At first glance Karl did not wake up and know where he was. He recognized only bright, white, very soft sand in his viewpoint he lay on. He slowly straightened up supporting himself with a hand. His members seemed heavy like lead. He happened himself as if he had a marathon behind himself which had leached him out completely and but he was safe to have gone through no such. But he did not know at the moment either why he lay what he looked here for in the sand and not in his bed, and why his body showed hardly strengths. His look immediately fell on the sea which washed quiet, weak waves to the beach.
It slowly dawned, why it lay here, since the memory adapted only slowly again.
Its look roamed far over the whole beach and again from the left horizon back to the sea over the complete sea which quietly still let its waves to the shore splash. It then turned in the direction of the inland regions to subject this to a more exact consideration. It could but more than only bushes of which it still knew about the eyesight from books recognize nothing. The bushes which it saw in a distance of fifteen metres from the beach
formed a heavy row which did not seem to be permeable. The plants had a light height of approximately one and a half metres and bore small, oval, dark green leaves.
He looked the pictures out and at this moment came him on the sea in front of eyes again. He just was on the way to the bar, as the captain of the luxury liner reported about the public-address system: „We ask all passengers to protect perfect quiet from and from going on the upper deck from following the instructions of the officers. There is the highest danger. All passengers must leave the ship.“ It clicked in the loudspeaker, which showed it that the captain had switched the plant off again.
Without every further grounds the captain had concluded the information. Each of the passengers was put alone on himself at this moment. The passengers began to run, without consideration for other gain weight. What did to the way faced to them, was run down everything? whether children, women or old people. This was here and now completely unimportant for the passengers on board. Everybody tried to save his own life even if
this would happen at the expense of others. Themselves main thing was, one was saved,
Even if nobody knew the true reason of this rescue operation. It could at least the important one be that everyone would still have much time to save its own goods for example. But everybody ran only around his own life.
Many of the people fell on the stairs but no-one was ready to help these helpless people. Everybody ran about them about this also at the risk the tramped hurt perilously or kill him even through this. One heard cries, it is out of fear, of all sides or because they had come to damage at these fights, panic.
Karl more simply had it there. At the position at which he had been until the ominous request to leave the ship hardly a man was further, so that he could relatively climb the stairs safely up. At the position at which he had been until the ominous request to leave the ship hardly a man was further, so that he could relatively climb the stairs safely up. He suddenly was of one of the officers, appeared behind him already, there, too,
this one was blamed to the front, on directly one the lifeboats. The ladder climbed upward, he was pressed the side in the boat and the boat was already let to below on the sea before he could see, too, where it arrived with a loud gossip.
The boat still rocked quite a few times back and forth before it put itself on the water calmed. Karl had the possibility now first of sitting down correctly. Before he had fallen through the crowd on the side and still was this position. A quick look in the direction of the ship showed him that quite a number of hundred metres were already removed from it it. But, and this made him suspicious, the ship still swam on the surface. It made it to no institutions to sink, it and also the others suspected like him.
Which sat, on the other side of the boat one of the passengers called completely astonishedly: „The ship does not go down at all, why did we have to leave it then?“
The looks of the others immediately focussed on the ship which did not show damage.
Everyone was only astonished about it, this ship without a sound reason to have to left. Why?
None of the passengers which would justify this request had neither noticed an accident nor heard any noises from which one could have inferred that something would have happened on board.
One of the guests ran into the going officer: „Why did we have to leave the ship?“
But he does not know any more than all other passengers either this did not seem to know alone the reason, twitched only with the shoulders to indicate.
„What shall happen now Karl asked about the further procedure?“
„I have no idea we will await the things around which here in a protected distance which will come on us. We should change a little at our situation, will receive a message from the other boats or from the ship certainly.“ The conversation was ended with that for the officer and he devoted himself to his oar again.
Most people in this boat grumbled or talked with their neighbours sitting next to them lively to beat the time deadly.
Karl got tired all at once. And before he could see, he already had fallen asleep, too.
And he sat here on the beach and the lookout for other possible shipwrecked persons held now now. Hold, he was a shipwrecked person, then? He had not got the least of the decline of the lifeboat. Was it really gone down, then or for which reason had he here on this beach? He feverishly rummaged around in his memory to tickle any details out around behind this secret, what it was to come at the moment for him.
But he also made an effort so much, he did not come behind the puzzle's solution. Neither he had something a different one still noticed a storm which perhaps could have made the boat capsize. He had but a little to have happened, otherwise would lie on the beach not exhausted here completely anyway alone. Everything seemed implausible. He so often looked also along the beach and indicated the bushes nothing into shore
proximity and themselves on the sea after that that the boat had to have capsized.
It was that way for it anyway, where all the other passengers then were but if? You really also had to be someplace. Should it be a fact that all other had gone down and only it had itself how also always, can save?
It portly got up, its legs were sore without refrain when it set out in the direction of the beach to search over it after other shipwrecked persons or even after objects. Not explain itself by the pains, its cause it could, it got on only leisurely. And the further it ran, all the more depressed it got. No human soul could not be also only recognized in an immediate proximity or even seen any object. Its legs always further carried it. Until it started to dawn gradually. The night could not be held back and drew the veil of the darkness over the beach slowly.
Karl left the beach and went in the direction of the bushes to not lie down in an immediate proximity of the water. This was too dangerous for him anyway. He slowly sat down on the white
sand. As well as the darkness wrapped him, it came into his body and forced him to sleep so. If also little, he quietly carelessly fell asleep under the big star sky. The stars looked down on it so as if they wanted to say: „You sleep quiet, we will watch over you.“
The sun burned mercilessly into its face when it woke up. It had a tremendous strength. It judges to its stand, suspected more but to know that it had to be already toward noon. Slowly he stretched his tired members, which still still hurt, straightened up, looked down the beach on the left and on the right, rose and decided to look for survivors further.
When he was away such a couple of hours, he remarked to his astonishment that he had difficulties in moving his tongue in the mouth. When he thought how he can get himself something liquid for his tongue and his body, he also noticed his stomach which rumbled like a mine. He was thought briefly clearly to him that for two days - it was really already two days - more had nothing eaten. Should he organize something but where in this wasteland, this
country seeming hopeless for eating and drinking?
He left the beach to run across country. The chance to find something liquid at least in the inland region was greater than near the beach.
He slowly forced a way through the thicket which proved to be heavier than thought and planned. The bushes which stretched along the whole beach were not a little thick very highly but unfortunately. It had already to run along a piece of them to find a by slip finally.
The more it beat itself by the bushes, all the more the suspicion that this whole area only consisted of one single plant came for him. Any tree, no hedges known to it not gave to see. Only this funny brushwood it did not even know whose names.
With a time, when it slipped by a gap again, in front of a rivulet, it stood. Some water hardly ten centimetres widely wound by the area here. It knelt down, went through with the finger and noticed the coolness of the water. A pleasant coolness, as if it just came from a refrigerator.
He formed his hands to a bowl, let some water run in, led it to the mouth to then drink it like a dying of thirst avariciously.
It had a very pleasant taste. It very containingly mineral, easily salty but anyway did not taste as strong as saltwater. It quenched the thirst excellently and fast. It still created after, its tongue then felt no more like a sticky lump in its mouth but got supple again and moved nimbly back and forth three times.
When it had risen again, it tried to pursue this course of the stream up and below. But after a couple of metres it made a bend every time and disappeared from the viewpoint.
He came to look for the source onto the idea and therefore went onto the way contrary to the river direction.
He had hardly walked for a couple of kilometres, he already found the source, too. The water shot from a hole of approximately thirty centimetres diameter and then spread out in four runs.
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