eelings; he launched his vessel, and left that hard and
tyrannical land for the loveliness of the water.

Paddling out to the islands he passed through between them, and reached
the open Lake. There he hoisted the sail, the gentle breeze filled it,
the sharp cutwater began to divide the ripples, a bubbling sound arose,
and steering due north, straight out to the open and boundless expanse,
he was carried swiftly away.

The mallards, who saw the canoe coming, at first scarcely moved, never
thinking that a boat would venture outside the islands, within whose
line they were accustomed to see vessels, but when the canoe continued
to bear down upon them, they flew up and descended far away to one side.
When he had sailed past the spot where these birds had floated, the Lake
was his own. By the shores of the islands the crows came down for
mussels. Moorhens swam in and out among the rushes, water-rats nibbled
at the flags, pikes basked at the edge of the weeds, summer-snipes ran
along the sand, and doubtless an otter here and there was in
concealment. Without the line of the shoals and islets, now that the
mallards had flown, there was a solitude of water. It was far too deep
for the longest weeds, nothing seemed to exist here. The very
water-snails seek the shore, or are drifted by the currents into shallow
corners. Neither great nor little care for the broad expanse.

The canoe moved more rapidly as the wind came now with its full force
over the distant woods and hills, and though it was but a light
southerly breeze, the broad sail impelled the taper vessel swiftly.
Reclining in the stern, Felix lost all consciousness of aught but that
he was pleasantly borne along. His eyes were not closed, and he was
aware of the canoe, the Lake, the sunshine, and the sky, and yet he was
asleep. Physically awake, he mentally slumbered. It was rest. After the
misery, exertion, and excitement of the last fortnight it was rest,
intense rest for body and mind. The pressure of the water against the
handle of the rudder-paddle, the slight vibration of the wood, as the
bubbles rushed by beneath, alone perhaps kept him from really falling
asleep. This was something which could not be left to itself; it must be
firmly grasped, and that effort restrained his drowsiness.

Three hours passed. The shore was twelve or fifteen miles behind, and
looked like a blue cloud, for the summer haze hid the hills, more than
would have been the case in clearer