The tide was full in, and he sat for a while looking down upon the blue waters.

What an ass had he made himself, coming thither in quest of adventures! He began to see now the meaning of such idleness of purpose as that to which he had looked for pleasure and excitement.

Even the ocean itself and the very rocks had lost their charm for him.

It was all one blaze of blue light, the sky above and the water below, in which there was neither beauty nor variety.

How poor had been the life he had chosen! He had spent hour after hour in a comfortless dirty boat, in company with a wretched ignorant creature, in order that he might shoot a few birds and possibly a seal.