And sure enough there he stood, at eight in the morning, quite a picture, his cap in one hand, a couple of fishes dangling2 from the other—he had brought them as a present, and absolutely refused to be paid—smiling upon us at our breakfast, as benignly3 as did the sun. He came to say that he was at our service till 10 A.M.; when he had an engagement.
Our countenances4 fell. We did not like venturing in strange and dangerous ground, or rather sea, without our protector. But this was our last chance, and such a lovely day.
"You won't come to any harm, ladies," said the consoling John. "I'll take you by a short cut across the down, much better than the cliff. You can't possibly miss your way: it'll lead you straight to Kynance, and then you go down a steep path to the Cove5. You'll have plenty of time before the tide comes in to see everything."
"And to bathe?"
"Oh yes, miss, there's the Drawing-room, the Dining-room, and the Kitchen—all capital caves close together; I wouldn't advise you to swim out far, though. And keep a sharp look out for the tide—it runs in pretty fast."
"And the scrambling6?"
"Oh, you can easy get on Asparagus Island, miss; it's quite safe. Only don't try the Devil's Throat—or Hell's Mouth, as some folk call it."
Neither name was inviting7; but studying our guide-books, we thought we could manage even without our friend. So, long ere the dew was dried on the sunshiny down, we all started off together, Curgenven slackening his quick active steps—very light and most enviably active for a man of his years—to accommodate us, and conversing8 courteously9 with us all the way.
"Ower the muir amang the heather" have I tramped many a mile in bonnie Scotland, but this Cornish moor10 and Cornish heather were quite different. As different as the Cornishman with his bright, frank face, and his mixture of British honesty and Gallic courtesy, from the Scotch11 peasant—equally worthy12, but sometimes just a trifle "dour13."
John had plenty to say for himself, and said it well, with a quiet independence that there was no mistaking; never forgetting meanwhile to stop and offer a helping14 hand over every bit of rough road, puddle15, or bog16. He gave us a vivid picture of winter life at the Lizard17: when the little community has to hybernate, like the squirrels and field-mice, upon its summer savings18.
"Sometimes we don't earn a halfpenny for weeks and months, and then if we've got nothing to fall back upon it's a bad job, you see, ma'am."
I asked him if much money went for drink; they seemed to me a remarkably19 sober set at the Lizard.
"Yes, I think we are; we're obliged to be; we can't spend money at the public-house, for we've got none to spend. I'm no teetotaller myself," added John boldly. "I don't dislike a glass of beer now and then, if I can afford it, and when I can't afford it I can do without it, and if I do take it I always know when to stop."
Ay, that is the crucial test—the knowing when to stop. It is this which makes all the difference between a good man and a villain20, a wise man and a fool. Self-control—a quality which, guided by conscience and common sense, is the best possession of any human being. And looking at the honest fisherman, one felt pretty sure he had his share of it.
"Now I must leave you, ladies," said he, a great deal sooner than we wished, for we much liked talking to him. "My time's nearly up, and I mustn't keep my gentleman waiting; he goes out in my boat every day, and has been a good friend to me. The road's straight before you, ladies; and there's another party just ahead of you. Follow the track, and you'll soon be at Kynance. It's a lovely day for the Cove, and I hope you'll enjoy yourselves."
John bared his grey head, with a salutation worthy of some old knight21 of the Round Table, and then strode back, in double-quick time, as active and upright as any young fellow of twenty-five, across the level down.
Beautiful Kynance! When, afterwards, I stood one dull winter day in a London Art Gallery, opposite the Cornish Lions, how well I recalled this day! How truly Brett's picture gives the long roll of the wave upon the silver sands, the richly-tinted rocks and caves, the brightness and freshness of everything. And those merry girls beside me, who had the faculty22 of enjoying all they had, and all they did, without regretting what they had not or what they might not do—with heroic resignation they promised not to attempt to swim in the tempting23 smooth water beyond the long rollers. Though knocked down again and again, they always emerged from the waves with shouts of laughter. Mere24 dots they looked to my anxious eyes—a couple of corks25 tossed hither and thither26 on the foaming27 billows—and very thankful I was to get them safe back into the "drawing-room," the loveliest of lovely caves.
There was no time to lose; by noon our parlour floor—what a fairy floor it was! of the softest, most delicious sand—would be all covered with waves. And before then there was a deal to be seen and done, the Bellows28, the Gull29 Rock, Asparagus Island—even if we left out the dangerous points with the ugly names that Curgenven had warned us against.
What is there in humanity, certainly in youthful humanity, that if it can attain30 its end in two ways, one quiet and decorous, the other difficult and dangerous, is certain to choose the latter?
"We must manage to get you to the Bellows, it is such a curious sight," said my girls as they returned from it. "Don't be frightened—come along!"
By dint31 of pulling, pushing, and the help of stick and arm, I came: stood watching the spout32 of water which, in certain conditions of the tide, forces itself through a tiny fissure33 in the rock with a great roar, and joined in the childish delight of waiting, minute by minute, for the biggest spout, the loudest roar.
