ALONG SHOEE 



139 



edged with white-beaded foam ; and these, as 

 they advance and pause for a few seconds, 

 take on wonderful forms and still more won- 

 derful colors. Especially brilliant are these 

 flat mirrors at evening, when the waves are not 

 running high and the heavens are bright with 

 sunset hues. The reflection is more delicate 

 than the sky overhead, and the colors melted 

 and fused on the glassy surface, run together 

 with a harmony beyond analysis. Every hue 

 and tint are there, and all are softened and 

 warmed by being seen in the watery mirror. 



But the water pushed up on the beach lingers 

 for only the fraction of a minute, and then slowly 

 turns and runs back under the base of the 

 newly forming wave. Some of it runs out into 

 deep water in the undertow, but the bulk of it 

 helps form the base of another wave. It will 

 be remembered that waves themselves travel 

 but slowly, and that the undulation furnishes 

 most of the movement. It is not new water 

 that comes in with each wave. If it were, one 

 might wonder what became of the old water 

 fallen upon the beach. The little current there 

 is in the undertow would not be sufficient to 

 carry it off, and besides, the running of the 

 undertow is not always apparent. It is the 



