Lochinvar: A Novel
Page 33
CHAPTER XXX
WAT SWIMS THE WATER CAVERN
Whereupon, refreshed and invigorated, Wat proceeded to reconnoitre. Heset about his inquiries with the utmost circumspection and caution,for it occurred to him that if Barra's first line of defence--that ofthe whirls and glides of the Suck of Suliscanna--had proved itself soeffective, it was likely that he had made other dispositions equallydangerous in the event of that line being forced. Wat Gordon pushed hisboat into the water and clambered on board. But he soon found that,damaged and water-logged as she was, she would move but sluggishlythrough the water, and must prove but little under command in anyseaway. It was manifestly impossible therefore for Wat, with his singlesculling oar, to venture out again into the tide-race which threshedand tore its way past the eastern side of the island.
Wat's harbor of refuge was on the northern shore, in the safest nook ofthe little sandy haven in which he had first brought his boat ashore.He was resolved, so soon as it should grow a little dusk, that he wouldendeavor to turn the angle of his small isle, and see if by any meanshe could find a landing-place along the western side of Suliscanna.When, therefore, the sun had dipped beneath the sea-line, and thestriped rose and crimson of the higher clouds faded to gray, Watslipped into his boat and pushed off. He guided her slowly, scullingalong the inner side of the sandy reef which protected the northern bayof Fiara.
As Wat sailed farther to the west he could hear the surf hammering inthe caves which look towards the Atlantic--a low, continuous growlof sound, mostly reverberating like the distant roaring of many wildbeasts, but occasionally exploding with a louder boom as a full-bodiedgreen roller from mid-ocean fairly caught the mouth of a cave, for amoment gagged and compressed the imprisoned air within it, and thensent it shooting upward through some _creux_ or gigantic blow-hole in aburst of foam and white water which rose high into the air. The wonderand solemnity of this ceaseless artillery at the hour of evening,and with the Atlantic itself lying like a sea of glass outside,impressed the landwardborn Wat greatly. For he had never before dweltin the midst of such sea-marvels, nor yet upon the shores of such arock-bound, wave-warded prison as this inhospitable isle of Suliscanna.
The heavy boat slowly gathered way under the pressure of the broadoar-blade wielded by Wat's very vigorous young arms. And all went wellwhile he kept the inner and protected side of the reef, but so soon ashe had begun to clear the lofty cliffs of Suliscanna, and to bethinkhimself of attempting to cross the belt of turbid and angry watersinterposed between the quiet inner haven and the cool, green lift ofthe ocean waves without, the boat stuck in the sand and heeled over,first with an oozy glide, and then with a sharper "rasp," as thoughthe knife-edge of a basalt reef were masked beneath. Her head fellsharply away, and the waves coming over the bar in brown-churned foamthreatened every moment to swamp her.
Wat felt the depth of the water with his oar, and promptly leapedoverboard. His feet sank dangerously into the slushy ooze of the bank,but the boat, relieved of his weight, rose buoyantly on the swell,and Wat, clasping his hands about her prow, was dragged clear, andpresently, drenched and dripping for the third time that day, he foundhimself aboard again.
Clearly there was nothing further to be obtained by persevering in thatdirection, at least with a boat so unwieldy as that in which Scarlettand he had come over from the main-land. So Wat resolved to try if hecould not find a smooth and safe passage by hugging the shore of Fiara,thus avoiding the sweep of the tide-race, and in the end reaching thestill, deep strait lying between the rocks of his isle and the huge,lowering cliffs of Lianacraig, which so tantalizingly shut out from hisview all that he wished to see of the spot on which, as he believed,his love waited for him.
Full of this thought, Wat turned the prow of the boat and struckconfidently along the shore, past the bay where he had first broughtthe derelict ashore, and on towards the projecting eastern ness ofSuliscanna. But here there was no projecting bar, and Wat promptlyfound himself in the same uneasy, boiling swirl which had sodisastrously ended his former voyage. Nevertheless, he persevered forsome distance, for indeed he saw no other way of reaching the southernisle. But suddenly, not ten yards in front of his boat, appeared theturbulent, arched back of a yet more furious tide-race. The prow of theboat was snatched around in an instant; two or three staggering blowswere dealt her on the quarter as she turned tail. The oar was almostdragged from his hand, and in another moment Wat found himself floatingin the smooth water at the tail of the reef, not far from where he hadstarted. He almost laughed, so suddenly and completely had the proofbeen afforded him that there was no outgate east or west for a heavycraft so undermanned as his was.
It was with a heavy heart, therefore, that Wat had perforce to give upthe boat as a means of reaching the southern island. After his defeathe went ashore and sat gloomily watching the pale lilac light of theevening fade from the rocks above the narrow strait. Beneath him thewaters of the deep sound were still, and only beat with a pleasant,clappering sound on the rocks. A quick and desperate resolve stirred inWat's heart.
