With a splash, Rudolph stood beside him among the tufts of salad green.

As he patted the trembling flanks, he heard a cry from the shore.
"Oh, well done!" she mocked them.

"Well done!" A gust of wholesome anger refreshed him.

She might laugh, but now he would see this folly through.

He tore off his coat, flung it across the saddle, waded out alone through the tussocks, and shooting forward full length in the turbid water, swam resolutely for the island.
Sky and water brightened while he swam; and as he rose, wrapped in the leaden weight of dripping clothes, the sun, before and above him, touched wonderfully the quaggy bank and parched grasses.