E-text prepared by Inka Weide, Mary Meehan,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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The Isles of Sunset
By Arthur Christopher Benson
Author of "The Hill of Trouble," &c. &c.
LONDON: SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS, LTD.
NO. 1 AMEN CORNER, E.C. 1908
Printed by
Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd.,
Bath.
(2074)
TO HUGH MACNAGHTEN
Church-bels beyond the starres heard, the souls bloud,
The land of spices; something understood.
Tell eager Tales of mighty Deeds;
Enough if my sequestered song
To hush'd and twilight Gardens leads!
Perchance may fevered Lips assuage;
The Tales an elder Pilgrim tells
To such as go on Pilgrimage.
In that cool Hour my Soul loves best,
When trembles o'er the rippling Tide
A golden Stairway to the West.
Thus with the moving Waters move;
So leave, across the Ocean's Face,
A glimmering Stair to Hope and Love.
Contents
The Isles of Sunset
The Waving of the Sword
Renatus
The Slype House
Out of the Sea
Paul the Minstrel
The Isles of Sunset
About midway between the two horns of the bay, the Isles of Sunsetpierced the sea. There was deep blue water all around them, and thesharp and fretted pinnacles of rock rose steeply up to heaven. The topof the largest was blunt, and covered with a little carpet of grass andsea-herbs. The rest were nought but cruel spires, on which no foot butthat of sea-birds could go. At one place there was a small creek, intowhich a boat might be thrust, but only when the sea was calm; and nearthe top of the rock, just over this, was the dark mouth of a littlecave.
The bay in which the Isles lay was quite deserted; the moorland came tothe edge of the cliffs, and through a steep and rocky ravine, the sidesof which were overgrown with ferns and low trees, all brushed landwardby the fierce winds, a stream fell hoarsely to the sea, through deeprockpools. The only living things there were the wild birds, themoorfowl in the heather, hawks