THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS
roads go, but it looked uninteresting. So they disregarded it and broke through a hedge on the other side of it and walked into a bog.
Five minutes afterwards they were out again, their feet squishing musically in their shoes. It seemed to them intensely funny, and they laughed hilariously over their plight and tried to see who could make the more pleasing squishes. Martin ventured the opinion that it was one of the justly celebrated peat-bogs, which drew Nelson to murmur: "For the love of peat!" Beyond the bog—they had gone straight across it in spite of its tenacity—was a field that climbed upward through the fog, ending always fifty feet ahead. The danger of walking off into a railway cut or into the sea added excitement. That the sea was not far distant was evident from the salt tang in the air. They ultimately reached the summit of the hill and made out the shape of a small building which proved to be a tumbled-down cabin. There was nothing inside save a litter of stone and rubbish and the roof was gone except in one corner. Weeds and grass grew from the crevices, and Martin observed that it was without doubt extremely picturesque, and that if he had his camera with him he would snap it, but that as a place of sanctuary it was a fizzle. Nelson pointed out the
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