Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Clouds at Sea Level

It should have been explained, but Miss Campbell returned to the Caledonian Hotel after a icy salute to Aristobulus Ursey Claus, who had nothing to do with the matter. Aristobulus Ursyklaus also greeted the young girl coldly, evidently humiliated at having just been compared with a light of unknown colour.He walked back to the beach, saying some reassuring words to himself. Brothers Sam and Sebb felt very uncomfortable, and they went to the reserved drawing room and waited with shame on their faces for Miss Campbell to talk to them. Miss Campbell's explanation was so brief that she had come to Oban to see the level of the sea, and had seen nothing, without even needing to mention it.

The two uncles could only speculate from their good intentions, since they were not familiar with Oban!Who would have thought that despite the flood of bathers, the sea, the real sea, was not there!This is perhaps the only place on the coast where no waterline appears in the sky, the nasty Hebrides. "Well," said Miss Campbell, in as grave a tone as possible, "we should choose a place other than Oban, even if this were to be renounced and Aristobulus Ursey Claus The convenience of meeting is the price!" Instinctively, the Melville brothers dropped their heads, the blow to the face rendering them speechless.

"We'll pack up at once," said Miss Campbell, "and go today if we can." "Just go!" replied the two uncles, who could only make up for their indiscretion by passive obedience. Immediately, the names echoed as usual: "Better!" "Beth!" "Beth!" "Betsy!" "Betty!" Mrs. Bess came, followed by Partridge.The two were immediately informed of this decision, and knowing that the young mistress was always right, they did not ask the reason for this urgent departure. What surprised people was the owner of the Caledonian Hotel, Mr. Mike Phyth.

One does not know enough of these worthy industrialists, and indeed of the Scottish hotel industry, if one thinks that he would have allowed his family of three masters and two servants to go away without any deterrence.Such was the case at the time. When he was informed of this important event, Mr. MacFann announced that the matter could be settled to everyone's satisfaction, and nothing could be more satisfying to him than to keep these distinguished guests here as long as possible. What did Miss Campbell want, and what did Seab and Sam Melville want?An ocean view unfolding on a vast sea level?It doesn't get any easier than just watching the sea level as the sun goes down.Can't see the coast of Oban?Ok!Is it okay to stay on Kerrere?No, only a small portion of the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest can be seen from the Isle of Mull.If, however, one goes down the coast one can see the Isle of Sale, whose northern extremity is joined by a bridge to the coast of Scotland, where the view is no longer obstructed two-fifths of the compass to the west.

It's only a jaunt of four or five miles to get to the island, it can't be farther.A handsome carriage, with some good horses, could, if the weather be favorable, bring Miss Campbell and her entourage there in an hour and a half. In order to prove his words, the very eloquent hotel owner also took the initiative to show them the large map hanging in the hotel lobby.Miss Campbell found that Boss MacFain had no intention of imposing his views on others.In fact, in the wide expanse of Sayre there is a great stretch of sea level, from which the sun sets slowly around the autumnal equinox.

The matter ended to the satisfaction of the boss of MacPhane, and there was also a great compromise for the Melville brothers.Miss Campbell graciously forgave them from insinuating the presence of Aristobulus Ursy Claus. "But," said Sam, "it's strange why Oban can't see the horizon!" "What a queer thing nature is!" replied Sieb. Aristobulus Urseyklaus, who should have been very happy to know that Miss Campbell was not looking for other better weather observations, was so absorbed in his advanced studies that he Yu Du forgot to say yes to it. Perhaps the whimsical girl should be credited to him for staying this time, for her attitude, although still very cold, was not as cold as when she first met him.But the weather conditions have changed a little bit.Although the sky is still clear, the clouds that are dispelled by the heat at noon always cover the sea level at sunrise and sunset. It is futile to go to Ser Island to find observation points, and we can only wait patiently.

