`` i am desolate , '' he said , `` but here we must part , for a little while ; i am assured , '' he added to laurence 's stare , `` that there is fresh water-assured of it ; m. vercieux , the ship 's master , has once before made landfall here- '' chapter 6 the shore was not more hospitable seen close up : the sand barely a crusting over a heart of hard , salt-pitted rock , and no animals to be seen but birds and small scurrying crabs that fled from the boats .