to follow it, and did so (resting at
noon-time) the whole morning. As he paddled slowly in, he found the
water shallower, and weeds, bulrushes, and reeds became thick, except
quite in the centre.

After the heat of midday had gone over, he resumed his voyage, and still
found the same; islets and banks, more or less covered with hawthorn
bushes, willow, elder, and alder, succeeded to islets, fringed round
their edges with reeds and reed canary-grass. When he grew weary of
paddling, he landed and stayed the night; the next day he went on again,
and still for hour after hour rowed in and out among these banks and
islets, till he began to think he should never find his way out.

The farther he penetrated the more numerous became the waterfowl. Ducks
swam among the flags, or rose with a rush and splashing. Coots and
moorhens dived and hid in the reeds. The lesser grebe sank at the sound
of the paddle like a stone. A strong northern diver raised a wave as he
hurried away under the water, his course marked by the undulation above
him. Sedge-birds chirped in the willows; black-headed buntings sat on
the trees, and watched him without fear. Bearded titmice were there,
clinging to the stalks of the sedges, and long-necked herons rose from
the reedy places where they love to wade. Blue dragon-flies darted to
and fro, or sat on water-plants as if they were flowers. Snakes swam
across the channels, vibrating their heads from side to side. Swallows
swept over his head. Pike "struck" from the verge of the thick weeds as
he came near. Perch rose for insects as they fell helpless into the
water.

He noticed that the water, though so thick with reeds, was as clear as
that in the open Lake; there was no scum such as accumulates in stagnant
places. From this he concluded that there must be a current, however
slight, perhaps from rivers flowing into this part of the Lake. He felt
the strongest desire to explore farther till he reached the mainland,
but he reflected that mere exploration was not his object; it would
never obtain Aurora for him. There were no signs whatever of human
habitation, and from reeds and bulrushes, however interesting, nothing
could be gained. Reluctantly, therefore, on the third morning, having
passed the night on one of the islets, he turned his canoe, and paddled
southwards towards the Lake.

He did not for a moment attempt to retrace the channel by which he had
entered; it would have been an impossibility; h