no longer read it for the first time. Once in
+the proverbial blue moon there comes to the fore an author who can
+conceive and write such a tale. Here is one!
+
+Few indeed will forget, who, with the Professor, watch the mystic
+approach of the Shining One down the moon path,--who follow with him
+and the others the path below the Moon Pool, beyond the Door of the
+Seven Lights;--and would there were more characters in fiction like
+Lakla the lovely and Larry O'Keefe the lovable.
+
+Perhaps you readers will know who were those weird and awe-inspiring
+Silent Ones.
+
+
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+NEW YORK      LONDON
+
+
+
+
+Visions and Beliefs in
+the West of Ireland
+
+By Lady Gregory
+
+With Two Essays and Notes by W. B. Yeats
+_Two Volumes. 12o_
+
+
+To those who have felt the haunting charm that inheres in the Celtic
+consciousness of an imminent supernaturalism, this collection of Irish
+fancy, belief, and folk-lore, gathered from the lips of the people
+with patient and reverent care, will have particular value. It has
+interest as an exceptionally thorough and representative study of
+psychic sensitiveness in Ireland, and the slightness of the barrier
+between worlds seen and unseen.
+
+
+G. P. Putnam's Sons
+New York      London
+
+
+
+
+
+The Substance
+of a Dream
+
+By F. W. Bain
+
+
+"In this new and wholly charming Hindu story a very old world speaks
+to us, but one that has not lost its childhood with age and
+sophistication. It is a world of innocent voluptuousness where passion
+is not contrary to faith but is itself faith.
+
+"Mr. Bain's people have character, as there are colors in moonlight, a
+character with a common beauty in all its diversities; and because of
+its utter and inner harmony, this creation of his has a very rare
+beauty."
+
+
+G. P. Putnam's Sons
+New York      London
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the
+original edition have been corrected.
+
+In Chapter II, a quotation mark was deleted after "the love of worms
+was the root of all evil".
+
+In Chapter III, a quotation mark was added after "if you could wait a
+few minutes . . .".
+
+In Chapter IV, _said Fiona," and you wriggle so."_ was changed to
+_said Fiona, "and you wriggle so."_, and _"Urchin," she shouted;
+"Urchin.'_ was changed to _"Urchin," she shouted; "Urchin."_
+
+In Chapter V, quotation marks were added after "Go up a hill." and
+"the true cave at all."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Treasure of the Isle of Mist, by W. W. Tarn
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE OF THE ISLE OF MIST ***
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