You can have my skewer if you like'-- and he gave Racksole his searching instrument.

'And you can do what you please, provided you do it neatly and don't make a row over it.' For a few moments the four men were passive in the boat, surrounded by swirling mist, with black water beneath them, and towering above them a half-loaded barge with a desperate and resourceful man on board.
Suddenly the mist parted and shrivelled away in patches, as though before the breath of some monster.

The sky was visible; it was a clear sky, and the moon was shining.

The transformation was just one of those meteorological quick-changes which happen most frequently on a great river.
'That's a sight better,' said the fat man.

At the same moment a head appeared over the edge of the barge.