20 ALONGSHORE 



pebbles at us. By a quarter to ten the tide 

 seemed at last to be falling. We came in house 

 to breakfast. No sooner had we sat down and 

 taken off our boots than there was a noise of 

 shouting. A couple of ground-swells, larger than 

 all the rest, had driven four of our boats across 

 the Front and had filled them with shingle and 

 water, so that had they shifted again their own 

 weight would have stove them in. That was at 

 least two hours after nominal high tide. "Twas 

 a wonder you hadn' a-losted all they boats !' we 

 were told. It was a wonder, but what else could 

 we have done? We could not have foreseen a 

 tide and swell that would comiC to our beach 

 from the distant, invisible Atlantic. 

 A mad gale followed. 