During these long days, Miss Campbell ignored her uncles' meetings with their fiancés.She was sometimes accompanied by Mrs. Bess, but often alone she went for walks on the sands by the sea.She deliberately avoids the world of idlers who, as elsewhere, make up the floating population of seaside cities: families whose only thing is to watch the ebb and flow of the tide, little girls and boys with British-style Rolling freely in the wet sand; some gentlemen, serious and indifferent, in usually very humble bathing suits, whose first priority was a six-minute soak in salt water; On the green bench with red cushions, browsing the rough miniature novels with color inside and hard leather outside by the British publishing house; Parasols tucked under arms, arrived yesterday, gone tomorrow; there were also some industrialists in the crowd, whose business was mainly mobile portables; people peddling a fluid; artists mounted metal pianos on wheels, mixing local tunes with flavored French themes; Vendors, the men in black dresses and the women in floral hats, are pushing carts and selling the best fruits in the world; All kinds of weird faces, they performed some popular shows in different costumes, and sang lengthy local folk songs. Next to them, children in a circle also sang in unison at the end of the song.

To Miss Campbell there was neither mystery nor charm to this life in the seaside city.She preferred to stay away from the commuters who came from all over Europe and seemed strange to each other.When her uncles, apprehensive about her absence, wished to join her, they had to go to the edge of the beach, or the protruding point in the bay, to find her. Miss Campbell sat like a brooding Minner, her elbows resting on the ledge of the rock, her head resting on her hands, like a graceful flower growing among the rocks.Her eyes wandered blankly from the spiky crags at the top to the dark caves called "Helyers" in Scottish dialect, where the sea water lapped and roared.

In the distance, cormorants lined up, motionless.Her eyes followed them as they flew up in fright and skimmed their wings over the crest of the shore-crowded waves. What is the young girl thinking?The uncles naively thought, though it was rude to think so, that she might be thinking of Aristobulus Ulysses Claus, and they were wrong to think so. Miss Campbell recalled the scene on the Corry Wilkan Vortex again, and saw the wrecked boat, the Glengarry struggling in the channel, and felt the impulse deep in her heart, when the two rash When she disappeared in the waves, this feeling had seized her tightly...!Then came the rescue, the rope was thrown in time, and the elegant man appeared on the deck, very calm, smiling, not as excited as she was, and gestured to salute the passengers on the steamboat.

For a head full of fantasy, this is the beginning of a novel, but the novel seems to have to stop at the first chapter.From which page would the book she had begun come to a sudden stop in Miss Campbell's hands?Since her "protagonist" has never reappeared like a certain Wodan from the Gaelic period? Had she at least sought him out among the indifferent stream of people coming and going on Oban Beach?Perhaps she had already met him?No.He probably wouldn't recognize her.Why did he have to notice her on the Glengarry?Why did he have to come to her?How can he let him know that she also has a part of saving his life?But she was the one who spotted the boat in distress before everyone else, and she was the one who begged the captain to save him!In fact it might have cost her, that night, Green Light!

