io THE LAND'S END 



cliff, hid themselves in a cave they found there. By 

 and by it began to grow dark, and there were sounds 

 above as of loud talking and shouts and of a galloping 

 horse, all which added to their fear and caused them 

 to go further into their dark wet house of refuge. 

 They did not know, poor children, that the cries 

 were uttered by those who were seeking for them ! 

 After dark the tide rose and covered the sandy floor 

 of the cave, and to escape it they climbed on to a rocky 

 shelf where they could keep dry, and there huddled 

 together to keep warm, and being very tired, they 

 eventually fell asleep. In the morning when it grew 

 light the sisters woke, stiff and cold, to find that their 

 poor little brother had fallen from the ledge in his sleep 

 and had been carried out by the sea. His body was 

 recovered later. The two survivors, now middle-aged 

 women, still live in the town. 



The most interesting hour of the day at St. Ives 

 was in the afternoon or evening, the time depending 

 on the tide, when the men issued from their houses 

 and came lurching down the little crooked stone 

 streets and courts to the cove or harbour to get the 

 boats out for the night's fishing. It is a very small 

 harbour in the corner of the bay a roughly shaped 

 half-moon with two little stone piers for horns, with 

 just room enough inside to accommodate the fleet of 

 about 1 50 boats. The best spectacle is when they are 

 taken out at or near sunset in fair weather, when the 

 subdued light gives a touch of tenderness and mystery 

 to sea and sky, and the boats, singly, in twos and 

 threes, and in groups of half a dozen, drift out from 



