I BEFOGGED RECKONINGS 53 



indeed alive, a dweller on earth, a man amongst 

 men. 



'I hate these yer fogs!' the Ol' Man said on 

 landing, with years of animosity in his voice. But 

 I could not entirely agree. Fog alongshore is a 

 part of coast scenery. By varying the immobile 

 cliffs it gives them life. By hiding the sea it 

 gives even the sea spaciousness. Not long ago a 

 northerly wind, suddenly springing off land, drove 

 a fog to the south'ard in great billowy clouds that 

 rested on the water, and it seemed as if the heavens 

 had come to earth, as if the sky was lowered and 

 turned upon its side. And I have seen the life- 

 boat put to sea on a foggy day. High in the 

 prow she was, high in the stern, and apparently 

 motionless except for the sweeping of the oars, 

 which was just discernible. Misty and mysterious 

 on the water, she looked like some ancient galley 

 coming to land after a voyage that had lasted 

 hundreds of years. Men of old time, long since 

 dead, might have been expected to jump out of 

 her when she beached. Through that fog history 

 peeped. For fog, which takes away from ships 

 their reckonings, Is powerful to destroy also the 

 reckonings of men's minds. 



