There were three things that enabled me to pursue this heavy drinking: first, a magnificent constitution far better than the average; second, the healthy open-air life on the water; and third, the fact that I drank irregularly.

While out on the water, we never carried any drink along.
The world was opening up to me.

Already I knew several hundred miles of the water-ways of it, and of the towns and cities and fishing hamlets on the shores.

Came the whisper to range farther.

I had not found it yet.
There was more behind.