The girl assented with a nod.
The young man upon the perch holding the rings saw this nod and judged
its meaning. Into his mind came an idea of defeating the watchfulness of
the redoubtable Stimson. When the Merry-Go-Round was closed and the two
girls started for the beach, he wandered off aimlessly in another
direction, but he kept them in view, and as soon as he was assured that
he had escaped the vigilance of Stimson, he followed them.
The electric lights on the beach made a broad band of tremoring light,
extending parallel to the sea, and upon the wide walk there slowly
paraded a great crowd, intermingling, intertwining, sometimes colliding.
In the darkness stretched the vast purple expanse of the ocean, and the
deep indigo sky above was peopled with yellow stars. Occasionally out
upon the water a whirling mass of froth suddenly flashed into view, like
a great ghostly robe appearing, and then vanished, leaving the sea in
its darkness, whence came those bass tones of the water's unknown
emotion. A wind, cool, reminiscent of the wave wastes, made the women
hold their wraps about their throats, and caused the men to grip the
rims of their straw hats. It carried the noise of the band in the
pavilion in gusts. Sometimes people unable to hear the music glanced up
at the pavilion and were reassured upon beholding the distant leader
still gesticulating and bobbing, and the other members of the band with
their lips glued to their instruments.
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