<<set $scarf to true>>
<<set $letter to false>>The tide has drawn back from the estuary and left the jetty standing on its stilts above wet sand. Across the flats, the island chapel shows one lit window.
A ferryman sits on an upturned crate beside his boat. To the left, a line of tarred posts marks the causeway, half buried in silt.
[[Ask the ferryman|Ferryman]]
[[Walk the causeway|Causeway]]You walk back along the jetty planks to the ferryman. He does not look up from the rope he is splicing.
"Three coins to the island," he says. "Water's too low for the big boat, so it's the skiff or nothing."
[[Pay the fare|Fare]]
[[Haggle|Haggle]]The causeway is older than the jetty. Its stones are slick with weed, and the posts lean at angles that suggest they have been reset many times.
[[Follow the posts|Posts]]
[[Cut across the mud|Mud]]You count three coins into his palm. He weighs them, nods, and pushes the skiff into the narrow channel that the tide has left behind.
[[Board|Crossing]]"Two coins and this scarf," you offer. "It's good wool."
The ferryman rubs the cloth between finger and thumb. "Wool's wool," he says, but he is already untying the skiff.
[[Offer your scarf|Crossing]]
[[Walk away|Causeway]]You walk from post to post. Halfway across, a wooden shelter stands on a stone plinth, its door propped open with a brick.
[[Wait at the shelter|Shelter]]
[[Keep going|Island]]The mud takes your boots to the ankle, then to the shin. Every step is slower than the last.
[[Shout for help|Ferryman]]
[[Push on|Sinking]]The skiff slides through the channel. A passenger in a grey coat sits in the bow, holding an envelope against the wind.
[[Talk to the passenger|Passenger]]
[[Watch the water|Island]]Inside the shelter there is a bench, a blanket that smells of tar, and a printed tide table nailed to the wall.
[[Read the tide table|TideTable]]
[[Sleep|EndingStranded]]The mud is at your knees. One of the causeway posts is just within reach.
[[Grab the post|EndingStranded]]"Would you take this to the chapel?" the passenger asks. "I can't go ashore. Not on this tide."
[[Accept the letter|Letter]]
[[Decline|Island]]The island is all dune grass and wind. The chapel stands on the rise, and below it the dunes run down to a cove.
[[Knock at the chapel|Chapel]]
[[Search the dunes|Dunes]]The table says the water returns at a quarter past seven. Your watch says five to.
[[Go now|Island]]
[[Wait for the tide|EndingTide]]You hold on until the water comes back and lifts you, coughing, onto the causeway stones. Someone from the island will find you at first light.
''THE END'' — stranded.<<set $letter to true>>
The envelope is addressed in faded ink to "Whoever keeps the bell". It is lighter than it looks.
[[Deliver it|Chapel]]The chapel door is unlocked. A rope hangs from the bell tower, worn smooth where hands have gripped it.
[[Ring the bell|EndingHome]]In the lee of a dune, the sand is darker, as if something was buried and dug up again, many times.
[[Dig|EndingTreasure]]You wait. The water returns exactly when the table promised, and the causeway disappears under a sheet of silver. You will spend the night here, and you do not mind.
''THE END'' — the tide.The bell rings out over the flats. On the far shore, a lamp is lit in answer.<<if $letter>> The letter, you realise, was never meant to be opened.<</if>>
''THE END'' — home.Your fingers close on a tin box. Inside, wrapped in oilcloth, is a ferry token stamped with a year you do not recognise.
''THE END'' — the token.