" It has no specific name on the charts, and
geography manuals don't mention it at all; but the wreckage of many
defeats unerringly drifts into its creeks. Its approaches are extremely
difficult for a stranger. Looked at from seaward, the innumerable islets
fringing what, on account of its vast size, may be called the mainland,
merge into a background that presents not a single landmark to point the
way through the intricate channels. It may be said that in a belt of sea
twenty miles broad along that low shore there is much more coral, mud,
sand, and stones than actual sea water. It was amongst the outlying
shoals of this stretch that the yacht had gone ashore and the events
consequent upon her stranding took place.
The diffused light of the short daybreak showed the open water to the
westward, sleeping, smooth and grey, under a faded heaven. The straight
coast threw a heavy belt of gloom along the shoals, which, in the calm
of expiring night, were unmarked by the slightest ripple. In the faint
dawn the low clumps of bushes on the sandbanks appeared immense.
Two figures, noiseless like two shadows, moved slowly over the beach of
a rocky islet, and stopped side by side on the very edge of the water.
Behind them, between the mats from which they had arisen, a small heap
of black embers smouldered quietly.
Pages:
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86