When the tide swept in, Algy retreated to a drier part of the beach close to the dunes, with the intention of trying to count the sands as The Man in the Wilderness had asked. But above the tide line he found a wonderful area of reddish-coloured shells, which had been washed together by a recent surge tide to form an isolated patch on the sand. Algy decided that it would be much more interesting to count the shells instead – or perhaps just to look at them for a while …

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