But Asparagus Island (where was no asparagus at all) I totally declined. Not being a goat or a chamois, I contented34 myself with sitting where I could gain the best view of the almost invisible path by which my adventurous35 young "kids" disappeared. Happily they had both steady heads and cool nerves; they were neither rash nor unconscientious. I knew they would come back as soon as they could. So I waited patiently, contemplating36 a fellow-victim who seemed worse off than myself; a benign-looking clergyman, who kept walking up and down the soppy sands, and shouting at intervals37 to two young people, a man and a woman, who appeared to be crawling like flies along the face of the rock towards another rock, with a yawning cave and a wide fissure between.
"Don't attempt it!" the clergyman cried at the top of his voice. "That's the Devil's Throat. She'll never manage it. Come down. Do make her come down."
"Your young people seem rather venturesome," said I sympathetically.
"Not my young people," was the dignified38 answer. "My girls are up there, on Asparagus Rock, which is easy enough climbing. They promised not to go farther, and they never disobey their mother and me. But those two! I declare he is taking her to the most dangerous part, that rock where you have to jump—a good jump it is, and if you miss your footing you are done for, you go right into the boiling waves below. Well, it's no business of mine; she is his own property; he is engaged to her, but"—
I fear I made some very severe remarks on the folly39 of a young man who could thus risk life and limbs—not only his own, but those of his wife to be; and on the weakness of a girl who could allow herself to be tempted40, even by a lover, into such selfish foolhardiness.
"They must manage their own affairs," said the old gentleman sententiously, perhaps not being so much given to preaching (out of the pulpit) as I was. "My daughters are wiser. Here come two of them."
And very sensible girls they looked, clad in a practical, convenient fashion, just fitted for scrambling. By them I sent a message to my own girls, explaining the best descent from Asparagus Island, and repeating the warning against attempting Hell's Mouth.
"Yes, you are quite right," said my elderly friend, as we sat down together on the least uncomfortable stone we could find, and watched the juniors disappear over the rocks. "I like to see girls active and brave; I never hinder them in any reasonable enjoyment41, even though there may be risk in it—one must run some risk—and a woman may have to save life as well as a man. But foolhardy bravado42 I not only dislike—I despise it."
In which sentiments I so entirely43 agreed that we fraternised there and then; began talking on all sorts of subjects—some of them the very serious and earnest subjects that one occasionally drops into by mere chance, with mere strangers. I recall that half hour on Kynance Sands as one of the pleasant memories of our tour, though to this day I have not the remotest idea who my companion was. Except that as soon as he spoke44 I recognised the reader whose voice had so struck me in last night's thanksgiving service; reminding me of Frederick Denison Maurice, whom this generation is almost beginning to forget, but whom we elders never can forget.
The tide was creeping on now—nay45, striding, wave after wave, through "parlour" and "drawing-room," making ingress and egress46 alike impossible. In fact, a newly arrived party of tourists, who had stood unwisely long contemplating the Bellows, were seen to gaze in despair from their rock which had suddenly become an island. No chance for them except to wade—and in a few minutes more they would probably have to swim ashore47. What became of them we did not stay to see, for an anxious, prudent48 little voice, always thoughtful for "mother," insisted on our precipitate49 flight before the advancing tide. Kynance, lovely as it is, has its inconveniences.
Departing, we met a whole string of tourist-looking people, whom we benevolently50 warned that they were too late, at which they did not seem in the least disappointed. Probably they were one of the numerous pic-nic parties who come here from Falmouth or Helstone, to spend a jovial51 day of eating and drinking, and enjoy the delights of the flesh rather than the spirit.
At any rate the romance and solitude52 of the place were gone. The quaint53 old woman at the serpentine54 shop—a mild little wooden erection under the cliff—was being chaffed and bargained with by three youths with cigars, which defiled55 the whole air around, and made us take refuge up the hill. But even there a white umbrella had sprung up like a gigantic mushroom, and under it sat an energetic lady artist, who, entering at once into conversation, with a cheerful avidity that implied her not having talked for a week, informed us of all she was painting, and all she had meant to paint, where she lodged56, and how much she paid for her lodging—evidently expecting the same confidences from us in return.
But we were getting hungry, and between us and dinner was a long two-miles walk over the steep downs, that were glowing, nay, burning, under the September sun. So we turned homeward, glad of more than one rest by the way, and a long pause beside a pretty little stream; where we were able to offer the immemorial cup of cold water to several thirsty souls besides ourselves. Some of us by this time were getting to feel not so young as we had fancied ourselves in the early morning, and to wish regretfully for Charles and his carriage.
However, we got home at last—to find that sad accompaniment of many a holiday—tidings of sickness and death. Nothing very near us—nothing that need hurry us home—but enough to sadden us, and make our evening walk, which we bravely carried out, a far less bright one than that of the forenoon.
The girls had found a way, chiefly on the tops of "hedges," to the grand rock called Lizard Point. Thither we went, and watched the sunset—a very fine one; then came back through the village, and made various purchases of serpentine from John Curgenven's wife, who was a great deal younger than himself, but not near so handsome or so original.
But a cloud had come over us; it did not, and must not stay—still, there it was for the time. When the last thing at night I went out into the glorious moonlight—bright as day—and thought of the soul who had just passed out of a long and troubled life into the clearness of life eternal, it seemed as if all was right still. Small cares and worries dwindled57 down or melted away—as the petty uglinesses around melted in the radiance of this glorious harvest moon, which seemed to wrap one round in a silent peace, like the "garment of praise," which David speaks about—in exchange for "the spirit of heaviness."
