n's face. Then Dick lifted his free arm for a
second. Those ashore saw the movement and shouted, while three or four
of them ran down into the sea. A wave was coming. Dick could see it in
spite of the blowing spray which whisked across the water. He took a
deep breath and gripped the coat with both hands. The curling crest of
a green wave shut out the horizon. There was a crash in his ears. The
torrent caught him and almost tore his grip from the collar. Then he
felt that he was moving. He and the weight to which he clung shot
towards the shore, a foot or more of water covering them. Then there
was a second crash, loud shouts from those on the beach, and
afterwards--

"Hullo! Does it hurt? Broke just above the elbow and we had such a
job. No. Lie down, sir! You are not to move. Lie down, I say! You
are safe out of the water."

Dick collapsed flat on his back and stared indignantly at the individual
who had dared to give the order. He was a trim, dapper Englishman, with
a small beard, and as he returned our hero's gaze he showed every sign
of being a man who meant what he said, and would have no nonsense. He
was minus his coat, and his sleeves were rolled to the shoulder.

"That's an order," he laughed. "Remember that, youngster. An order.
See that you obey it."

He shook his fist, laughed merrily, and proceeded to unroll his sleeves
and don his coat.

They were in a large, airy room, and when Dick turned his head, he could
catch, through the widely opened windows, a view of the sea, of the ship
which had just reached the roads, and a small section of the sandy
beach. No one was stirring. The sun was right overhead, and the
shadows short and barely perceptible. The atmosphere quivered with the
heat. Even the birds and the insects seemed to have succumbed. An
unnatural quiet reigned over that portion of the Gold Coast, and only
the surf thundered and roared. But that was partly imagination. Dick
could not shake off the impression that he was even then swallowed in
that huge mass of water, and that he could still hear, was deafened,
indeed, by the crash of the billows. He looked again down at the sands.
A solitary Fanti boy languidly sauntered across the view. There was a
boat drawn up clear of the breakers, and another lay off the ship, a
mile from the shore. Was it all a dream, then?

"I say," he suddenly remarked, and he felt surprised that his voice
should sound so low and weak.