They had not yet set sail, and it was almost as if the oars were idle.

I think they were not more than a mile off.

I could almost have wept with vexation, so utterly did all the toil seem to be thrown away.
However, a matter of two hours in the water when as pleasant as this was nothing to me, for I had stayed as long therein, many a time, for sport.

So I hoped to do better with the turn of the tide, and let myself go easily to wait for it.
We had left Weymouth when the flood had three hours more to run, so I had not long to wait.

It turned; and I knew when it turned, because the wind against it raised a sea which bid fair to wear me out.