CHAP. XII. | Sleeps in Hell’s Lum. 229 
nighted. At the same time, he was tired and weary. He 
had endured many outs and ins, ups and downs, that day. 
His intention was to have gone to the house of his old shop- 
mate at Gardenstown and spend the night; but now he felt, 
from his worn-out condition, that it would have taken him 
nearly two hours’ walking to reach the place. He therefore 
determined to stay where he was, or rather, to go down toa 
sleeping-place near Troup Head, to ascertain how his feath- 
ered friends conducted themselves during the night-time. 
His sleeping-place was a very wild one. It was no other 
than Hell’s Lum. He knew the place well. He had en- 
tered it both from the sea-side and from the land-side. He 
had been in it in storm and calm, in clouds and sunshine. 
And now he was about to spend the night in it. The 
weather was, however, calm; the sea was like a sheet of 
fgzlass; so that he had little fear of getting a wetting during 
his few hours’ stay. While in the “ Lum,” he was at the 
back of the cliffs, and in close proximity with the breeding- 
places of the myriads of sea-fowl. It was now the busiest 
part of the season. The birds had been very clamorous 
during the day, but as night came on their clamor ceased. 
With the exception of a few screams—while, perhaps, the 
birds were being displaced in their nests—the night was 
silent, though Edward kept awake and listened for nearly 
the whole time. 
But with the first glimmerings of daylight, and just as he 
was beginning to move and to creep out of the pit, Edward 
thought that he heard some of the birds beginning to whim- 
per and yawn, as if ready for another day’s work; and by 
the time he had rounded Crovie Head, he beheld the cliffs 
alive, and the multitude of sea-birds again in full operation. 
