, some delay, for the winter rains had brought down a good many
streams of fresh water, and the sands were heavy and wet, so that their
horses proceeded slowly, and the rush and dash of the waves proclaimed
that the low of the tide had begun. To the two brothers the break and
sweep was a home-sound, speaking of freshness and freedom, and the salt
breeze and spray carried with them life and ecstasy. Philip kept as
near the incoming waves as his inland-bred horse would endure, and sang,
shouted, and hallooed to them as welcome as English waves; but Aime de
Selinville had never even beheld the sea before: and even when the
tide was still in the distance, was filled with nervous terror as each
rushing fall sounded nearer; and, when the line of white foamy crests
became more plainly visible, he was impelled to hurry on towards the
steeple so fast that the guide shouted to him that he would only bury
himself in a quicksand.

'But,' said he, white with alarm, and his teeth chattering, 'how can we
creep with those dreadful waves advancing upon us to drown us?'

Berenger silence Philip's rude laugh and was beginning to explain that
the speed of the waves could always be calculated by an experienced
inhabitant; and his voice had seemed to pacify Aime a little, when the
spreading water in front of a broken wave flowing up to his horse's
feet, again rendered him nearly frantic. 'Let us go back!' he wildly
entreated, turning his horse; but Berenger caught his bridle, saying,
'That would be truly death. Boy, unless you would be scorned, restrain
your folly. Nothing else imperils us.'

Here, however, the guide interposed, saying that it had become too late
to pursue their course along the curve of the shore, but they must at
once cut straight across, which he had intended to avoid, because of
the greater depth of a small river that they would have to cross, which
divided further out into small channels, more easily forded. They
thus went along the chord of the arc formed by the shore, and Aime was
somewhat reassured, as the sea