MOONLIGHT AND DAYBREAK 215 



gauze had been drawn in front of her. A cap- 

 ful of wind up aloft drives the mist clouds away. 

 Then the sands and the water show out as one 

 vast white plain. Very beautiful it looks ; but 

 it is a treacherous beauty, for the greater part 

 of these are quicksands, that boil and bubble at 

 every tide. That dark streak lit up by a flash 

 is a cut in the sands, where the water has already 

 forced itself. I f you could stand there and look 

 at it, you would see the water rushing down that 

 cut like a mill-race. Live sands are there. 

 Marks exist on all these live sands, showing 

 where you can travel in comparative safety ; but 

 you must know them well, or woe betide you ! 



Getting on the wrong side of a thin line of 

 stakes, driven deep down in the solid part of 

 the sands, simply means being washed up dead 

 by-and-by. It is not on the surface that the 

 sands boil and bubble, but below, and before 

 you are aware of it you are ankle-deep. On 

 either side all pools show for a moment and 

 vanish again. The tide is forcing its way 

 through the sands. Knee-deep at times, you 

 squelch through sand and water to gain the 

 stake-line, and well for you if the right side has 

 been gained. Even then the shore has to be 

 made at top speed. You might think that if 



