When at last they emerged from the loch where it enters the open sea
they paused a while by the shore to eat their bread cakes and drink the
milk that Aasta had brought. They sat face to face. Once Kenric thought
he saw the maid's eyes sparkle with a green flash of light and he drew
back, though in sooth it was but the reflection of the planet Venus,
shining in the clear mirror of her eyes.
The gentle rippling of the water against the boat alone disturbed the
stillness. In that stillness Kenric looked fixedly at Aasta through the
dim light. Aasta sank upon her knees, and obeying an impulse that was
upon her she took his hands in her own and touched them with her warm lips.
Kenric felt a strange thrill of pity for this beautiful girl, so lonely
was she, and so much despised of men, and in that moment he bent down
and kissed her head. And at that the maid began to weep, and her hot
tears fell upon his hands.
Neither spoke, but each felt that a new bond of sympathy had been formed
between them. Presently Aasta rose to her seat, and Kenric took his
paddle and drove the boat along into the deeper water.
Down the west coast of Kintyre they sailed until, out across the sea,
they saw the light of a beacon fire shoot up upon the heights of Gigha.
Outward then they steered until they came nigh upon the rocky shores of
that island; and passing many little islets, they sailed between Gigha
and the brownie-haunted island of Cara, just as the day was breaking in
the east.
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