He stripped himself of his upper clothes, and, leaving all but hisshirt and his knee-breeches among the rocks, he bound these upon hishead, fastening them with his soldier's belt under his chin.
Then, without pausing a moment to give his resolution time to cool, hedropped into the water and swam straight across the narrow, rock-walledstrait towards the black rampart line of the cliffs of Lianacraig.
He was well aware that he had taken his life in his hand, for from theside of the sea these grim crags had apparently never been scaled byhuman foot. But Wat had another idea than climbing in his mind. As hehad watched the waves glide without sound or rebound into the greatsquare arch which yawned in the midst of the rocky face, a belief hadgrown into certainty within him that the passage must be connected withanother arm of the sea at the farther side of the cliffs. With quick,characteristic resolve he determined to discover if this suppositionwere correct. He found no difficulty in swimming across the narrowstrait of Fiara, in spite of a curious dancing undertow which now threwhim almost out of the water, and anon mischievously plucked him by thefeet as if to drag him bodily down to the bottom. Presently, however,he found himself close underneath the loom of the cliffs, and the greatblack archway, driven squarely into their centre, yawned above him.
By this time Wat's eyes had become somewhat accustomed to the darkness,and he could make out that the line where the sea met the rocks wasbrilliantly phosphorescent, and that this pale green glimmer penetratedfor some distance into the dark of the rock-cut passage.
Wat did not hesitate a moment, but whispering "_For her sake!_" hepushed, with a full breast-stroke, straight into the midst of thatsullen, brooding blackness and horror of unsteady water. Outside inthe sound he had been conscious of the brisk, changeful grip of windsfretting the water, the swift pull of currents fitful as a woman'slighter fancies, the flash of iridescent silver foam defining and yetconcealing the grim cliff edges. But inside there was nothing but theblackness of darkness, made only more apparent by a pervading greenishglimmer which, perhaps because it existed more in the eyes of theswimmer than in the actual illumination of the cavern, revealed nothingtangible, but on the contrary seemed only to render the gloom moretense and horrible.
But Wat had made up his mind and was not to be turned aside. He wouldfollow this sea-pass to its end--even if that end should bring deathto himself. For at all hazards he was resolved to break a way to hissweetheart, if indeed she yet lived and loved him.
The silence of the cave was remarkable. Wat could feel as he swam theslow, regular pulse-beat of the outer ocean-swell which passed upbeneath him, and which at each undulation heaved him some way towardsthe roof. But he could hear no thundering break as it arched itselfon the clattering pebbles or broke on the solid rock bottom as itwould have done if the cavern had come soon to an end. He oared hisway therefore in silence through the midst of the darkness, keepinghis place in the centre of the tunnel by instinct, and perhaps also
a little by the faint glimmer of phosphorescence which pursued himthrough the cave.
The way seemed endless, but after a while, though the wall of rockcontinued to stand up on either hand, it grew perceptibly lighteroverhead. Wat chanced to look downward between his arms as he swam. Adisk of light burned in the pure water beneath him. He turned on hisback and glanced up, and there, at the top of an immense black cleftwith perpendicular walls, lo! the stars were shining. Without knowingit he had come out of the tunnelled cavern into one of the "goes" ornarrow fiords which cut into the Lianacraig fortress of basalt to itsvery foundations.
The passage still kept about the same width, and the water within itheaved and sighed as before, but the rock wall seemed gradually todecrease in height as Wat went on. Also the direction of the "goe"changed every minute, so that Wat had to steer his way carefully inorder to avoid striking upon the jutting, half-submerged rocks at thecorners.
Presently the passage ended, and Wat came out again on a broaderstretch of water, over which the free, light breezes of the nightplayed chilly. He found himself quite close to the beach of Suliscanna.There was a scent of peat-reek and cheerful human dwellings in theair--of cattle also, the acrid tang of goats, and, sweetest of all toa shipwrecked man, the indescribable kindly something by which manadvertises his permanent residence to his fellows amid all the world ofinhuman things.
After the darkness of the "goe" it seemed almost lucid twilight here,and Wat could see a black tower relieve itself against the sky, darkerthan the intense indigo padding in which the stars were set thatmoonless night. He stood on shore and rubbed himself briskly all overwith the rough cloth of his knee-breeches before clothing himself inthem. Then he donned the shirt and belt which he had brought over withhim on his head by way of that perilous passage through the rockygateway of Suliscanna, whose virgin defences had probably never beenviolated in such a manner before.
Being now clothed and in the dignity of his right mind, Wat cautiouslydirected his way upward towards the bulk of a tower which he saw loomdark above him.