The grassy bank fell gently before me as the land sloped down from the
cliffs to the beach, and I knew that within a couple of hundred yards I
should find a rough road which followed the shore for a short way, and
then when it reached the links above the beach, turned at right angles
across them to join the highroad. Accordingly I bumped my motor-cycle
patiently over the rough grass, keeping close to the edge of the bank
so as to guide myself, and every now and then making a detour of a few
yards inland to see whether the road had begun. The minutes passed,
the ground kept falling till I was but a little above the level of the
glimmering sea, the road ought to have begun to keep me company long
ago, but never a sign of it could I find. Twice in my detours I
stumbled into what seemed sand-holes, and turned back out of them
sharply. And then at last I realised that I had ceased to descend for
the last hundred yards or more, and in fact must be on the broad
stretch of undulating sea links that fringed the head of the bay. But
where was my road?

I stopped, bade myself keep quite cool and composed, and peered round
me into the night. The moon was farther up and it had become a little
lighter, but the clouds still obscured most of the sky and it was not
light enough to see much. Overhead were the stars; on one hand the
pale sea merged into the dark horizon; all around me were low black
hummocks that seem to fade into an infinity of shadows. The gulls
still cried mournfully, and a strong pungent odour of seaweed filled
the night air. I remember that pause very vividly.

I should have been reckless enough to light a cigarette had I not
feared that our submarine might still be on the surface, and Wiedermann
might see the flash and dub me an idiot. I certainly needed a smoke
very badly and took some credit to myself for refraining (though
perhaps I ought really have given it to Wiedermann). And then I
decided to turn back, slanting, however, a little away from the sea so
as to try and cut across the road. A minute or two later I tumbled
into a small chasm and came down with the bicycle on top of me. I had
found my road.

The fact was that the thing, though marked on the large-scale map as a
road of the third, fourth, or tenth quality (I forget which), was
actually nothing more or less than three parallel crevasses in the turf
filled with loose sand. It was into these crevasses that I had twice
stumbled alrea