The afternoon sun was lowering towards a heavy bank of clouds hanging still and sullen over the Mediterranean. A mistral was blowing. The last yellow rays shone fiercely upon the towering coast of Corsica, and the windows of the village of Olmeta glittered like gold. There are two Olmetas in Corsica, both in the north, both on the west coast, both perched high like an eagle's nest, both looking down upon those lashed waters of the Mediterranean, which are not the waters that poets sing of, for they are as often white as they are blue; they are seldom glassy except in the height of summer and sailors tell that they are as treacherous as any waters of the earth. Neither aneroid nor weather-wisdom may, as a matter of fact, tell when a mistral will arise, how it will blow, how veer, how drop and rise, and drop again. For it will blow one day beneath a cloudless sky, lashing the whole sea white like milk, and blow harder tomorrow under racing clouds.

Author Biography

Hugh Stowell Scott (1862 - 1903) was a prominent English novelist who used the pseudonym Henry Seton Merriman. His most successful novel was The Sowers (1896), which went through thirty UK editions. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, he became an underwriter at Lloyd's of London, but then devoted himself to travel and to writing novels, many of which had great popularity. Scott visited India as a tourist in 1877-78 and set his novel Flotsam (1896) there. He was an enthusiastic traveler, many of his journeys being undertaken with his friend and fellow author Stanley J. Weyman. His first novel, Young Mistley was published anonymously in 1888. His other novels include The Phantom Future, The Slave of the Lamp, From One Generation to Another, The Sowers, In Kedar's Tents, Roden's Corner, Suspense, Dross, Slave of the Lamp, With Edged Tools, Grey Lady, Isle of Unrest, The Velvet Glove, The Vultures, Queen, Barlasch of the Guard and The Last Hope. He worked with great care and his best books held a high place in Victorian fiction.