The three black pearls--The fatal morning--Jensen and his flotilla drift
away--Alone on the ship--"Oil on the troubled waters"--A substitute for a
rudder--Smoke signals--The whirlpool--The savages attack--I escape from
the blacks--A strange monster--The _Veielland_ strikes a reef--Stone deaf
through the big wave--I leap into the sea--How Bruno helped me ashore--The
dreary island--My raft--A horrible discovery.
This adventure made our Malay crew very anxious to leave these regions.
They had not forgotten the octopus incident either, and they now
appointed their serang to wait upon the captain--a kind of "one-man"
deputation--to persuade him, if possible, to sail for fresh
fishing-grounds. At first Jensen tried to persuade them to remain in the
same latitudes, which is not to be wondered at, seeing the harvest he had
secured; but they would not listen to this, and at last he was compelled
to direct his ship towards some other quarter. Where he took us to I
cannot say, but in the course of another week we dropped anchor in some
practically unexplored pearling grounds, and got to work once more. Our
luck was still with us, and we continued increasing every day the value
of our already substantial treasure. In these new grounds we found a
particularly small shell very rich in pearls, which required no diving
for at all. They were secured by means of a trawl or scoop dragged from
the stern of the lifeboat; and when the tide was low the men jumped into
the shallow water and picked them up at their ease.
One morning, as I was opening the shells as usual, out from one dropped
three magnificent black pearls. I gazed at them, fascinated--why, I know
not. Ah! those terrible three black pearls; would to God they had never
been found! When I showed them to the captain he became very excited,
and said that, as they were worth nearly all the others put together, it
would be well worth our while trying to find more like them. Now, this
meant stopping at sea longer than was either customary or advisable. The
pearling season was practically at an end, and the yearly cyclonic
changes were actually due, but the captain had got the "pearl fever" very
badly and flatly refused to leave. Already we had made an enormous haul,
and in addition to the stock in my charge Jensen had rows of pickle
bottles full of pearls in his cabin, which he would sit and gloat over
for hours like a miser with his gold. He kept on saying that there
_must_ be more of these black pearls to be obtained; the three we had
found could not possibly be isolated specimens and so on. Accordingly,
we kept our divers at work day after day as usual. Of course, I did not
know much about the awful dangers to which we were exposing ourselves by
remaining out in such uncertain seas when the cyclones were due; and I
did not, I confess, see any great reason why we should _not_ continue
pearling. I was inexperienced, you see.
The pearl-fishing season, as I afterwards learned, extends from November
to May. Well, May came and went, and we were still hard at work, hoping
that each day would bring another haul of black pearls to our store of
treasure; in this, however, we were disappointed. And yet the captain
became more determined than ever to find some. He continued to take
charge of the whale-boat whenever the divers went out to work, and he
personally superintended their operations. He knew very well that he had
already kept them at work longer than he ought to have done, and it was
only by a judicious distribution of more jewellery, pieces of cloth, &c.,
that he withheld them from openly rebelling against the extended stay.
The serang told him that if the men did once go on strike, nothing would
induce them to resume work, they would simply sulk, he said; and die out
of sheer disappointment and pettishness. So the captain was compelled to
treat them more amiably than usual. At the very outside their contract
would only be for nine months. Sometimes when he showed signs of being
in a cantankerous mood because the haul of shells did not please him, the
serang would say to him defiantly, "Come on; take it out of me if you are
not satisfied." But Jensen never accepted the challenge. As the days
passed, I thought the weather showed indications of a change; for one
thing, the aneroid began jumping about in a very uneasy manner. I called
Jensen's attention to the matter, but he was too much interested in his
hunt for black pearls to listen to me.
And now I pass to the fatal day that made me an outcast from civilisation
for so many weary years. Early one morning in July 1864, Jensen went off
as usual with the whole of his crew, leaving me absolutely alone in
charge of the ship. The women had often accompanied the divers on their
expeditions, and did so on this occasion, being rather expert at the
work, which they looked upon as sport.
