h little ferns; inside it was dry and clean; and in a few
hours he had disposed all his small goods within it. There was a low
slope, on one side of the rocks, where the fern grew plentifully. He
gathered great armfuls of the dry red stalks, and made himself a
rustling bed. So the day wore pleasantly away. One of his cares was to
find water; but here it seemed that God blessed him very instantly,
for he found a place near the sea, where a little spring soaked cool
out of the rock, with a pleasant carpet of moss and yellow flowers. He
found, too, some beds of shell-fish, which he saw would give him food
and bait for his fishing. So about sundown he cast a line from the end
of the rocks and presently caught a fish, a ling, which lives round
rocky shores. This he broiled at a small fire of driftwood, for he had
brought tinder with him; and it pleased him to think of the meal that
the Apostles took with the risen Christ, a meal which He had made for
them, and to which He Himself called them; for that, too, was a
broiled fish, and eaten by the edge of the sea. Also he ate a little
of the bread he had brought with him; and with it some of a brisk
juicy herb, called samphire, that sprouted richly in the cliff, which
gave his meat an aromatic savour; and with a drink of fresh spring
water he dined well, and was content; then he climbed within the cave,
and fell asleep to the sound of the wind buffeting in the cliff, and
the fall of great waves on the sea beaches.

Now I might make a book of all the things that David saw and did on
the islands, but they were mostly simple and humble things. He fared
very hard, but though he often wondered how he would find food for the
next day, it always came to him; and he kept his health in a way which
seemed to him to be marvellous; indeed he seemed to himself to be both
stronger in body and lighter in spirit than he had ever been before.
He both saw and heard things that he could not explain. There were
sounds the nature of which he could not divine; on certain days there
was a far-off booming, even when the waves seemed still; at times,
too, there was a low musical note in the air, like the throbbing of a
tense string of metal; once or twice he heard a sound like soft
singing, and wondered in his heart what creature of the sea it might
be that uttered it. On stormy nights there were sad moans and cries,
and he often thought that there were strange and unseen creatures
about him, who hid th