ALONG SHORE 
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 aminute, and thenslowly 
turns and runs buck 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 
isin the undertow would not be sufficient to 
carry it off, and besides, the running of the 
undertow is not always apparent. It is the 
Water- 
mirrors on 
the beach. 
The 
undulation, 
again, 
