98 WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA. 



and held her out by placing both hands against the 

 rock. He told me afterwards that the effort was 

 so great that it appeared to strain every muscle in 

 his body. Some idea of the danger of our situation 

 may be gathered when I state that more than once, 

 as a wave broke against the overhanging side of the 

 cave on our starboard, it splashed into the boat, 

 and during the back suck of the swell we trailed 

 and bumped on the sloping rock on our port. 



The whole scene was one of indescribable grandeur 

 from an elemental point of view. Outside, the sea 

 and the descending torrents of rain were mixing 

 in a wild tumult of spray and foam. The waves 

 were leaping against the black basaltic crags, and 

 making fearsome thunder in the great caves that 

 tunnel the Doon in places right through from Village 

 Bay to the Atlantic. 



Perhaps the strangest thing of all in this scene 

 of gloom and uproar was that afforded by twenty 

 or thirty gentle little Kittiwakes, sitting on their 

 nests in the utmost peace and security only a few 

 feet over our imperilled heads. 



In from twenty minutes to half an hour the 

 storm blew itself out, and I think we all breathed 

 a sigh of relief when we regained the open water 

 in safety. As a matter of fact, to seek refuge in 

 such a place was the maddest thing we could have 

 done. 



Without any desire to propound a psychological 

 problem, or in any way boast of my nerve, I will 

 here mention a fact which I must confess I cannot 

 quite understand. While sitting in the boat during 

 the episode I have just recorded I did not realise 

 my danger half so acutely as I did when thinking 

 the matter over quietly in my hammock the same 

 night. I recollect a similar thing occurring before 



