a suitable elevation, was soon speeding above a sandy strip separating what appeared to be a vast inland lake on the one hand and the ocean on the other. To the lad's eyes, a singular change had taken place in the water, due to the curling whitecaps. The sky also had changed its aspect of the day before. The sun shone red and sinister through a weird mist, and from the rim of the southern horizon great clouds were surging.
Beyond the region of the landlocked waters, great stretches of woodland and the farms of the trucking land miles inland from the sand and marsh area came in view. Soon the state boundary was crossed, and immediately beneath the flyer gleamed another sand ridge, the beginning of that barrier extending, with breaks here and there, almost the whole length of the Carolina coast. For a space of ten or fifteen miles the ocean stretched boundlessly on the left, and on the right spread the upper waters of Currituck Sound. Then there came into view a sparsely wooded sandy island with groups of tiny houses at wide intervals. Now Hardy, steering to the right, crossed a narrow inlet,
