CHAPTER XV 



MOUNT LUSITANIA 



JULY 21 was a raw and mainly sunless day at Windy 

 Point, but it was not unpleasant, for rain held off and 

 clouds kept above the hills, so that the forms of the land- 

 scape were visible, though the previous day's wondrous 

 charm of colour was lacking. Gregory did some fossil- 

 gathering on the slopes behind, whilst I cooked ; other- 

 wise neither of us left the sacred precincts of the camp. 

 Our only visitors were birds. Most welcome were the kitti- 

 wakes, who fed in a row at high tide a few yards from the 

 shore, one and another now and again rising on easy wing 

 and hovering over the water before lightly settling back 

 upon its surface. A skua or two came to see that we were 

 all right, and there were eiders and glaucous gulls and 

 guillemots. Clouds grew lower and denser with the passing 

 hours, and all the glory of the view was taken away. The 

 Temple looked like a mere hump of rock, the glaciers like 

 so much ordinary ice, and the bay like a sheet of water. 

 Fancy sleeps in chilly seasons, and needs the sun to 

 awaken her. 



This time it was not the sun which came as awakener, 

 but the spirit-lamp. It took some wild freak into its in- 

 terior and suddenly erupted, pouring forth a volume of 

 flame, and ejecting a quantity of lighted spirit on to my 

 right hand and in the immediate neighbourhood of two 

 pounds of blasting-powder. I plunged the burning member 



into a sleeping-bag, whilst Gregory extinguished the volcano. 



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