| For four days the storm had raged as they clung to the mast of their raft for
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| safety
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| Finally, with their raft wrecked after
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| Being bashed against the reefs, they lay sheltered from the
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| Pouring rain beneath a few overhanging rocks where they ate and slept
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| The next day all trace of the storm had disappeared and
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| What remained of their stock seemed intact. |
| Checking the compass
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| Brought only heartbreak as it showed that a chance of wind during the storm had
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| returned them to just a few miles north of Port Grauben
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| So, deciding to try and find the original route they
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| Advanced with difficulty over granite fragments mingled with Flint, quartz,
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| and alluvial deposits, eventually reaching a plain Covered with bones.
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| like a huge cemetery
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| A mile further on, they reached the edge of a huge forest made up of vegetation
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| of the Tertiary period
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| Tall palms were linked by a network of inextricable creepers, a carpet of moss
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| covering the ground and the leaves were colourless, everything having a
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| brownish hue
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| Exploring the forest they discovered a heard of gigantic animals
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| Mastadons, which were being marshalled by a primitive human being, a Proteus
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| He stood over twelve foot high and brandished an
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| Enormous bough, a crook worthy of this antediluvian shepherd |