Such worries are not without reason.During the three days that the Melvilles arrived in Oban, the state of the sky was enough to disappoint astronomers at Edinburgh or Greenwich Observatories. No model of telescope or astronomical telescope, the reflectors of the University of Cambridge are as incapable of breaking through the clouds as the ones of Parsons City. Only the sun is strong enough to let its light break through the clouds; but as it sets the horizon is clouded and dimmed with mist, which reddens the west with brilliant colors, and keeps the green from reaching the observer. in the eyes. Miss Campbell's mind was full of queer fancies, and she confounded the Cory Wilkan vortex distress with the green light, the former being as uncertain as the latter, obscured by fog, and names and Unidentified makes the former elusive. The Melville brothers tried to persuade their niece to be patient, but at the wrong time, Miss Campbell unceremoniously blamed them for the bad weather. So they blamed the aneroid barometer they had brought from Helensburgh, whose needle just wouldn't go up, a fact that they would even trade their snuffboxes for a sky that wasn't clouded by mist when the sun went down. As for the scholar Ulsey Krauss, one day when he was talking about clouds and fog over the sea horizon, he was 100 percent stupid and went after the formation of clouds and fog. He almost didn't have a physics class, and he started in Miss Campbell's presence. Well, he spoke of clouds and fogs, which descend to the horizon as the temperature cools, and of fogs that shrink into blisters, and of the scientific classification of nimbus, stratus, cumulus, and so on.Needless to say, he did this to show his erudition, but it was so obvious that the Melville brothers didn't know what to say about this untimely lecture! Miss Campbell simply "shot" the young scholar, if you use a modern fashionable phrase: first, she pretended to be looking away, and did not listen to his work at all; , appearing not to have seen him; and at last she looked down at the toe of her fine shoe--the most undisguised sign of indifference a Scotch woman could be, an extreme contempt not only for the content of the conversation, Also aimed at the interlocutor himself. Aristobulus Ursyklaus hears and sees only himself, and he does not notice, or does not seem to notice, that he talks for himself. Thus passed the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth of August, but on the last day the Melville brothers were overjoyed to find that the barometer had risen a few degrees. There was an excellent omen the next day, when at ten o'clock in the morning the sun was shining brightly and the sky showed its clean bright blue over the sea. Miss Campbell will naturally not miss this opportunity.An open carriage for excursions was in the stables of the Caledonian Hotel, ready for her use, and now was the time. So, at five o'clock in the evening, Miss Campbell and the Melville brothers got into a carriage driven by a skilled coachman.Partridge climbed into the back seat.The tip of the coachman's long whip brushed lightly over the four horses.The carriage set foot on the road from Oban to Kragan. Aristobulus Ursey Claus was very sorry - if not Miss Campbell - for not being able to go, being busy with an important scientific paper. The scenery along the way is very charming.The carriage took the coastal road, along the channel that separates the island of North Kerreray from the coast of Scotland.This volcanic island has a pleasant scenery, but in the eyes of Miss Campbell, there is a little flaw, which is to block the sea level that she wants to see.But since there was only 4.5 miles to go, she was happy to admire the beautiful silhouette of the island.The islands are divided in half by the sun, with the ruins of some Danish castles surrounding the southern tip of the island. "This used to be where Mike Douglas de Lone lived," Sam said, pointing. "For our family," Seab added, "the castle has historical value because it was destroyed by the Campbells, who set fire to it after killing all the inhabitants there without mercy." This age-old event seemed to command Partridge's special admiration, and he applauded softly in honor of the family. After passing Kerlere Island, the carriage took a narrow and slightly rough road, which led to Kragan Village, from where the carriage entered the artificial subway, which was in the shape of a bridge, linking Serre Island connected to the mainland.Half an hour later, after parking their wagons in the depths of a ravine, the hikers ascended the steeper slope of a hill and sat down on the edge of a rocky valley facing the sea. This time there was nothing more to obstruct the observer's view, and turned to the west: there was neither Isdal nor Inish, which stood against the Isle of Sale.Between the headland of Adaris, one of the largest of the Hebrides, the Isle of Mull, to the northeast, and Coroncold Island, to the southwest, a great expanse of sea level emerges, where the sun will soon dip its blazing fire into the water. Miss Campbell leaned forward a little, lost in thought.A few birds of prey, hawks or falcons, animate the stillness, circling over the "cave," a kind of valley with a rocky inner wall funneled. From an astronomical point of view, at this time of year, at this latitude, the sun should set at seven forty-five in the evening, just at the head of Adaris. It won't be seen disappearing into the sea-sky boundary for a few more weeks, as Coron Cold Island will obscure it from view. This evening, the time and place to observe the phenomenon were well chosen. At this time, the sun is sliding along an oblique line towards the unobstructed sea level. It is difficult for the naked eye to bear the light from its fiery red disc, and the water surface reflects it into long streaks of rippling light.However, neither Miss Campbell nor her uncles tried to close their eyes, no!Even if it's just for a moment. But just before the sun bit the horizon with its lower edge, Miss Campbell let out a disappointed sigh. A small cloud just appeared, slender like a throwing weapon, as long as a narrow flag on the top of a warship.It splits the disc into two unequal pieces, and seems to be descending to the sea level together with the disc. It looked like a light wind would be enough to drive it away, to blow it away! ...but the wind didn't blow. When the sun turned into a very small solitary, this ray of mist replaced it as the dividing line between water and sky. The green light disappeared into this small group of clouds and mist, and failed to appear in front of the observer.