e tragedy had become evident when the surge flung up on the
coast numberless bodies impossible of identification, without even a
recognizable human face.

Almost every week Toni contemplated some of these funereal gifts of the
sea. At daybreak the fishermen used to find corpses tossed on the beach
where the water swept the sand, resting there a few moments on the
moist ground, only to be snatched back again by another and stronger
wave. Finally their backs had become imbedded on land, holding them
motionless--while, from their clothing and their flesh, swarms of
little fishes came forth fleeing back to the sea in search of new
pastures. The revenue guards had discovered among the rocks mutilated
bodies in tragic positions, with glassy eyes protruding from their
sockets.

Many of them were recognized as soldiers by the tatters that revealed
an old uniform, or the metal identification tags on their wrists. The
shore folks were always talking of a transport that had been torpedoed
coming from Algiers.... And mixed with the men, they were constantly
finding bodies of women so disfigured that it was almost impossible to
judge of their age: mothers who had their arms arched as though putting
forth their utmost efforts to guard the babe that had disappeared. Many
whose virginal modesty had been violated by the sea, showed naked limbs
swollen and greenish, with deep bites from flesh-eating fishes. The
tide had even tossed ashore the headless body of a child a few years
old.

It was more horrible, according to Toni, to contemplate this spectacle
from land than when in a boat. Those on ships are not able to see the
ultimate consequences of the torpedoings as vividly as do those who
live on the shore, receiving as a gift of the waves this continual
consignment of victims.

The pilot had ended his letter with his usual supplications:--"Why do
you persist in following the sea?... You want a vengeance that is
impossible. You are one man, and your enemies are millions.... You are
going to die if you persist in disregarding them. You already know that
they have been hunting you for a long time. And you will not always
succeed in eluding their clutches. Remember what the people say, 'He
who courts danger--!' Give up the sea; return to your wife or come to
us. Such a rich life as you might lead ashore!..."

For a few hours Ferragut was of Toni's opinion. His reckless
undertaking was bound to come to a bad end. His enemies knew him,