2b2 MOONRISE. 



to happen; it \vas so still and solemn ever\'where, not 

 even a blade of grass trembled. The Pines hung over 

 the waters as if listening for some distant sound. The balm\' 

 fragrance of tlie Maquis spread softlv to the sea, offering 

 sweet incense. It may have been that our souls onl\' 

 were full of expectation and that \\ e imbued the whole 

 wide world with this feeling. 



Suddenh' a red streak rose in the east abo\'e the 

 water. It increased in breadth and soon cast the first 

 bright beam over the black flood as if to caress it. The 

 waters seemed to thrill under this ra\" and then rocked 

 it sotth on their broad l.)osoin. At last the moon emerged 

 entireh' from the sea: her countenance was flushed like 

 one refreshed from sleep. Distorted at first and some- 

 what strange, her disc soon became round and silver\" 

 and she shed her full beams over the wavelets of the sea. 

 The stars paled as slie rose higher; onh' the largest of 

 them I'Ould still look her in the face, the others were lost 

 in the depths of the heavens. Where the wavelets lapped 

 tlie rocks of the strand it sparkled and glittered as if 

 all the m\-riad stars that had disappeared from the heavens 

 had cast themselves into the deep. A broad ri\'er of silver 

 flowed from the shore to the distant horizon, broken here 

 and tliere b\ smooth streaks which changed colours like 

 an opal. Dusky bari.|ues passing b^' dipped into this 

 stream of moonlight — dark silhouettes on a silver ground. 

 The moon rose higher and higher above the water and 

 continued her triumphant course in a wide curve through 

 the sky. Iler light soon began to penetrate the deepest 

 recesses of the shore and to illuminate the lissm^ed rocks 



