ing her with their spray. She was bound by
cords which fettered her legs, held her arms motionless against her
body, pressed the wet silk of her blouse against her breast and
bruised the bare flesh of her shoulders. Her black hair, cut rather
short and fastened in front by a little gold chain, framed a dazzling
face, with lips like the petals of a red flower and a warm, brown
skin, burnt by the sun. The face, to an artist like Simon, was of a
brilliant beauty and recalled to his mind certain feminine types which
he had encountered in Spain or South America. Quickly he cut her
bonds; and then, as his companions were approaching before he had time
to question her, he slipped off his jacket and covered her beautiful
shoulders with it.

She gave him a grateful glance, as though this delicate act was the
most precious compliment which he could pay her:

"Thank you, thank you!" she murmured. "You are French, are you not?"

But groups of people came hurrying along, followed by a more numerous
company. Brown told the story of Simon's adventure; and Simon found
himself separated from the young woman without learning more about
her. People crowded about him, asking him questions. At every moment
fresh crowds mingled with the procession which bore him along in its
midst.

All these people seemed to Simon unusually excited and strange in
their behaviour. He soon learnt that the earthquake had devastated the
English coast. Hastings, having been, like Dieppe, a centre of seismic
shocks, was partly destroyed.

About eight o'clock they came to the edge of a deep depression quite
two-thirds of a mile in width. Filled with water until the middle of
the afternoon, this depression, by a stroke of luck for Simon, had
delayed the progress of those who were flying from Hastings and who
had ventured upon the new land.

A few minutes later, the fog being now less dense, Simon was able to
distinguish the endless row of houses and hotels which lines the
sea-fronts of Hastings and St. Leonards. By this time, his escort
consisted of three or four hundred people; and many others, doubtless
driven from their houses, were wandering in all directions with dazed
expressions on their faces.

The throng about him became so thick that soon he was able to see
nothing in the heavy gloom of the twilight but their crowded heads and
shoulders. He replied as best he could to the thousand questions which
were put to him; and his replies, repeated from mo