In their ceaseless motion they seemed rivulets of fire, and the black sheet of water between them the solid highway.

But even while he looked, a ruby light moved on that highway out from the pillars of the bridge, and then another and another.
Everywhere was the glitter of lights; fixed, flashing like a star on the curve, or again growing slowly from a pin's point to an orb, and then dwindling to a point and vanishing.

And on every side, too, Drake heard the quick beat of horses, and the rattle of wheels struck out not from silence, but from a dull eternal hum like the hum of a mill, sharp particular notes emerging incessantly from a monotonous volume of sound.
It was just this aspect and this noise of restless activity which had always appealed to Drake, and had satisfied him with an assurance that he was on the road to the fulfilment of his aims.

He had achieved something of his desires, however small.

He was in London working at certain schemes of which he did not doubt the ultimate success.