At the thought, it was revealed to me
suddenly how the bungalows, and the Fowlers, and the
bright busy town and crowding ships, were all children
of yesterday; and for centuries before, the obscure
life of the natives, with its glories and ambitions,
its joys and crimes and agonies, had rolled unseen,
like the mountain river, in that sea-girt place. Not
Chaldea appeared more ancient, nor the Pyramids of
Egypt more abstruse; and I heard time measured by "the
drums and tramplings" of immemorial conquests, and saw
myself the creature of an hour. Over the bankruptcy of
Pinkerton and Dodd, of Montana Block, S. F., and the
conscientious troubles of the junior partner, the
spirit of eternity was seen to smile.
To this mood of philosophic sadness my excesses of the
night before no doubt contributed, for more things than
virtue are at times their own reward, but I was greatly
healed at least of my distresses. And while I was yet
enjoying my abstracted humour, a turn of the beach
brought me in view of the signal-station, with its
watch-house and flag-staff, perched on the immediate
margin of a cliff.
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