The Geologist was conscious of a disagreeable , apprehensive feeling the first time he climbed the stairway of the centre rock and stood on the flat summit .sx He experienced a weakness about the knees and a shivery feeling all over .sx There was nothing to account for it .sx The sunshine seemed suddenly to have a cold , cruel quality in its glitter on the surface of the sea .sx There was something menacing and treacherous about the place .sx Some instinct seemed to hurry him away ; but he resisted the impulse .sx When he descended the stairway he was alarmed to note how quickly the tide had come in .sx The water , still and clear when he arrived , was now in commotion and swirling with considerable force and volume round the rock .sx He started for the beach at once , but found , as he got off the last step , that he could not keep his feet .sx He was not much of a swimmer ; and , encumbered with his clothing , he had a considerable struggle before he found the sand under his feet again .sx Safe on the margin he turned and looked at the rock with a sense of distrust and misgiving .sx It aroused in him something like personal aversion .sx It was on the evening of his first visit to the central rock although times registered vaguely in his mind that he had his first experience of a series of disturbances that threatened the peacefulness of his life on the island .sx His sleep was troubled .sx Again and again he would waken up with the acute sense of the vicinity of some disagreeable influence .sx Actual suggestions of the physical presence of some hostile being curiously intermingled with his dreams .sx Sometimes he would waken up with a feeling of horror pervading his whole being , as if on the brink of some imminent catastrophe .sx Occasionally , on these sudden wakenings , he would hear again the pebbles disturbed outside the hut as if by a footstep .sx These impressions he put down to a disordered fancy .sx Yet a feeling of distress and uneasiness pervaded his nights , and followed him occasionally in his waking hours as he moved about the island .sx He began to dread the nights .sx Always at the edge of his consciousness there seemed to hover a diminutive , brown , repulsive figure , which had impressed itself on him on that first night on the island .sx Struggle as he would , he could not banish this growing obsession from his mind .sx He tried one thing after another ; but beyond the interests of the moment there always seemed now to hover a malicious presence watching him , waiting , hostile .sx He began to count the hours that must elapse before the steamer was due to return .sx The whole joyous prospect of beneficent air and sunshine seemed suddenly to have been poisoned .sx The obsession from which he suffered began to tell on his spirits .sx The strain seemed to reach breaking point one enervating , thundery evening when , with his usual forebodings of nightmare and malaise , he lay down in his hut .sx The same sense of a watchful , malignant presence invaded his semi-consciousness as he hovered between sleep and waking ; and then quite suddenly he felt himself at peace .sx He slept till the air was warm with the morning sun , and he awoke refreshed , and , as it seemed , sweetened and purified .sx His spirits rose with a bound .sx The next night he awoke again about midnight with the old nightmare disturbance .sx This phase was presently succeeded by a sudden lapse into the quietude and repose of the night before .sx That night he had a vivid dream , in which it seemed to him a new presence looked at him with infinite sympathy and pity .sx During his period of uneasiness and depression he had sometimes been on the point of shouting a challenge into the empty air .sx Occasionally he had a strong impression that he was being urged to leave the island that some catastrophe was impending .sx He was by this time anxious enough to get away .sx But the island was completely out of the track of such vessels as passed north or south on coastal routes .sx One night he built a big fire near the end of the lagoon .sx The sky had been threatening ; and while he sat dreamily looking into the blazing embers , big rain drops hissed into the flames .sx Roused from his abstraction , he noticed that the lagoon , which was filling up with the tide , had suddenly gone black the reflection of a menacing sky .sx Darkness had come .sx prematurely .sx The rocks around him were vague and fantastic , swimming in a grey vapour .sx A shudder shook him as he looked around .sx A column of blue smoke rose straight as a pillar from his fire .sx The smoke wavered and slanted to the further side of the fire .sx It parted and a face stared at him through the smoke a face he recognised as having seen in his dreams .sx The large , deep blue eyes had a wild expression of mingled appeal and terror .sx They looked at him steadily for the space of two or three seconds ; and then he was looking once more at the rising smoke .sx With a feeling of apprehension and depression akin to sickness , he staggered back to his shelter .sx A moaning and sobbing came from amongst the hollows and ridges of the island that heralded the coming storm ; and a sinister accompaniment the faint hissing sound of the water creeping over the sands .sx The storm broke with an overwhelming fury ; but for some time he was hardly aware of the turmoil of the elements outside .sx Straining influences bore on his mind and left him physically exhausted .sx For a long time he lay in the darkened shelter , dazed and unheeding , till at last a crack of thunder that seemed to break immediately over the island roused him from his stupor .sx Immediately he was invaded with the consciousness of an insistent summons .sx He groped his way out into the darkness , which was pierced at short intervals by vivid lightning .sx Something was pulling him towards the lagoon .sx He stumbled over the rocks and climbed the dividing ridge not realising where he was going or why , following only a blind imperious urge .sx Now he was at the edge of the lagoon .sx What was happening out there on the centre platform ?sx As he stood , a piteous cry seemed to reach him .sx It was an eerie , blood-chilling sound , that made him think of a bound and helpless animal under the knife .sx Next moment the shudder that ran through him gave place to a surge of indignant fury .sx Something that was not his ordinary consciousness sent him recklessly into the water , and along a partly covered ledge leading out into the centre of the lagoon .sx As he left the shelter his hand had sought his rifle .sx Waist-deep on the ledge , and suddenly pulled up by the madness of his action , the feel of it in his hand gave him assurance .sx The tide was running strongly .sx He could hear the gurgle of it , where it met the obstruction of the rocks .sx His imagination .sx took him to that central , sinister platform , where , perhaps , some victim of ancient cruel rites had listened terror-stricken to the same sound .sx Against all reason his whole being seemed alive to the terror of someone perishing under diabolical constraint .sx A vivid flash of lightning ran across the sky and lit up the whole island , which showed itself black and leaden to his eyes .sx There was the platform , and on it , he could swear , two struggling figures .sx A fury blazed up within him .sx Not knowing what he did , he raised his rifle .sx The flash coincided with the last flicker of lightning .sx Again he seemed to hear a cry ; but , like a thousand devils let loose , the thunder cracked around him and the gale shrieked in a sudden access of fury .sx Blackness descended upon him .sx He put his hand up to his eyes , for it seemed to him he had been smitten with blindness .sx Swaying there in the rushing waters , all sense of direction lost , he realised that the lagoon had him .sx Now that his fate was upon him , there was revealed to him , in a flash of lucidity , the sinister influence of the place .sx He gave himself up for lost ; but the next moment , in the whirl of the storm , a hand seemed to grasp him .sx He was led this way and that , through the hissing waters , until he felt a rising shelf of sand under his feet .sx Stumbling in the dark , his senses in a whirl , he was now clear of the water and climbing a steep , rocky stairway .sx At one point there seemed to be a gap , and he had the impression of being lifted across .sx The thought came to him had he been struck by the lightning , and was he even now in the world of shades ?sx The whole of his movements and sensations since he had left his stance on the rock had been curiously dream-like .sx Now he felt himself in a shelter of some kind .sx The noise of the tempest was stilled .sx He had a delicious sense of peacefulness .sx His knees sank under him ; he fell prostrate on a bed of dry sand .sx Weak almost to the point of helplessness , but with a blissful inward calm , the Geologist drew himself to the entrance of the cave in the cliff face in which , dazed and confused , he had wakened up .sx How long he had lain there , unconscious or asleep , he could not say .sx But he was acutely aware of a feeling of immense relief , of a condition of purification , of freedom from all his fears and obsessions .sx Below him lay the lagoon , calm as a mill-pond and reflecting the strong sunshine , in which , with the enjoyment of a comfort-loving cat , he was now basking .sx Where was he ; and how had he come there ?sx The events of the previous night or was it two or three nights ago ?sx were fresh in his mind .sx He could see the sloping and broken ridge in the face of the cliff-like rock by which he must have ascended to this place of shelter .sx The narrow ledge had the appearance of a rough , natural stairway .sx As his eye followed it down to the lagoon he gave a startled gasp .sx About half way down there was a break in the rude stairway .sx Below the waters of the lagoon washed the base of the cliff .sx How in the darkness and the storm had he crossed that dizzy opening ?sx A box floating out towards the entrance of the lagoon caught his eye .sx It was part of his stores .sx By-and-by he dozed a little , and woke up to find that the sun had moved round and that the cave was in shadow .sx He began to wonder for the first time what sort of place he was in .sx The cave was apparently extensive .sx The further portion of it was in deep shadow .sx Spectral in the gloom were a number of immense , white-grey stalactites , reaching from the roof to the floor like queer , uncouth pillars .sx He tried to rise to his feet .sx Crawling over the uneven floor was difficult , and he soon gave up the attempt to explore .sx There was a curious heap in the shadowy part of the cave , with something uncommonly like a skull in it .sx They found him in a semi-conscious condition , talking deliriously .sx He had a narrow escape from being left to perish and forming the subject of another island mystery .sx It was due to the deer-stalking gillie who led the search that he was traced .sx Scratches made by boot nails on the bottom of the rocky stairway , and handfuls of moss torn away were the clues .sx They brought a plank from the ship to bridge the gap , which was only a good leap's length for an active man , but unsafe with the precarious footing .sx Cullen was carried back by the rescue party .sx The Highland sailors spoke amongst themselves in Gaelic , awe in their tones , about the bones in a dark corner of the cavern , with scraps of the M'Clure tartan amongst them .sx