The one purpose in his head was to reach the coast.

He was young and sick of heart, but his gentle mind abhorred from considering his father's baseness.

He thought only of home and Sophia.
In a minute or two he began to run; for the night air searched his sodden clothes and chilled him.

The sky was starless, too, but he saw the dull gleam of the canal, and made for it.

Then he followed the towpath southward for half a mile, and came to a bridge, and crossing it found himself upon a firm high-road leading (as it seemed) straight towards the west, for it certainly diverged from the canal at something like a right angle.