to its roamings while we removed some supplies to 

 a point above the tide level. This done, my Faith- 

 ful Assistant set to work at building a fire, where- 

 upon I began to explore the beach for sizable 

 pieces of driftwood, and to gather them in such 

 quantity as to maintain a large and lasting light, 

 a beacon for her return. Besides, its embers would 

 later serve to boil our coffee and roast our midnight 

 meal. 



But firewood was uncommonly scarce, and my 

 search took me farther away from our selected site 

 than I had realized, when a hail from that direc- 

 tion caused me to drop my load and to hasten back 

 as fast as my encumbering boots would permit over 

 the soft and yielding sand. 



That my Faithful Assistant had come by chance 

 upon some rarity or had observed some creature 

 whose employments demanded my immediate at- 

 tention, I did not doubt. Often before, her call had 

 brought me to witness some transient and eventful 

 sight; so I had learned to respond quickly, lest an 

 opportunity for taking in a most unusual detail, 

 it may be, become forever lost. As I drew nearer, 

 however, I saw in the bright moonlight that she 

 was not in the water but was sitting in the dinghy 



[207] 



