strange calm which brooded over all things, for the wind
had gone down, and the long, steady roar of the surf was far off
and all unlike the ceaseless rush and countless noises of the
labouring ship at sea. There came a little drone of chanting from
the chapel a hundred yards away, and there was now and again the
bleat of a sheep, and the homely crow of the cocks, sounding as if
shut up somewhere still. For a time I stayed, enjoying the unwonted
calm, and then the sunlight crept into the little window, and I
rose, and went out. My two comrades still slept.

It was a wonderful morning after the storm. The coast of the
mainland across the narrow strait seemed close at hand, piled with
great, soft, green mountains above the black cliffs, tier after
tier of them stretching inland as far as the eye could see. In the
valleys between them nestled forests, dark and deep, and in one
place I saw the thin lines of smoke rising, which told of houses.
The hill which made the best part of this island barred my view to
the westward, but it was not high enough to hide the mountain tops
on the mainland altogether. There was a fire lighted on it this
morning as if it might be a beacon. I minded that Phelim had said
that they would call the fishers from the mainland to come over for
us when they might venture, and I supposed that this was their
signal.

I looked across, past the tall, black cross to where Gerda's hut
stood, and it was as I had last seen it. The folds of the curtain
at the door had not been moved, and Phelim's crook stood where he
set it. The pigs were shut up somewhere even yet. Then the bell on
the roof of the little chapel rang once or twice, and I went near.
But this morning there was a closed door before me, the only door
in all the place. I know now that it was the hour of the morning
mass, but wondered at the time why the door was closed and why the
bell rang.

My going out woke Bertric, and he joined me, saying, half to
himself, that he should have been in time for the service. He, too,
looked all the better for the rest, and I dare say that the help of
the comb, which Fergus lent us in sheer compassion overnight, had
worked no small change in that direction.

We wandered down to the shore and looked at the wreck. The ship had
broken up in the night, and nothing but her gaunt ribs stood in a
deep pool on the wet sands. On the beach at our feet lay the gilded
and green dragon's head from her stem, and all alo