Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1895-10-17
THE PIT OF ALLACHY

the Witch's hillock 1t is n mound
of blown sand, rising little above
the level of a beach of naked shingle
and water rolled stones, held togeth.
err by the tough roots and tho sage
green blades of tho bent. The sea
is close by, but the din of it's perpet-
ual warfare with the shore is faint
ly heard in the hollow behind the
mound. 1t scarcely reached the
ears of Adam Ogilvie as he leaned
his back against the warm sand,
and, half sunk in n day dream, look
ed into the book whose pages he had
almost ceased to turn.
The wind must have shifted or
risen, for tho spears of tho win
dlestrae shook and rustled overhead
The leaves of the book fluttered and
pinch of sand was cast on the page
Adam was reading, as if by some
impiSh hand. Rising, he climbed
the dune and glanced Seaward The
waves curled and broke on the beach
in regular files, shooting out long
tongues of foam which slid smooth
ly over tho sand and gravel, and, at
the moment of being withdrawn, re-
turned into claws that clutched and
tore at tho ground. Outside tho calm
surface of tho northern sea had
crisped into infinite wrinkles, with
here and there n broadening point of
white. Never in after years did
Adam know salt water so clear, so
deep blue, rs this, within q stones
throw of his fathers door. Today
to look forth upon it was like gazing
into the pure depths of space fretted
with the stars.
On the western horizon were
family penciled the shapes of far
away hills. The sail of a fishing
boat, heading for home, was disap-
pearing round the Scar head. On
the verge of the sea line was blur
of smoke-some steamer making for
Thule of old There was nothing
else in that direction between the
Witch's hillock and the ice about
the north pole.
AS Adam looked, the voice of the
sea seemed to gather volume and
meaning. The freshening breeze
pluoked the froth from the lip of the
waves and chased it along the beach
and shook the dry wisps of seeweed
and the long swathes of wreckage
that marked the high level of tide
and storm. Ogilvie turned his face
to the land. 1t rose and fell in a sue
cession of even swells like the sea
itself. The sea, indeed, had made
IT and had shaped it after its own
image. The swift river near by was
restlessly at work, dragging down
tho sand and the pebbles, and the
waves piled them upon the shore
and then tore and ragged at their own
handiwork. 1t was labor worse
than that of Sisyphus, this endless
rolling of stones that slowly but
surely circumscribed the province of
the sea and enlarged that of the
land. The stain of the earth was al
ready on the landward side of these
seabeaches before they were half
raised. In the troughs between
punches of hardy sea pinks stood
brilliant amid green gray patches
OF wiry grass. The yellow stalks
Of the blackberry struggled up be-
tween the loose stones; the crow
berry and the creeping juniper
clasped them and embodied them az
In green mantle.
Further back heather and close
cropped whins covered them COM
pletely, and here and there were a
few wind planted furs and birches,
which the sheep and the salt breezes
kept from rising above the estate of
shrubs. Behind these were the
green patches of croft land rescued
from the links by the salmon fishers
In those intervals of leisure from
working tho water" which thew
gave to toiling the earth. Then
large and well groomed farms, and
further back, two or three miles
away, tho woods round the Great
House, all now in full leaf. AS a
background to the scene, the darker
from contrast with the light tints of
the trees and meadows below, rose
the somber screen of pine forests,
crowned on the sky line by bare and
brown moors.
In that northern CLINE spring lin
gers on to tho longest day. The COL
ors of the earth seemed as fresh and
pure as those of the sea, with inf
nitely more warmth and variety.
Ogilvie turned once more to face the
salt breath of the Firth. A quarter
OF mile to the westward q crew of
fishermen were Bleaching their cable
and preparing to draw in their salm.
on net. Between him and then.
his eye caught n dark object, bob
bling now on the crest and now il
the hollow of the waves. His first
thought was that it was n seal. II,
regretted that he had not his fin
Tiers gun beside him and then re
membered that to shoot a seal il
the water is bad sport. But thi
particular specimen of the phoc,
was making fast for the shore
There was twinkle of bare feet or
the sand, the CLEAN of a whit
shoulder, and before the onlook @
could gather his wits about hin
the sea maid had emerged from tn,
foam and had disappeared in the de
serted bathing house on the beach.
The young man stepped dowl
from the Witch's hillock, but i
xuaa Gonna nain,,to, hnEa.. L.. .---a-