But no sudden head bobbed up at the hail, and but that they were whole and afloat the ships looked as dead as those others out past the point.
"Gosh, but it's odd!" and he looked quickly both ways along the shore and over his shoulders, as though he feared some odd thing might start up suddenly and take him unawares. "What's it mean?"
"There's no one there. They're deserted."
"Deserted? Man alive! Who'd desert ships afloat like that? What in —— does it mean?" his native fears of the unnatural and inexplicable getting the better of him.
"We'd better go and see," said Wulfrey.
"Swim?"
"I suppose so. I don't expect we can wade."
The mate shook his head. He had evidently no liking for the job, keen as was his desire to get to the bottom of it.
"Let's feed first anyway," he said, and produced the rabbits, which he had held on to in spite of his surprise and many stumblings. So they sat in the sand and ate raw rabbit, with their eyes on the ships all the time.
"They're dead ships like all the rest," was the sum of Macro's conclusions. "But how they got there beats me flat."