Shoni was lost in admiration, but did not think it wise to show it, so he stood silent for some time, with his hands under his coat tails and his red-bearded chin first turned to one side and then to the other, as he looked with critical eyes at the pictures.
"It's the very spit of the place," he said at last; "let's see another."
And Ellis picked out his masterpiece.
"That's Ogo Wylofen," he said.
"Ach y fi!" said Shoni, with a shudder, "wherr you bin when you painted that?"
"At the mouth of the cave in a boat. It is magnificent, that rushing water, those weird wailings, and the mysterious figures of spray which pass up into the dark fissures."
But this was far above Shoni's head.
"Caton pawb, man!" he said, "not me would go in a boat to that hole for the world. It is a split in the earth, and those are ghosts or witches or something that walk in and out there; but anwl! anwl! you must be a witch yourself, I think, to put those things on paper. Oh, see that red sun, now, and the sea all red and yellow! Well, indeed!"
"Well, now," said Ellis, "I want to have a picture of Corwen."
"Yes, to-morrow, in the field, and me standing by her. I will put on my new gaiters."