The two dark clouds which had accompanied him to the shore now faded away, and the cooling wind enabled him to bear up better against his parching thirst.

His hope was to reach the clear and beautiful Lake; his dread that in the uncertain light he might strike a concealed sandbank and become firmly fixed.
Twice he passed islands, distinguishable as masses of visible darkness.
While the twisted flames played up to the shore, and the luminous vapour overhung the ground, the island itself appeared as a black mass.

The wind became by degrees steadier, and the canoe shot swiftly over the water.

His hopes rose; he sat up and kept a keener look-out ahead.

All at once the canoe shook as if she had struck a rock.