The waders had still some distance to go before reaching dry land; but,
after splashing for about twenty minutes longer, they at length stood
upon the shore. As the tide was still flowing in they continued up the
beach; so as to place themselves beyond the reach of the water, in the
event of its rising still higher.
They had to cross a wide stretch of wet sand before they could find a
spot sufficiently elevated to secure them against the further influx of
the tide. Having at length, discovered such a spot, they stopped to
deliberate on what was best to be done.
They would fain have had a fire to dry their dripping garments; for the
night had grown chilly under the influence of the fog.
The old sailor had his flint, steel, and tinder, the latter still safe
in its water-tight tin box; but there was no fuel to be found near. The
spar, even if they could have broken it up, was still floating, or
stranded, in the shoal water, more than a mile to seaward.
In the absence of a fire they adopted the only other mode they could
think of to get a little of the water out of their clothes. They
stripped themselves to the skin, wrung out each article separately; and
then, giving each a good shake, put them on again, leaving it to the
natural warmth of their bodies to complete the process of drying.
By the time they had finished this operation, the mist had become
sensibly thinner; and the moon, suddenly emerging from under a cloud,
enabled them to obtain a better view of the shore upon which they had
set foot.
Landward, as far as they could see, there appeared to be nothing but
white sand, shining like silver under the light of the moon. Up and
down the coast the same landscape could be dimly distinguished.
It was not a level surface that was thus covered with sand; but a
conglomeration of hillocks and ridges, blending into each other and
forming a labyrinth, that seemed to stretch interminably on all sides,
except towards the sea itself.
It occurred to them to climb to the highest of the hillocks. From its
summit they would have a better view of the country beyond; and perhaps
discover a place suitable for an encampment; perhaps some timber might
then come into view, from which they would be able to obtain a few
sticks.
On attempting to scale the "dune", they found that their wading was not
yet at an end. Though no longer in the water, they sank to their knees
at every step, in soft yielding sand.
The ascent of the hillock, though scarce a hundred feet high, proved
exceedingly toilsome, much more so than wading knee-deep in water, but
they floundered on, and at length reached the summit.
To the right, to the left, in front of them, far as the eye could reach,
nothing but hills and ridges of sand, that appeared under the moonlight
of a whiteness approaching to that of snow. In fact, it would not have
been difficult to fancy that the country was covered with a heavy coat
of snow, as often seen in Sweden, or the northern parts of Scotland,
drifted into "wreaths", and spurred hillocks, of every imaginable form.
It was pretty, but soon became painful from its monotony; and the eyes
of that shipwrecked quartette were even glad to turn once more to the
scarce less monotonous blue of the ocean.
Inland, they could perceive other sand-hills, higher than that to which
they had climbed, and long crested "combings", with deep valleys
between; but not one object to gladden their sight, nothing that offered
promise of either food, drink, or shelter.
Had it not been for their fatigue, they might have gone farther. Since
the moon had consented to show herself, there was light enough to travel
by; and they might have proceeded on, either through the sand-dunes or
along the shore. But of the four there was not one, not even the tough
old tar himself, who was not regularly done up, both with weariness of
body and spirit. The short slumber upon the spit, from which they had
been so unexpectedly startled, had refreshed them but little; and, as
they stood upon the summit of the sand-hill, all four felt as if they
could drop down, and go to sleep on the instant.
It was a couch sufficiently inviting, and they would at once have
availed themselves of it, but for a circumstance that suggested to them
the idea of seeking a still better place for repose.
The land-wind was blowing in from the ocean, and, according to the
forecast of Old Bill, a great practical meteorologist, it promised ere
long to become a gale. It was already sufficiently violent, and chill
to boot, to make the situation on the summit of the dune anything but
comfortable. There was no reason why they should make their couch upon
that exposed prominence. Just on the landward side of the hillock
itself, below at its base, they perceived a more sheltered situation;
and why select that spot for their resting-place?
There was no reason why they should not. Old Bill proposed it; there
was no opposition offered by his young companions, and, without further
parley, the four went floundering down the sloping side of the
sand-hill, into the sheltered convexity at its base.
On arriving at the bottom, they found themselves in the narrowest of
ravines. The hillock from which they had descended was but the highest
summit of a long ridge, trending in the same direction as the coast.
