124 STUDIES OF NATURE 



We must needs go on, however, and the worst 

 was we knew that it must end in another de- 

 tention at that baleful Greenock. As we passed 

 the lighthouse on what the Scotch call the Wee 

 Cumrae, we saw the lamp extinguished ; just as, 

 when the night was beginning, we had seen it 

 kindled at the Point of Ayre. I can hardly 

 tell why, but these lighthouses have for me a 

 great fascination. I cannot help regarding them 

 as substantial entities, which stand like sen- 

 tinels, and do their duty bravely, having within 

 them a spirit of life which the lamp symbolises. 

 It was too true. We reached Greenock at 

 five o'clock, and were told we must wait there 

 until about ten, at which time the Guinevere 

 would take us back to Arran. The passengers, 

 looking very mournful, came up one by one out 

 of their berths and would talk to us on deck. 

 The rattling of the steam-winch had roused 

 them. What strange creatures we meet on such 

 a voyage ! One of these had come to see Scot- 



