He was so weak he crawled on all fours along to the mast, furled the sail kneeling, and dragged himself rather than stepped ashore with the painter.

The instant he had fastened the rope to a branch, he threw himself at full length on the grass, and grasped a handful of it.

Merely to touch the grass after such an experience was intense delight.
The song of the thrush, the chatter of the whitethroats, the sight of a hedge-sparrow, gave him inexpressible pleasure.

Lying on the sward he watched the curves traced by the swallows in the sky.

From the sedges came the curious cry of the moorhen; a bright kingfisher went by.