Have you lost something? asked the guard. as he came down the steps from the boardwalk to the beach.

She got up and knelt by the open window. looking across the seething mass of humanity on the boardwalk below to the calm stretches of blue sea beyond.

The pavements were stretches of boardwalk interspersed with sand or mud. trodden into passable trails.

There was a gap in the boardwalk there. and when the leaders reached it the patter of their footsteps went suddenly muffled on the bare earth.

You will see it everywhere. on Broadway of every city and Main Street of every town. on the boardwalks and beaches of coast resorts. and even in remote farming villages.