Another ridge, of about equal height, ran parallel to this on the
landward side. The bases of the two approached so near that their
sloping sides formed an angle with each other. On account of the abrupt
acclivity of both, this angle was almost acute, and the ravine between
the two resembled a cavity out of which some great wedge had been cut,
like a section taken from the side of a gigantic melon.
It was in this re-entrant angle that the castaways found themselves,
after descending the side of the dune, and where they had proposed
spending the remainder of the night.
They were somewhat disappointed on reaching their sleeping-quarters, and
finding them so limited as to space. In the bottom of the ravine there
was not breadth enough for a bed, even for the shortest of the party,
supposing him desirous of sleeping in a horizontal position.
There were not six feet of surface, nor even three, that could strictly
be called horizontal. Even longitudinally, the bottom of the "gully"
had a sloping inclination; for the ravine itself tended upwards until it
became extinguished in the convergence of its inclosing ridges.
On discovering the unexpected "strait" into which they had launched
themselves, our adventurers were for a time nonplussed. They felt
inclined to proceed farther in search of a "better bed", but their
weariness outweighed this inclination; and, after some hesitation, they
resolved to remain in the "ditch" into which they had so unwillingly
descended. They proceeded therefore to encouch themselves.
Their first attempt was made by placing themselves in a half-standing
position, their backs supported upon the sloping sides of one of the
ridges, with their feet resting against the other. So long as they kept
awake, this position was both easy and pleasant; but the moment any one
of them closed his eyes in sleep, and this was an event almost
instantaneous, his muscles, relaxed by slumber, would no longer have the
strength to sustain him; and the consequence would be an uncomfortable
collapse to the bottom of the "gully", where anything like a position of
repose was out of the question.
This vexatious interruption of their slumbers happening repeatedly, at
length roused all four to take fresh counsel as to choosing a fresh
couch.
Terence had been especially annoyed by these repeated disturbances; and
proclaimed his determination not to submit to them any longer. He would
go in search of more "comfortable quarters."
He had arisen to his feet, and appeared in the act of starting off.
"We had better not separate," suggested Harry Blount. "If we do, we may
find it difficult to come together again."
"There's something in what you say, Hal," said the young Scotchman. "It
will not do for us to lose sight of one another. What does Bill say to
it?"
"I say stay here," put in the voice of the sailor. "It won't do to
stray the wan from the tother. No, it won't. Let us hold fast, thin,
where we're already belayed."
"But who the deuce can sleep here?" remonstrated the son of Erin. "A
hard-worked horse can sleep standing; and so can an elephant, they say;
but, for me, I'd prefer six feet of the horizontal, even if it were a
hard stone, to this slope of the softest sand."
"Stay, Terry!" cried Colin. "I've captured an idea."
"Ah! you Scotch are always capturing something, whether it be an idea, a
flea, or the itch. Let's hear what it is."
"After that insult to ma kintree," good-humouredly rejoined Colin; "I
dinna know whuther I wull."
"Come, Colin!" interrupted Harry Blount, "if you have any good counsel
to give us, pray don't withhold it. We can't get sleep, standing at an
angle of forty-five degrees. Why should we not try to change our
position by seeking another place?"
"Well, Harry, as you have made the request, I'll tell you what's just
come into my mind. I only feel astonished it didn't occur to any of us
sooner."
"Mother av Moses!" cried Terence, jocularly adopting his native brogue;
"and why don't you out with it at wanse? You Scatch are the thrue
_rid-tape_ of society."
"Never mind, Colly!" interposed Blount; "there's no time to listen to
Terry's badinage. We're all too sleepy for jesting: tell us what you've
got in your mind?"
"All of ye do as you see me, and I'll be your bail, ye'll sleep sound
till the dawn o' the day. Goodnight!"
As Colin pronounced the salutation he sank down to the bottom of the
ravine, where, stretched longitudinally, he might repose, without the
slightest danger of being awakened by slipping from his couch.
On seeing him thus disposed, the others only wondered they had not
thought of the thing before.
They were too sleepy to speculate long upon their own thoughtlessness;
and one after the other, imitating the example set them by the young
Scotchman, laid their bodies lengthwise along the bottom of the ravine,
and entered upon the enjoyment of a slumber from which all the
kettle-drums in creation would scarce have awaked them.