Robert forced brandy down his throat, however, and in a moment or two he was himself again.
"A miracle!" he gasped.

"There is nothing there." "There was something dark, I fancied, upon the strip of beach, sir," Robert ventured.
"I thought so too.

It was a tarred plank of timber." "Then the tide must have reached him." Tallente rose to his feet and looked over.
"The sea alone knows," he said.

"For the first time, though, Robert, I feel inclined to agree with the newspapers, who speak of the strange disappearance of the Honourable Antimony Palliser.

Could any man go backwards over that palisading, do you think, and save his life ?" Robert shook his head.
"Miracles can't happen, sir," he muttered.
"Nevertheless," Tallente said, a little gloomily, "the sea never keeps what the land gives it.