His vital forces rose again.

He no longer felt fearful, he only wondered with a strange impersonal wonder, as a man wonders about the vital affairs of another.

Then from wondering about himself he began to wonder about the girl who sat opposite to him.

With the rain came a little lightning, and by the first flash he saw her clearly.

Her beautiful face was set, and as she bent forward searching the darkness with her wide eyes, it wore, he thought, an almost defiant air.
The canoe twisted round somewhat.