The Man in the Mirror (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER THREE WITHIN THE GATEWAY IT was still dark, even in his dream, as he emerged stealthily from the white, thatched cottage in which he had obtained quarters of the simple fisher-folk it belonged to. He paused on the threshold for a moment to inhale the fragrance of the wood- smoke, which told that the pretty Truda was already astir, in her own domain, and might be trusted to make her appearance before very long with the strong brew of black coffee which would effectually wake everyone else. And, then, he went on, stepping softly across the sand lest she should hear him, to where the boat he had hired from his host was riding motionless at the end of its tripping-line on the mirror-like bay. He hauled it ashore, put his painting-traps into it, cast off from the line, and so set forth unseen on his nefarious enterprise. He rowed very quietly until he was well behind one of those long, low, rocky islets that fringe the coast there, and form a natural breakwater for the inner channel whose shore is sand. And, at length, safely screened from espial by any about the beach, he stepped his mast, hoisted the single lug-sail theboat possessed, sat down in the stern-sheets among his gear, the tiller under one arm while he filled and lighted a pipe. Day was breaking by then. The wind was light. He sat almost motionless, watching the Lesser Isles rise, golden and glittering, out of the still, sapphire sea, while the white veil of mist night had swathed round their shores melted away before the first warm breath of the sun. And he felt very well repaid for his early start by that fleeting vista of fairyland. For deep within him and seldom discovered was hidden the heart of an artist. Astern, half-concealed among the sand-dunes about them, he could still catch a chance gl...