38 ALONGSHORE ^ 



strong nor'west, the Windgate squall, which is 

 regular and powerful, stretches in a broad bluish- 

 green line for a couple of miles south-east to sea. 

 At the base of the cliff and in the little bays on 

 either side, purple cat's-paws flit fanwise on the 

 water, curve about, dodge the rocks — like one- 

 winged butterflies — and disappear as suddenly as 

 they arose. They seem to be formed by bundles 

 of wind, as it were, dropping from a height upon 

 the sea. Puffs too long and strong to retain the 

 cat's-paw shape strike water further from the cliff; 

 they are commonly a purple-black where the wind 

 presses most, and behind and in front of a slightly 

 opalescent green, as if a few gallons of milk had 

 been spilt into the green water. Sometimes — for 

 reasons connected, no doubt, with the angle of the 

 wind's impact — the colouring is reversed, and only 

 the edges of the squall are purple. Like that in 

 colour are the 'shiny harum-scarum jokers' which 

 follow a boat round and catch It aback. Still 

 stronger puffs proceed straight out to sea and 

 make it feather-white, or raise wonderful streaks 

 of foam, like lace without any cross-stitches. 

 Whether the streaks diverge, or appear to con- 

 verge — and they do both — probably depends also 

 on the angle between wind and water. A little 



