152 THE OCEAN 



dead shells. Perchance you may see some 

 prominent landmark, such as a bent or twisted 

 tree, an old stone dock or some queerly- 

 formed cliff near the sea. The old, gnarled 

 tree may be close to the water's edge, with its 

 roots washed bare of earth by the high-flung 

 waves of winter's storms. The broken-down 

 dock may be high and dry and many yards 

 from the water, or the cliff which attracted 

 your attention may be several feet above the 

 tide and yet appear as if carved by the action 

 of the waves. You may wonder why the tree 

 should grow so close to the salt water; why 

 the dock should have been built so far from 

 the edge of the shore or how the rocks could 

 have been smoothed and cut far higher than 

 the heaviest seas can reach. 



If you meet some old, gray-haired and 

 wrinkled native and listen to his yarns and 

 gossip he may tell you that he can remember 

 when the old tree grew far back on the grassy 

 meadow; he may talk of the days when the 

 nearby hamlet was a thriving little port, and 

 may point to the tumble-down dock and tell 

 of the craft that formerly moored beside it. 



