here lay mixed
with these some skeletons of fishes; here a huge heap, and there small
bones which looked less terrible; and masses of sea-weed, dried and
colourless, under which, as it seemed, the creeping things of the ocean
had sheltered for a while, and some had crawled to the surface when
about to perish. But it was not only the brute creation which had died
here: there was in the middle a pile of rocks, on one side of which they
came suddenly to a pit, so deep and dark that they perceived no bottom;
and here probably there had been seawater longer than elsewhere, for
there were human bones about it, and skulls of men, and human garbs,
which the sun had faded, but which were not disturbed by waves. There
was a cord and a metal jar attached to it, for lowering into the pit;
but Paulett, as he looked at the attitudes of the remaining skeletons,
and observed how they seemed distorted in death, fancied that they must
have brought up either poisoned water, or waters so intensely salt as to
drive them mad with the additional thirst; and that some had died on the
instant, some had lingered, some had sought to succour others, and
yielded sooner or later to the same influence. Ellen and he would not
dwell on the sight after the first contemplation of it; they passed on,
shuddering, and made toward the great wall of rock which they saw rising
to the south, and which must be their way to the land of France. But
before they reached it the sun began to decline, and without light it
was in vain to attempt to seek a path. There was a wind keener than they
had felt of late, which came from the west, and the little Alice pressed
on her father's bosom to shield her from it. He wrapped her closer in a
cloak, and they resolved to put themselves under the shelter of the
first rock they reached, and pass the night in the channel of the sea.
They pressed on, and found at last the place they sought; a cliff which
must once have raised its head above the waves, and which now stood like
some vast palace wall, bare and huge, upon the ocean sand. Screened from
the wind, they collected an abundance of the dried vegetation of the
sea, partly for warmth and to roast their corn, partly for Paulett to
dissolve some of the diamonds into water; and here they rested, here
they slept, many fathoms below that level over which navies used to
sail. At times during the night Paulett fancied, when the wind abated,
that he heard a sound like thunder, or like w