The Atolls of the World

Crichton, I believe, was beyond the desire to keep in touch with the world. He had left so many years before. His experiences there may have been bitter ones. At any rate he never spoke of them, and I doubt if he thought of them often. All had little interest for him, not even those of the atolls which we visited. When unsure I usually found him on the outer beaches, away from the villages which lie along the lagoon. On calm days when the tide begins to ebb, the silence there is unearthly. The wide shore, hot and glaring in the sun, stretches away as far as the eye can reach.