hadows of the rocks lay out for some distance at their feet, so that my
own shadow, moving, pausing, and stooping on the top of that, reached
sometimes half across the bay. It was above all in this belt of shadows
that I hunted for the _Espirito Santo_; since it was there the undertow
ran strongest, whether in or out. Cool as the whole water seemed this
broiling day, it looked, in that part, yet cooler, and had a mysterious
invitation for the eyes. Peer as I pleased, however, I could see nothing
but a few fishes or a bush of sea-tangle, and here and there a lump of
rock that had fallen from above and now lay separate on the sandy floor.
Twice did I pass from one end to the other of the rocks, and in the whole
distance I could see nothing of the wreck, nor any place but one where it
was possible for it to be. This was a large terrace in five fathoms of
water, raised off the surface of the sand to a considerable height, and
looking from above like a mere outgrowth of the rocks on which I walked.
It was one mass of great sea-tangles like a grove, which prevented me
judging of its nature, but in shape and size it bore some likeness to a
vessel's hull. At least it was my best chance. If the _Espirito Santo_
lay not there under the tangles, it lay nowhere at all in Sandag Bay; and
I prepared to put the question to the proof, once and for all, and either
go back to Aros a rich man or cured for ever of my dreams of wealth.

I stripped to the skin, and stood on the extreme margin with my hands
clasped, irresolute. The bay at that time was utterly quiet; there was
no sound but from a school of porpoises somewhere out of sight behind the
point; yet a certain fear withheld me on the threshold of my venture. Sad
sea-feelings, scraps of my uncle's superstitions, thoughts of the dead,
of the grave, of the old broken ships, drifted through my mind. But the
strong sun upon my shoulders warmed me to the heart, and I stooped
forward and plunged into the sea.

It was all that I could do to catch a trail of the sea-tangle that grew
so thickly on the terrace; but once so far anchored I secured myself by
grasping a whole armful of these thick and slimy stalks, and, planting my
feet against the edge, I looked around me. On all sides the clear sand
stretched forth unbroken; it came to the foot of the rocks, scoured into
the likeness of an alley in a garden by the action of the tides; and
before me, for as far as I could see, nothing wa