He fancied that the serpent flames were less brilliant and farther apart, and that the luminous vapour was thinner.

How long he sat at the rudder he could not tell; he noticed that it seemed to grow darker, the serpent flames faded away, and the luminous vapour was succeeded by something like the natural gloom of night.

At last he saw a star overhead, and hailed it with joy.

He thought of Aurora; the next instant he fell back in the canoe firm asleep.
His arm, however, still retained the rudder-paddle in position, so that the canoe sped on with equal swiftness.

She would have struck more than one of the sandbanks and islets had it not been for the strong current that was running.