One or two
were sufferin' from sprains, and all of 'em from shock (but so were
we, for that matter), and between 'em they must ha' swallowed a bra'
few pints o' water, an' muddy water at that. I can't tell ezackly
when or how we discovered they was all blind, or near-upon blind.
It may ha' been from the unhandiness of their movements an' the way
they clutched at us an' at one another as we pulled 'em ashore.
Hows'ever, blind they were; an' I don't remember that it struck us as
anyways singular, after what we'd been through a'ready. We fished
out a concertina, too, an' a silver-mounted flute that was bobbin'
among the weeds.
"The man the concertina belonged to--a tall fresh-complexioned young
fella he was, an' very mild of manner--turned out to be a sort o'
leader o' the party; an' he was the first to talk any sense.
'Th-thank you,' he said. 'They told us Penzance was the next stop.'
"'Hey?' says I.
"'They told us,' he says again, plaintive-like, feelin' for his
spectacles an' not finding 'em, 'that Penzance was the next stop.'
"'Bound for Penzance, was you?' I asks.
"'For the Land's End,' says he, his teeth chatterin'.
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