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“ Half a mile farther on, the shore line curved inward in a wide, deep cove, and in the middle of the crescent, raised there by one of those odd freaks of nature, was a jutting, rocky plateau rising raggedly from the smooth sweep of yellow sand. ”

“ He bent low, Bellamy following his example, and they dodged to another hummock, thence to a third, and finally, when the line of houses had disappeared, Darrell whirled straight to the south and started circling back to the beach at a rapid walk.
“They've been gone over twenty-four hours,” Darrell went on suddenly, exactly as if he had left off only an instant before. “The place is a desert, and they can't have taken much food and water. To the southward there isn't a settlement in two hundred miles. Inland, the nearest one is fully half that. Where have they been keeping themselves all day? ”

“ Reaching the beach, they were able to make much more rapid progress on the firm, hard sand. There was scarcely any breeze, and the mist was coming in so slowly that they could still see a fair distance ahead. ”