Whenever I look back upon the events of that dreadful day, I am filled
with astonishment that the captain should have been so mad as to leave
the ship at all. Only an hour before he left, a tidal wave broke over
the stern, and flooded the cabins with a perfect deluge. Both Jensen and
I were down below at the time, and came in for an awful drenching. This
in itself was a clear and ominous indication of atmospheric disturbance;
but all that poor Jensen did was to have the pumps set to work, and after
the cabins were comparatively dry he proceeded once more to the pearl
banks that fascinated him so, and on which he probably sleeps to this
day. The tide was favourable when he left, and I watched the fleet of
little boats following in the wake of the whale-boat, until they were
some three miles distant from the ship, when they stopped for
preparations to be made for the work of diving. I had no presentiment
whatever of the catastrophe that awaited them and me.
A cool, refreshing breeze had been blowing up to his time, but the wind
now developed a sudden violence, and the sea was lashed into huge waves
that quickly swamped nearly every one of the little cockle-shell boats.
Fortunately, they could not sink, and as I watched I saw that the Malays
who were thus thrown into the water clung to the sides of the little
boats, and made the best of their way to the big craft in charge of
Captain Jensen. Every moment the sea became more and more turbulent as
the wind quickened to a hurricane. When all the Malays had scrambled
into the whale-boat, they attempted to pull back to the ship, but I could
see that they were unable to make the slightest headway against the
tremendous sea that was running, although they worked frantically at the
oars.
On the contrary, I was horrified to see that they were gradually drifting
_away from me_, and being carried farther and farther out across the
illimitable sea. I was nearly distracted at the sight, and I racked my
brains to devise some means of helping them, but could think of nothing
feasible. I thought first of all of trying to slip the anchor and let
the ship drift in their direction, but I was by no means sure that she
would actually do this. Besides, I reflected, she might strike on some
of the insidious coral reefs that abound in those fair but terribly
dangerous seas. So I came to the conclusion that it would be better to
let her remain where she was--at least, for the time being. Moreover, I
felt sure that the captain, with his knowledge of those regions, would
know of some island or convenient sandbank, perhaps not very far distant,
on which he might run his boat for safety until the storm had passed.
The boats receded farther and farther from view, until, about nine in the
morning, I lost sight of them altogether. They had started out soon
after sunrise. It then occurred to me that I ought to put the ship into
some sort of condition to enable her to weather the storm, which was
increasing instead of abating. This was not the first storm I had
experienced on board the _Veielland_, so I knew pretty well what to do.
First of all, then, I battened down the hatches; this done, I made every
movable thing on deck as secure as I possibly could. Fortunately all the
sails were furled at the time, so I had no trouble with them. By mid-day
it was blowing so hard that I positively could not stand upright, but had
to crawl about on my hands and knees, otherwise I should have been hurled
overboard. I also attached myself to a long rope, and fastened the other
end to one of the masts, so that in the event of my being washed into the
raging sea, I could pull myself on board again.
Blinding rain had been falling most of the time, and the waves came
dashing over the deck as though longing to engulf the little ship; but
she rode them all in splendid style. The climax was reached about two
o'clock, when a perfect cyclone was raging, and the end seemed very near
for me. It made me shudder to listen to the wind screaming and moaning
round the bare poles of the sturdy little vessel, which rose on veritable
mountains of water and crashed as suddenly into seething abysses that
made my heart stand still. Then the weather suddenly became calm once
more--a change that was as unexpected as the advent of the storm itself.
The sky, however, continued very black and threatening, and the sea was
still somewhat boisterous; but both wind and rain had practically
subsided, and I could now look around me without feeling that if I
stirred I was a doomed man. I clambered up the lower portion of the main
rigging, but only saw black, turbulent waters, hissing and heaving, and
raging on every side, and seemingly stretching away into infinity. With
terrible force the utter awfulness and hopelessness of my position dawned
upon me, yet I did not despair. I next thought it advisable to try and
slip my anchor, and let the ship drift, for I still half-fancied that
perhaps I might come across my companions somewhere. Before I could free
the vessel, however, the wind veered completely round, and, to my horror
and despair, sent a veritable mountain of water on board, that carried
away nearly all the bulwarks, the galley, the top of the companion-way,
and, worst of all, completely wrenched off the wheel. Compasses and
charts were all stored in the companion-way, and were therefore lost for
ever. Then, indeed, I felt the end was near. Fortunately, I was for'ard
at the time, or I must inevitably have been swept into the appalling
waste of whirling, mountainous waters. This lashing of myself to the
mast, by the way, was the means of saving my life time after time. Soon
after the big sea--which I had hoped was a final effort of the terrible
storm--the gale returned and blew in the opposite direction with even
greater fury than before. I spent an awful time of it the whole night
long, without a soul to speak to or help me, and every moment I thought
the ship must go down, in that fearful sea. The only living thing on
board beside myself was the captain's dog, which I could occasionally
hear howling dismally in the cabin below, where I had shut him in when
the cyclone first burst upon me.
