was his native element was piled up at its thickest upon his
soul. The unique island and the endless sea emphasized the thing
solely as an epic. There were no ladies or policemen here to give
him a hint either of its farce or its tragedy.

"Perhaps when the morning stars were made," he said to himself,
"God built this island up from the bottom of the world to be a
tower and a theatre for the fight between yea and nay."

Then he wandered up to the highest level of the rock, where there
was a roof or plateau of level stone. Half an hour afterwards,
Turnbull found him clearing away the loose sand from this
table-land and making it smooth and even.

"We will fight up here, Turnbull," said MacIan, "when the time
comes. And till the time comes this place shall be sacred."

"I thought of having lunch up here," said Turnbull, who had a
bottle of champagne in his hand.

"No, no--not up here," said MacIan, and came down from the height
quite hastily. Before he descended, however, he fixed the two
swords upright, one at each end of the platform, as if they were
human sentinels to guard it under the stars.

Then they came down and lunched plentifully in a nest of loose
rocks. In the same place that night they supped more plentifully
still. The smoke of Mr. Wilkinson's cigars went up ceaseless and
strong smelling, like a pagan sacrifice; the golden glories of
Mr. Wilkinson's champagne rose to their heads and poured out of