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 ILL BOUND ABOUT SAN SEBASTIAN. The treacherous Bay of Biscay that lay so fair beneath the sun, tranquil and smiling, as we looked out upon it from the cliffs of Biarritz But scarcely had we turned away before it showed itself in another mood, as if angry that we should escape; heaving and moaning and muttering, with all the signs of a coming tempest. No sooner were we under shelter at San Sebastian, than the rain began to fall?first to patter, and then to pour?accompanied by the deep soughing of the wind; and in waking moments all night long, I heard the incessant dashing of the waves. Morning came, but the storm did not abate. On the contrary, it increased: to the rain was added hail, which beat upon the window-panes. There was an end to the projected excursion of that day. But he is a poor traveller who is disturbed by such an interruption as this. On the contrary, he ought to welcome it as a grateful interval of rest from his daily fatigues. A rainy day gives him sufficient excuse (if he needs any) for staying indoors, writing letters home ?the pleasant duty that comes so naturally when in a home, with kindly faces passing in and out, and a hum of friendlyWALK ROUND THE BAT. 29 voices, lite an undertone of music, giving a sense of quiet happiness to one's thoughts, while not disturbing their even flow. In the afternoon the storm lulled so that Mr. Gulick took me out for a walk round the bay. The rain had ceased, but the wind still blew great guns, and one or two small vessels, which had tried to enter the harbor, were now apparently trying to work off from it, as it is too open to the sea to furnish a sure anchorage, so that not infrequently ships are wrecked where they had seemed to be quite safe. But the sea was magnificent, dashing high on...