and on the inner side was flanked by a line of rocks and stones.
The outer side was so close to the edge of the cliff that she was
compelled to walk either before or behind me, or else on the stones.
And, as it was unsafe to let go her hand, it was on the stones that
she had to walk, much to her distress. I was in male attire, and
carried a staff in my hand. She wore skirts and had no staff;
and every moment she stumbled or her dress caught and was torn by
some jutting crag or bramble. In this way our progress was being
continually interrupted and rendered almost impossible, when suddenly
we came upon a sharp declivity leading to a steep path which wound
down the side of the precipice to the beach below. Looking down,
I saw on the shore beneath the cliff a collection of fishermen's huts,
and groups of men and women on the shingle, mending nets, hauling
up boats, and sorting fish of various kinds. In the midst of the
little village stood a great crucifix of lead, so cast in a mould
as to allow me from the elevated position I occupied behind it,
to see that though in front it looked solid, it was in reality hollow.
As I was noting this, a voice of some one close at hand suddenly
addressed me; and on turning my head I found standing before me
a man in the garb of a fisherman, who evidently had just scaled
the steep path leading from the beach. He stretched out his hand
to take the child, saying he bad come to fetch her, for that in
the path I was following there was room only for one. "Let her
come to us," he added; "she will do very well as a fisherman's
daughter." Being reluctant to part with her, and not perceiving
then the significance of his garb and vocation, I objected that
the calling was a dirty and unsavoury one, and would soil her hands
and dress. Whereupon the man became severe, and seemed to insist
with a kind of authority upon my acceptance of his proposition.
The child, too, was taken with him, and was moreover anxious to