THREE-ARCH ROCKS 23 



crags. It was late, and the night that I had in- 

 tended to spend on the summit would be dark 

 and stormy, would be too wet and wild for watch- 

 ing, where one must hold on with one's hands so 

 close to the edge, or slip and go over. 



So we got over the rim along the south face of 

 the cliff, up which we had climbed, and by rope 

 descended to a small shelf under an overhanging 

 ledge about forty feet above the waves. Here, 

 protected from the northwest wind, and from 

 much of the rain, we rolled up in our blankets, 

 while night crept down upon us and out over 

 the sea. 



It was a gray, ghostly night of dusk and mist 

 that swam round and round the crags and through 

 the wakeful caverns in endless undulations, coil- 

 ing its laving folds over the sunken ledges, and 

 warping with slow, sucking sounds its mouthing 

 tentacles round and through the rocks. Or was 

 it only the wash of waves ? only the gray of the 

 mist and the drip of the rain ? Or was it the re- 

 turn of the waters ? the resolving of firmament 

 and rock back through the void of night into 

 the flux of the sea? 



It was a long night of small, distinct, yet mul- 



