ours it
would be dark, and I had had enough walking for one day.

I made my way to the stream side and had a long drink. The corrie
behind me was lit up with the westering sun, and the bald cliffs were
flushed with pink and gold. On each side of the stream was turf like a
lawn, perhaps a hundred yards wide, and then a tangle of long heather
and boulders right up to the edge of the great rocks. I had never seen
a more delectable evening, but I could not enjoy its peace because of
my anxiety about the Portuguese Jew. He had not been there more than
half an hour, just about long enough for a man to travel to the first
ridge across the burn and back. Yet he had found time to do his
business. He might have left a letter in some prearranged place--in
which case I would stay there till the man it was meant for turned up.
Or he might have met someone, though I didn't think that possible. As I
scanned the acres of rough moor and then looked at the sea lapping
delicately on the grey sand I had the feeling that a knotty problem was
before me. It was too dark to try to track his steps. That must be left
for the morning, and I prayed that there would be no rain in the night.

I ate for supper most of the braxy ham and oatcake I had brought from
Macmorran's cottage. It took some self-denial, for I was ferociously
hungry, to save a little for breakfast next morning. Then I pulled
heather and bracken and made myself a bed in the shelter of a rock
which stood on a knoll above the stream. My bed-chamber was well
hidden, but at the same time, if anything should appear in the early
dawn, it gave me a prospect. With my waterproof I was perfectly warm,
and, after smoking two pipes, I fell asleep.

My night's rest was broken. First it was a fox which came and barked at
my ear and woke me to a pitch-black night, with scarcely a star
showing. The next time it was nothing but a wandering hill-wind, but as
I sat up and listened I thought I saw a spark of light near the edge of
the sea. It was only for a second, but it disquieted me. I got out and
climbed on the top of the rock, but all was still save for the gentle
lap of the tide and the croak of some night bird among the crags. The
third time I was suddenly quite wide awake, and without any reason, for
I had not been dreaming. Now I have slept hundreds of times alone
beside my horse on the veld, and I never knew any cause for such
awakenings but the one, and that was the presence near me of s