243 THE JERSEY COAST. 



and the sand and drizzle driving in our faces as we 

 walked over, and we kept our heads down most of 

 the time. When we got to the sand-hills we looked 

 up, and the ship was gone. I thought that likely- 

 enough, for she must have broken up and gone to 

 pieces soon in that surf, so we hurried along as fast 

 as we could ; and sure enough, when we rounded 

 the point, the little cove in which she lay was full of 

 truck. 'Lige was there, and he saw it as plain as I 

 did. The water was full of drift-boxes, barrels, 

 planks, and all sorts of things, pitching and rolling 

 about ; and some of them had been carried up onto 

 the sand and were strewed about in all directions. 



" It was early, and the day was misty, but we 

 could see plain enough, and we saw all that stuff 

 knocking about as plain as I see you now. There 

 was a big timber in my way — a stick — well, thirty 

 feet long and two feet or two and a half square, so 

 that I had to raise my foot high to clear it ; I step- 

 ped one leg over, and drew the other along to feel 

 it, but it didn't touch anything ; then I stopped and 

 looked down — there was no timber there ; I looked 

 back towards the sea — the drift had disappeared, the 

 barrels and boxes and truck of one sOrt or another 

 Avas gone. There was nothing on shore nor in the 

 water. Now you may laugh, but 'Lige knows 

 whether what I've told you is true." 



" Bill, that is a pretty good story, but it is not the 

 one I meant," persisted the individual who had com- 

 menced the attack. 



" Well, another time, Zeph and I were at work 



