It always aroused in him a sense of beauty, of charm and of majesty, and he had grown too to look upon it as a friend and protector.

He believed that it had brought him good luck, and he did not doubt that it would do so again.
He looked for a canoe, one perhaps that might contain Willet and Tayoga, seeking him and keeping well beyond the aim of a lurking marksman on the shore, but he saw no shadow on the water, nothing that could be persuaded into the likeness of a boat, only wild fowl circling and dipping, and, now and then, a gleam where a fish leaped up to fall swiftly back again.

He was alone, and he must depend upon himself only.
He began to move a little, to lift one foot and then the other, careful to make no splash in the water, and the slight exercise checked the creeping chill.

Encouraged, he increased it, stopping at intervals to listen for the approach of a foe.

There was no sound and he walked back and forth a little.