XII 



FLIGHT IN STORM 



A STORM blew on the South Coast, bearing with it 

 those incessant, gliding sheets of fine rain or mist- 

 rain which often appear to contradict the weather 

 vane. The wind may be blowing from the south 

 and south-west, yet the diaphanous veils of mist- 

 rain seem to be scudding over the cliff towards west 

 or north-west. I do not know whether this is 

 an optical illusion, or whether the wind, striking the 

 sides of the high cliffs and thence thrown upward, 

 is at the cliff edge sucked for a little while out of its 

 normal course. At any rate, the mist veils appear 

 to be moving against the drive of the wind. 



But how much more striking the contradiction 

 which the upborne sea gull offers to the rule of the 

 gale ! The gale drives in hard from south or south- 

 west, and the gulls, searching for food sprinkled on 

 the lashing white breakers on the strand, move 

 backwards and forwards above or level with the edge 

 of the cliff. It makes, so far as I can discover, 

 absolutely no difference to them at this height 

 whether they are moving west (more or less with the 

 wind) or east (largely against it). All that seems 

 necessary for continued and easy progress is some 

 swaying and balancing action in the storm. The 



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