He had realized fully the desperate nature of that passage, expecting every step to be engulfed, and the reaction, the knowledge that they had actually attained the shore safely, left him weak as a child, hardly able to comprehend the fact.

The girl was upon her feet first, alarmed and solicitous, bending down to touch him with her hand.
"Sergeant, you are not hurt ?" she questioned.

"Tell me you are not hurt ?" "Oh, no," dragging himself up the bank, yet panting as he endeavored to speak cheerfully.

"Only that was a rather hard pull, the last of it, and I am short of breath.

I shall be all right in a moment." There was a sand-dune just beyond, and he seated himself and leaned against it.
"I am beginning to breathe easier already," he explained.