e took advantage of any
clear space to push through. It took him as long to get out as it had to
get in; it was the afternoon of the fourth day when he at last regained
the coast. He rested the remainder of the afternoon, wishing to start
fresh in the morning, having determined to follow the line of the shore
eastwards, and so gradually to circumnavigate the Lake. If he succeeded
in nothing else, that at least would be something to relate to Aurora.

The morning rose fair and bright, with a south-westerly air rather than
a breeze. He sailed before it; it was so light that his progress could
not have exceeded more than three miles an hour. Hour after hour passed
away, and still he followed the line of the shore, now going a short way
out to skirt an island, and now nearer it to pass between sandbanks. By
noon he was so weary of sitting in the canoe that he ran her ashore, and
rested awhile.

It was the very height of the heat of the day when he set forth again,
and the wind lighter than in the morning. It had, however, changed a
little, and blew now from the west, almost too exactly abaft to suit his
craft. He could not make a map while sailing, or observe his position
accurately, but it appeared to him that the shore trended towards the
south-east, so that he was gradually turning an arc. He supposed from
this that he must be approaching the eastern end of the Lake. The water
seemed shallower, to judge from the quantity of weeds. Now and then he
caught glimpses between the numerous islands of the open Lake, and
there, too, the weeds covered the surface in many places.

In an hour or two the breeze increased considerably, and travelling so
much quicker, he found it required all his dexterity to steer past the
islands and clear the banks upon which he was drifting. Once or twice he
grazed the willows that overhung the water, and heard the keel of the
canoe drag on the bottom. As much as possible he bore away from the
mainland, steering south-east, thinking to find deeper water, and to be
free of the islets. He succeeded in the first, but the islets were now
so numerous that he could not tell where the open Lake was. The farther
the afternoon advanced, the more the breeze freshened, till
occasionally, as it blew between the islands, it struck his mast almost
with the force of a gale. Felix welcomed the wind, which would enable
him to make great progress before evening. If such favouring breezes
would continue, he could c