Among the articles carried overboard by the big sea that smashed the
wheel was a large cask full of oil, made from turtle fat, in which we
always kept a supply of fresh meats, consisting mainly of pork and fowls.
This cask contained perhaps twenty gallons, and when it overturned, the
oil flowed all over the decks and trickled into the sea. The effect was
simply magical. Almost immediately the storm-tossed waves in the
vicinity of the ship, which hitherto had been raging mountains high,
quieted down in a way that filled me with astonishment. This
tranquillity prevailed as long as the oil lasted; but as soon as the
supply was exhausted the giant waves became as turbulent and mountainous
as ever.
All night long the gale blew the ship blindly hither and thither, and it
was not until just before daybreak that the storm showed any signs of
abating. By six o'clock, however, only a slight wind was blowing, and
the sea no longer threatened to engulf me and my little vessel. I was
now able to look about me, and see what damage had been done; and you may
imagine my relief when I found that the ship was still sound and water-
tight, although the bulwarks were all gone, and she had all the
appearance of a derelict. One of the first things I did was to go down
and unloose the dog--poor Bruno. The delight of the poor creature knew
no bounds, and he rushed madly up on deck, barking frantically for his
absent master. He seemed very much surprised to find no one aboard
besides myself.
Alas! I never saw Peter Jensen again, nor the forty Malays and the two
women. Jensen _may_ have escaped; he may even have lived to read these
lines; God only knows what was the fate of the unfortunate fleet of pearl-
fishers. Priggish and uncharitable people may ejaculate: "The reward of
cupidity!" But I say, "judge not, lest ye also be judged."
As the morning had now become beautifully fine, I thought I might attempt
to get out some spare sails. I obtained what I wanted from the fo'c'sle,
and after a good deal of work managed to "bend" a mainsail and staysail.
Being without compass or chart, however, I knew not where I was, nor
could I decide what course to take in order to reach land. I had a vague
idea that the seas in those regions were studded with innumerable little
islands and sandbanks known only to the pearl-fishers, and it seemed
inevitable that I must run aground somewhere or get stranded upon a coral
reef after I had slipped the cable.
However, I did not see what advantage was to be gained by remaining where
I was, so I fixed from the stern a couple of long sweeps, or steering
oars, twenty-six feet long, and made them answer the purpose of a rudder.
These arrangements occupied me two or three days, and then, when
everything was completed to my satisfaction, and the ship was in sailing
trim, I gave the _Veielland_ her freedom. This I managed as follows: The
moment the chain was at its tautest--at its greatest tension--I gave it a
violent blow with a big axe, and it parted. I steered due west, taking
my observations by the sun and my own shadow at morning, noon, and
evening. For I had been taught to reckon the degree of latitude from the
number of inches of my shadow. After a time I altered my course to west
by south, hoping that I might come upon one of the islands of the Dutch
Indies,--Timorland, for instance, but day after day passed without land
coming in sight.
Imagine the situation, if you can: alone on a disabled ship in the
limitless ocean,--tortured with doubts and fears about the fate of my
comrades, and filled with horror and despair at my own miserable
prospects for the future.
I did not sail the ship at night, but got out a sea-anchor (using a float
and a long coir rope), and lay-to while I turned in for a sleep. I would
be up at day-break next morning, and as the weather continued beautifully
fine, I had no difficulty in getting under way again. At last the
expected happened. One afternoon, without any warning whatsoever, the
vessel struck heavily on a reef. I hurriedly constructed a raft out of
the hatches and spare spars, and put biscuits and water aboard, after
which I landed on the rocks. When the tide reached its lowest point the
stern of the _Veielland_ was left fully _twenty feet out of water_,
securely jammed between two high pinnacles of coral rock. The sight was
remarkable in the extreme. The sails were still set, and the stiff
breeze that was blowing dead against them caused them to belly out just
as though the craft were afloat, and practically helped to keep the
vessel in position. The bows were much higher than the stern, the line
of the decks being at an angle of about forty-five degrees. In this
remarkable situation she remained secure until the turning of the tide.
