Chapter 12: My Initiation

⁠​​​‌​​​​​​‌​‌‌‌‌‌​​​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​‌‌⁠The yacht lay with a very slight heel (thanks to a pair of small bilge-keels on her bottom) in a sort of trough she had dug for herself, so that she was still ringed with a few inches of water, as it were with a moat.

For miles in every direction lay a desert of sand. To the north it touched the horizon, and was only broken by the blue dot of Neuerk Island and its lighthouse. To the east it seemed