The cart, with its little company, turned into the narrow strip of dark
damp sand that the tide had already left bare. Here the footing was much
firmer, and the wind struck them obliquely. The hardy pony broke into
its natural pace, a moderate trot. In spite of this pace, the progress
they made was not very swift, and it was already four by the clock.
O'Shea climbed to his place on the front of the cart; the boy sprang
down and ran to warm himself, clapping his gloved hands as he ran. It
was not long before Caius clambered into his straw seat again, and,
sitting, watched the wonder of the waves. So level was the beach, so
high was the surf, that from the low cart it seemed that gigantic
monsters were constantly arising from the sea; and just as the fear of
them overshadowed the fascinated mind, they melted away again into
nothingness. As he looked at the waves he saw that their water, mixed
with sand, was a yellowish brown, and dark almost to black when the
curling top yawned before the downfall; but so fast did each wave break
one upon the other that glossy water was only seen in glimpses, and
boiling fields of foam and high crests of foam were the main substance
of all that was to be seen for a hundred yards from the shore.
Proceeding thus, they soon came to what was actually the end of the
island, and were on the narrow ridge of sand-dunes which extended a
distance of some twenty miles to the next island.
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