He was a strong man, but the unaccustomed labour was beginning to tell on him, and his hands were blistering.

For ten minutes or so he paddled on through a darkness which was now almost total, wondering where on earth he was wending, for it was quite impossible to see.

For all he knew to the contrary, he might be circling round and round.

He had only one thing to direct him, the sweep of the continually rising wind and the wash of the gathering waves.

So long as these struck the canoe, which now began to roll ominously, on the starboard side, he must, he thought, be keeping a right course.