THE CLIFF FASTNESS 165 



For a while not a hair of them was to be 

 seen, but the moment the sun rose they appeared 

 at the mouths of the stronghold and lay with 

 their long, gaunt bodies stretched to their full 

 length to catch what little warmth the lurid orb 

 vouchsafed. 



In the light of day these night marauders 

 looked the cruel, bloodthirsty bandits they were, 

 the three whom the spell of Arctic cold had 

 ermined presenting an even more fiendish as- 

 pect than the others. When too the sun 

 passed behind the angry clouds so that earn 

 and sea, shorn of the rays that gilded them, 

 lay in deep shadow, the outlawed crew seemed 

 to be in harmony with their savage surround- 

 ings and no unfit neighbours of the kite perched 

 on the crag above. 



By and by, suddenly as they had appeared, 

 they withdrew, curled up on the rocky floor and 

 fell asleep. 



What a contrast the hare in his seat on the 

 hill furnished to the carnivorous bandits of 

 the earn ! He looked as fearful as they 

 looked bold, his long, quivering ears proclaimed 

 his timidity no less plainly than the prominent 

 eyes that overlooked the moor all the grey after- 

 noon till they turned towards a storm far out at 

 sea where lightning played in a black cloud, 



M 