My only hope was that she would not suffer from the tremendous strain to
which she was necessarily being subjected. It seemed to me every minute
that she would free herself from her singular position between the rocks,
and glide down bows foremost into the sea to disappear for ever. But the
sails kept her back. How earnestly I watched the rising of the waters;
and night came on as I waited. Slowly and surely they crept up the bows,
and the ship gradually assumed her natural level until at length the
stanch little craft floated safe and sound once more, apparently very
little the worse for her strange experience. And then away I went on my
way--by this time almost schooled to indifference. Had she gone down I
must inevitably have succumbed on those coral reefs, for the stock of
biscuits and water I had been able to put aboard the raft would only have
lasted a very few days.
For nearly a fortnight after the day of the great storm I kept on the
same course without experiencing any unpleasant incident or check, always
excepting the curious threatened wreck which I have just mentioned.
Just before dusk on the evening of the thirteenth day, I caught sight of
an island in the distance--Melville Island I now know it to be; and I was
greatly puzzled to see smoke floating upwards apparently from many fires
kindled on the beach. I knew that they were signals of some kind, and at
first I fancied that it must be one of the friendly Malay islands that I
was approaching. A closer scrutiny of the smoke signals, however, soon
convinced me that I was mistaken. As I drew nearer, I saw a number of
natives, perfectly nude, running wildly about on the beach and
brandishing their spears in my direction.
I did not like the look of things at all, but when I tried to turn the
head of the ship to skirt the island instead of heading straight on, I
found to my vexation that I was being carried forward by a strong tide or
current straight into what appeared to be a large bay or inlet. I had no
alternative but to let myself drift, and soon afterwards found myself in
a sort of natural harbour three or four miles wide, with very threatening
coral reefs showing above the surface. Still the current drew me
helplessly onward, and in a few minutes the ship was caught in a
dangerous whirlpool, round which she was carried several times before I
managed to extricate her. Next we were drawn close in to some rocks, and
I had to stand resolutely by with an oar in order to keep the vessel's
head from striking. It was a time of most trying excitement for me, and
I wonder to this day how it was that the _Veielland_ did not strike and
founder then and there, considering, firstly, that she was virtually a
derelict, and secondly, that there was no living creature on board to
navigate her save myself.
I was beginning to despair of ever pulling the vessel through, when we
suddenly entered a narrow strait. I knew that I was in a waterway
between two islands--Apsley Strait, dividing Melville and Bathurst
Islands, as I have since learned.
The warlike and threatening natives had now been left behind long ago,
and I never thought of meeting any other hostile people, when just as I
had reached the narrowest part of the waterway, I was startled by the
appearance of a great horde of naked blacks--giants, every one of them--on
the rocks above me.
They were tremendously excited, and greeted me first of all with a shower
of spears. Fortunately, on encountering the first lot of threatening
blacks, I had prepared a shelter for myself on deck by means of the
hatches reared up endwise against the stanchions, and so the spears fell
harmlessly around me. Next, the natives sent a volley of boomerangs on
board, but without any result. Some of these curious weapons hit the
sails and fell impotently on the deck, whilst some returned to their
throwers, who were standing on the rocks about fifty yards away, near the
edge of the water. I afterwards secured the boomerangs that came on
board, and found that they were about twenty-four inches in length,
shaped like the blade of a sickle, and measured three or four inches
across at the widest part.
They were made of extremely hard wood, and were undoubtedly capable of
doing considerable injury when dexterously and accurately thrown. The
blacks kept up a terrific hubbub on shore, yelling like madmen, and
hurling at me showers of barbed spears. The fact that they had
boomerangs convinced me that I must be nearing the Australian mainland.
All this time the current was carrying the _Veielland_ rapidly along, and
I had soon left the natives jabbering furiously far behind me.
At last I could see the open sea once more, and at the mouth of the
strait was a little low, wooded island, where I thought I might venture
to land. As I was approaching it, however, yet another crowd of blacks,
all armed, came rushing down to the beach; they jumped into their
catamarans, or "floats," and paddled out towards me.
After my previous experience I deemed it advisable not to let them get
too near, so I hoisted the mainsail again and stood for the open sea.
