THE ISLET 67 



time of worry, turned to the hill, and at the 

 approach of dawn, instead of heading for the 

 farm, he set his face for Chapel Carn Brea. He 

 was quite elated at the prospect of returning 

 to the familiar upland ; he even made up his 

 mind where to sit ; yet all came to nothing, 

 for when he was a mile on the way another 

 retreat won his favour and turned him from his 

 purpose. 



As he skirted the large pool on the Land's 

 End moor his ever alert eyes fell on the tiny 

 island in its midst ; immediately there flashed on 

 his mind an idea of the immunity from molesta- 

 tion such a retreat would afford. There, with 

 the water around him, he felt that he would be 

 safer than anywhere else ; that neither fox nor 

 cat, polecat nor weasel, would disturb him, nor 

 man intrude ; in short, that the islet offered the 

 sanctuary he had often longed for and hitherto 

 sought in vain. But there was one disadvan- 

 tage, and a most serious one — the apparent 

 impossibility of reaching the island without swim- 

 ming. He knew from his experience at the 

 mill-pool that no amount of shaking could dry 

 a wet coat sufficiently to make sitting in it 

 endurable for a whole day ; and because of this 

 he was on the point of abandoning the project 

 and continuing his way, when, on second thoughts, 



