rilAPTKU I A XIV 



WAVES SALT >i..\\\ l I 



do the waves come from.'" asked 

 Jules. "The sea is very terrible, they say. 

 when it is angry." 



"Yes, my dear Jules, very terrible. I shall never 

 forget those great moving ridges, capped with foam, 

 that toss a heavy ship like a nutshell, carry it one 

 moment on their monstrous backs, then let it plunge 

 into the li|ui(l valley that intervenes. Oh! how 

 small and weak one feels on those four planks, 

 mounting and plunging at the will of the waves ! If 

 the nutshell springs a leak under the furious blows 

 of the billows, may the good God have pity on us! 

 The shattered boat would disappear in fathomless 

 depths/' 



"In the chasm you told us about ?" Claire asked. 



" \n those chasms from which no one returns. 

 The shattered l><>at would be swallowed up in the 

 sea, and nothing of you would be left hut a remem- 

 brance, if there were people left on the earth who 

 loved you." 



"So the sea ought always to lie calm," said Jules. 



"It would be a pity, my child, it' tin- B68 were al 

 ways at rest. This calm would be incompatible with 

 tin- salubrity <f 1! . which mn>t be violently 



Mirred up to keep them free from taint and t<> 



