204 HILLSIDE, ROCK, AND DALE 



the focussing cloth was floating on one of these evil- 

 smelling pools. My feelings were far from pleasant, 

 but I wrung the cloth out and went on with my 

 work. During the twenty minutes we stayed among 

 the nests and birds our experience was of a kind 

 never to be forgotten. I left the rock, went back to 

 the boat/ and sat down feeling thoroughly sick. 



You sail slowly away, and take long, deep draughts 

 of the fresh sea air, but the smell of the cormorants 

 seems to follow. Going home the wind rises, and 

 you get in the bows of the boat and allow the 

 freshening breeze to blow in your face, yet the stench 

 does not seem quite to leave you. You reach the 

 inn, enjoy a wash, and partake of a good supper ; 

 for notwithstanding the smell of the cormorants still 

 in your memory, this cannot quite destroy the keen 

 appetite which the bracing North Sea creates. You 

 enjoy your repast, but still there is that thought ever 

 present that all would taste better if the cormorants 

 and their surroundings could be forgotten, but that 

 cannot be. Then, after a walk along the shore, you 

 turn in and hope for a good night's rest. You sleep 

 as you expected ; but in the night you dream that 

 a cormorant is sitting by your bedside, and waking 

 with a start the condition of the atmosphere lends 

 reality to the dream. What can it be? Suddenly 

 you remember you forgot to put your boots outside 

 the door. With a deep sigh and a thought of the 