There was a good supply of guns and ammunition on board, and it would
have been an easy matter for me to have sunk one or two of the native
catamarans, which are mere primitive rafts or floats, and so cooled their
enthusiasm a bit; but I refrained, on reflecting that I should not gain
anything by this action.
By this time I had abandoned all hope of ever coming up with my friends,
but, of course, I did not despair of reaching land--although I hardly
knew in what direction I ought to shape my course. Still, I thought that
if I kept due west, I should eventually sight Timor or some other island
of the Dutch Indies, and so, for the next three or four days, I sailed
steadily on without further incident.
About a week after meeting with the hostile blacks, half a gale sprang
up, and I busied myself in putting the ship into trim to weather the
storm, which I knew was inevitable. I happened to be looking over the
stern watching the clouds gathering in dark, black masses, when a strange
upheaval of the waters took place almost at my feet, and a huge black
fish, like an exaggerated porpoise, leaped into the air close to the
stern of my little vessel.
It was a monstrous, ungainly looking creature, nearly the size of a small
whale. The strange way it disported itself alongside the ship filled me
with all manner of doubtings, and I was heartily thankful when it
suddenly disappeared from sight. The weather then became more
boisterous, and as the day advanced I strove my utmost to keep the ship's
head well before the wind; it was very exhausting work. I was unable to
keep anything like an adequate look-out ahead, and had to trust to
Providence to pull me through safely.
All this time I did not want for food. Certainly I could not cook
anything, but there was any quantity of tinned provisions. And I fed
Bruno, too. I conversed with him almost hourly, and derived much
encouragement and sympathy therefrom. One morning sometime between the
fifteenth and twentieth day, I was scanning the horizon with my customary
eagerness, when suddenly, on looking ahead, I found the sea white with
the foam of crashing breakers; I knew I must be in the vicinity of a
sunken reef. I tried to get the ship round, but it was too late. I
couldn't make the slightest impression upon her, and she forged stolidly
forward to her doom.
A few minutes later her keel came into violent contact with a coral reef,
and as she grated slowly over it, the poor thing seemed to shiver from
stem to stern. The shock was so severe that I was thrown heavily to the
deck. Bruno could make nothing whatever of it, so he found relief in
doleful howls. While the vessel remained stuck on the rocks, I was
looking out anxiously from the rigging, when, without a moment's warning,
a gigantic wave came toppling and crashing overboard from the stern,
overwhelming me in the general destruction that followed. I was dashed
with tremendous force on to the deck, and when I picked myself up,
bruised and bleeding, the first thing I was conscious of was a deathly
stillness, which filled me with vague amazement, considering that but a
few moments before my ears had been filled with the roar and crash of the
breakers. And I could see that the storm was still raging with great
fury, although not a sound reached my ears.
Gradually the horrible truth dawned upon me--_I was stone deaf_! The
blow on the head from the great wave had completely deprived me of all
sense of hearing. How depressed I felt when I realised this awful fact
no one can imagine. Nevertheless, things were not altogether hopeless,
for next morning I felt a sudden crack in my left ear, and immediately
afterwards I heard once more the dull roar of the surf, the whistling of
the wind, and the barking of my affectionate dog. My right ear, however,
was permanently injured, and to this day I am decidedly deaf in that
organ. I was just beginning to think that we had passed over the most
serious part of the danger, when to my utter despair I again heard that
hideous grating sound, and knew she had struck upon another reef. She
stuck there for a time, but was again forced on, and presently floated in
deep water. The pitiless reefs were now plainly visible on all sides,
and some distance away I could see what appeared to be nothing more than
a little sandbank rising a few feet above the waters of the lagoon.
While I was watching and waiting for developments the deck of the vessel
suddenly started, and she began rapidly to settle down by the stern.
Fortunately, however, at that point the water was not excessively deep.
When I saw that nothing could save the ship, and that her deck was all
but flush with the water, I loosened several of the fittings, as well as
some spars, casks, and chests, in the hope that they might drift to land
and perhaps be of service to me afterwards. I remained on board as long
as I possibly could, trying to build a raft with which to get some things
ashore, but I hadn't time to finish it.
Up and up came the inexorable water, and at last, signalling to Bruno to
follow me, I leaped into the sea and commenced to swim towards the
sandbank. Of course, all the boats had been lost when the pearling fleet
disappeared. The sea was still very rough, and as the tide was against
us, I found it extremely exhausting work. The dog seemed to understand
that I was finding it a dreadful strain, for he swam immediately in front
of me, and kept turning round again and again as though to see if I were
following safely.
