Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/195

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THE EBB-WALKERS.

frequently necessary, partly to recover from exhaustion,
and partly to make sure of the right direction. But
what circuitous ways were taken in the dense fog,
which might have been avoided in a clear atmosphere.
How easy would have been the passage of a channel a
few steps to the right or left, and yet a half hour was
wasted in searching for the ford, because they had mis-
taken its direction; and when they were at length sat-
isfied that it was not where they were seeking it, another
half hour was lost in trying to return to the last start-
ing-point. At length the four unhappy wanderers were
obliged to take each other by the hand, to prevent
being entirely separated by the gray wall which made
them invisible to each other, at the distance of a single
step. Till now, little had been said except what the
circumstances necessarily required. They had walked
on, each occupied with his own troubled thoughts ;
only Oswald now broke the painful silence by his sighs
and lamentations. But soon the terrible question
passed from mouth to mouth, "Which way shall we
go ?" Alas ! the contradictory answers only too surely
proved that no certain reliance was to be placed upon
any. The direction, hitherto partially kept by observ-
ing every turn, and by the familiarity of the sailors
with the course of the principal runs, was entirely lost.
For the zig-zags and windings had become more and
more intricate, the running backward and forward, this
side and that, more and more confused, and — fearful
token ! — the channels were, by degrees, becoming wider
and wider, overflowing into new runs which crept on
like stealthy spoilers, winding themselves around the
more elevated portions of the land, or lurkingly resting