Once or twice he grazed the willows that overhung the water, and heard the keel of the canoe drag on the bottom.

As much as possible he bore away from the mainland, steering south-east, thinking to find deeper water, and to be free of the islets.

He succeeded in the first, but the islets were now so numerous that he could not tell where the open Lake was.

The farther the afternoon advanced, the more the breeze freshened, till occasionally, as it blew between the islands, it struck his mast almost with the force of a gale.

Felix welcomed the wind, which would enable him to make great progress before evening.