By dint of tremendous struggling I managed to get close up to the shore,
but found it utterly impossible to climb up and land. Every time I
essayed to plant my legs on the beach, the irresistible backwash swept me
down, rolling me head over heels, and in my exhausted condition this
filled me with despair. On one occasion this backwash sent me spinning
into deep water again, and I am sure I should have been drowned had not
my brave dog come to my rescue and seized me by my hair--which, I should
have explained, I had always worn long from the days of my childhood.
Well, my dog tugged and tugged at me until he had got me half-way through
the breakers, nor did this exertion seem to cause him much trouble in
swimming.
I then exerted myself sufficiently to allow of his letting go my hair,
whilst I took the end of his tail between my teeth, and let him help me
ashore in this peculiar way. He was a remarkably strong and sagacious
brute--an Australian dog--and he seemed to enjoy the task. At length I
found myself on my legs upon the beach, though hardly able to move from
exhaustion of mind and body. When at length I had recovered sufficiently
to walk about, I made a hasty survey of the little island or sandbank
upon which I found myself. Thank God, I did not realise at that moment
that I was doomed to spend a soul-killing _two and a half years_ on that
desolate, microscopical strip of sand! Had I done so I must have gone
raving mad. It was an appalling, dreary-looking spot, without one single
tree or bush growing upon it to relieve the terrible monotony. I tell
you, words can never describe the horror of the agonising months as they
crawled by. "My island" was nothing but a little sand-spit, with here
and there a few tufts of grass struggling through its parched surface. As
a matter of fact the sand was only four or five inches deep in most
places, and underneath was solid coral rock.
Think of it, ye who have envied the fate of the castaway on a gorgeous
and fertile tropical island perhaps miles in extent! It was _barely a
hundred yards in length_, _ten yards wide_, _and only eight feet above
sea-level at high water_! There was no sign of animal life upon it, but
birds were plentiful enough--particularly pelicans. My tour of the
island occupied perhaps ten minutes; and you may perhaps form some
conception of my utter dismay on failing to come across any trace of
fresh water.
With what eager eyes did I look towards the ship then! So long as she
did not break up I was safe because there were water and provisions in
plenty on board. And how I thanked my God for the adamant bulwarks of
coral that protected my ark from the fury of the treacherous seas! As
the weather became calmer, and a brilliant moon had risen, I decided to
swim back to the ship, and bring some food and clothing ashore from her.
I reached the wreck without much trouble, and clambered on board, but
could do very little in the way of saving goods, as the decks were still
below water. However, I dived, or rather ducked, for the depth of water
was only four or five feet, into the cabin and secured some blankets, but
I could not lay my hands on any food.
After infinite trouble I managed to make some sort of a raft out of
pieces of wood I found lying loose and floating about, and upon this
platform I placed the blankets, an oak chest, and one or two other
articles I proposed taking ashore. In the oak chest were a number of
flags, some clothing and medicine together with my case of pearls and the
four medical books. But after I had launched it, I found that the tide
was still running out, and it was impossible for me to get anything
ashore that night. The weather was beautifully fine, however, and as the
forepart of the ship was well out of water, I decided to remain on board
and get an hour or two's sleep, which I needed badly. The night passed
without incident, and I was astir a little before dawn.
As the tide was now favourable, I loosed my raft and swam it ashore. When
I gained the island, I made another survey of it, to find the most
suitable spot for pitching my camp, and in the course of my wanderings I
made a discovery that filled me with horror and the anguish of blackest
despair. My curiosity was first attracted by a human skull that lay near
a large circular depression in the sand about two feet deep. I commenced
scratching with my fingers at one side, and had only gone a few inches
down, when I came upon a quantity of human remains.
The sight struck terror to my heart, and filled me with the most dismal
forebodings. "My own bones," I thought, "will soon be added to the
pile." So great was my agony of mind that I had to leave the spot, and
interest myself in other things; but some time afterwards, when I had got
over my nervousness, I renewed my digging operations, and in an hour or
so had unearthed no fewer than sixteen complete skeletons--fourteen
adults, and two younger people, possibly women! They lay alongside one
another, covered by sand that had been blown over them by the wind.