THE OPAL SEA 



CHAPTEE I 



THE DISCOVERY 



A FEAR of the sea was from the beginning. 

 The early tribes that far back in the dawn of 

 history dwelt by the eastern shores of the 

 Mediterranean knew that fear. A great awe 

 filled them as from shore and promontory they 

 looked outward to the meeting-place of sea and 

 sky. The western waves came beating in under 

 the cliffs, surge following surge endlessly; but 

 whence came they? Beyond the distant line 

 all was mystery. No dark wings of ships, only 

 the flame wings of the morning, had traveled 

 there. The deep wrapped the earth on every 

 side. The wise ones taught that the sun, moon, 

 and stars rose out of it, and descended into it 

 again; that it had once flooded all the land; 

 that it was the infinite out of which all things 

 came and back to which all things would return. 

 No one could measure its extent; no one but 

 felt its power to destroy. The little world 



The early 

 jear. 



