MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS 209 



summit because it was storming ; and would n't 

 they tie him so fast that while dangling from the 

 face of the cliffs he could use both hands freely to 

 handle and examine eggs and young birds ? 



About forty feet from the water was a weathered 

 niche partly roofed with rock, and with a floor 

 large enough to give us a sleeping-place. Here 

 we stopped to wait for the morning. 



This was not the wild summit, nor were the 

 rookeries of murres and the gulls whistling and 

 quacking near us the stormy petrels we had hoped 

 to see, but it was the wildest spot that I had ever 

 tried to go to sleep in. For a time the lantern of 

 the tug showed off on the sea, but this, too, was 

 soon snuffed out by the fog, and we were alone 

 in the midst of the waters with only the sea-lions 

 and the sea-fowl and the pounding waves in the 

 arches to lull us into slumber. But I could not 

 sleep. I was afraid I might miss something of it 

 all. For wings were heard passing in the dark- 

 ness, and now and then a form was seen hurtling 

 past. Might they not be petrels, I wondered. But 

 they passed too swiftly through the shadows to 

 be made out. I would wait for to-morrow. 



I am still waiting. 



