op.

He vaguely felt the warmth of the sun drying his skin while the sea
hummed in his ears; he felt distinctly the sharp pain between his eyes,
and a parching thirst. He groped around in a delirious search for
water, which he did not find; he pressed his head and limbs against the
earth in an exquisite relief from pain; and at last his bruised feet,
his aching bones and head constrained him to a lethargy that ended in
sleep.

CHAPTER IX

THE CAMP ON THE BEACH

Sunset of the day that had dawned so strangely and wonderfully for
those two wayfarers of earth, James and Agatha, fell on a little camp
near the spit of coast-land toward which they had struggled. The point
lifted itself abruptly into a rocky bank which curved in and out,
yielding to the besieging waves. Just here had been formed a little
sandy cove partly protected by the beetling cliff. At the top was
verdure in abundance. Vines hung down over the face of the wall,
coarse grasses and underbrush grew to its very edge, and sharp-pointed
fir trees etched themselves against the clear blue of the sky. Below,
the white sand formed a sickle-shaped beach, bordered by the rocky
wall, with its sharp point dipping far out to sea. High up on the sand
a small rowboat was beached. There was no path visible up from the
shingle, but it was evident that the ascent would be easy enough.

Nevertheless, the campers did not attempt it. Instead, they had made a
fire of driftwood on the sand out of reach of the highest tide. Near
the fire they had spread fir boughs, and on this fragrant couch James
was lying. He was all unconscious, apparently, of the primitive nature
of his surroundings, the sweetness of his balsam bed, and the watchful
care of his two nurses.

Jim was in a bad way, if one could trust the remarks of his male nurse,
who spoke to an invisible companion as he gathered chips and other bits
of wood from the beach. He was a young, businesslike fellow with a
clean, wholesome face, dressed only in gauze shirt, trousers, and boots
without stockings; this lack, of course, was not immediately apparent.
The tide had just turned after the ebb, and he went far down over the
wet sand, sometimes climbing over the rocks farther along the shore
until he was out of sight of the camp.

Returning from one of these excursions, which had been a bit longer
than he intended, he looked anxiously toward the fire before depositing
his armful of driftwood. The blaze