But, Wonderful To
Relate, He Had Not Been Persuaded.
A hard fragment of the red stuff, measuring a couple of inches
across and weighing about three ounces avoirdupois, rust-red
in colour with purple streaks and yellow mottlings, is now
lying before me.
The mineralogist would tell me that its
commercial value is naught, or something infinitesimal; which
is doubtless true enough, as tens of thousands of tons of the
same material lie close to the surface under the green turf
and golden blossoming furze at the spot where I picked up my
specimen. The lapidary would not look at it; nevertheless, it
is the only article of jewellery I possess, and I value it
accordingly. And I intend to keep this native ruby by me for
as long as the lords of Abbotsbury continue in their present
mind. The time may come when I shall be obliged to throw it
away. That any millionaire should hesitate for a moment to
blast and blacken any part of the earth's surface, howsoever
green and refreshing to the heart it may be, when by so doing
he might add to his income, seems like a fable, or a tale of
fairyland. It is as if one had accidentally discovered the
existence of a little fantastic realm, a survival from a
remote past, almost at one's doors; a small independent
province, untouched by progress, asking to be conquered and
its antediluvian constitution taken from it.
From the summit of that commanding hill, over which the red
path winds, a noble view presents itself of the Chesil Bank,
or of about ten miles of it, running straight as any Roman
road, to end beneath the rugged stupendous cliffs of Portland.
The ocean itself, and not conquering Rome, raised this
artificial-looking wall or rampart to stay its own proud
waves. Formed of polished stones and pebbles, about two
hundred yards in width, flat-topped, with steeply sloping
sides, at this distance it has the appearance of a narrow
yellow road or causeway between the open sea on one hand and
the waters of the Fleet, a narrow lake ten miles long, on the
other.
When the mackerel visit the coast, and come near enough to be
taken in a draw-net, every villager who owns a share (usually
a tenth) in a fishing-boat throws down his spade or whatever
implement he happens to have in his hand at the moment, and
hurries away to the beach to take his share in the fascinating
task. At four o'clock one morning a youth, who had been down
to the sea to watch, came running into the village uttering
loud cries which were like excited yells - a sound to rouse the
deepest sleeper. The mackerel had come! For the rest of the
day there was a pretty kind of straggling procession of those
who went and came between the beach and the village - men in
blue cotton shirts, blue jerseys, blue jackets, and women in
grey gowns and big white sun-bonnets. During the latter part
of the day the proceedings were peculiarly interesting to me,
a looker-on with no share in any one of the boats, owing to
the catches being composed chiefly of jelly-fish. Some
sympathy was felt for the toilers who strained their muscles
again and again only to be mocked in the end; still, a draught
of jelly-fish was more to my taste than one of mackerel. The
great weight of a catch of this kind when the net was full was
almost too much for the ten or twelve men engaged in drawing
it up; then (to the sound of deep curses from those of the men
who were not religious) the net would be opened and the great
crystalline hemispheres, hyaline blue and delicate salmon-pink
in colour, would slide back into the water. Such rare and
exquisite colours have these great glassy flowers of ocean
that to see them was a feast; and every time a net was hauled
up my prayer - which I was careful not to repeat aloud - was,
Heaven send another big draught of jelly-fish!
The sun, sinking over the hills towards Swyre and Bridport,
turned crimson before it touched the horizon. The sky became
luminous; the yellow Chesil Bank, stretching long leagues
away, and the hills behind it, changed their colours to
violet. The rough sea near the beach glittered like gold; the
deep green water, flecked with foam, was mingled with fire;
the one boat that remained on it, tossing up and down near the
beach, was like a boat of ebony in a glittering fiery sea. A
dozen men were drawing up the last net; but when they gathered
round to see what they had taken - mackerel or jelly-fish - I
cared no longer to look with them. That sudden, wonderful
glory which had fallen on the earth and sea had smitten me as
well and changed me; and I was like some needy homeless tramp
who has found a shilling piece, and, even while he is
gloating over it, all at once sees a great treasure before
him - glittering gold in heaps, and all rarest sparkling gems,
more than he can gather up.
But it is a poor simile. No treasures in gold and gems,
though heaped waist-high all about, could produce in the
greediest man, hungry for earthly pleasures, a delight, a
rapture, equal to mine. For this joy was of another and
higher order and very rare, and was a sense of lightness and
freedom from all trammels as if the body had become air,
essence, energy, or soul, and of union with all visible
nature, one with sea and land and the entire vast overarching
sky.
We read of certain saints who were subject to experiences of
this kind that they were "snatched up" into some supramundane
region, and that they stated on their return to earth that it
was not lawful for them to speak of the things they had
witnessed.
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