Second Journey to Thrums 379

across the abyss as if she had need of me. Then
I rose calmly and tested the chains, and crossed
them on my breast. Many have done it with
the same danger, at which they laugh, but with-
out that vision I should have held back.

I was now across the river, and so had left the
chance of drowning behind, but I was farther from
Thrums than when I left the schoolhouse, and
this country-side was almost unknown to me.
The mist had begun to clear, so that I no longer
wandered into fields; but though I kept to the
roads, I could not tell that they led towards
Thrums, and in my exhaustion I had often to
stand still. Then to make a new start in the
mud was like pulling stakes out of the ground.
So long as the rain faced me I thought I could
not be straying far; but after an hour I lost this
guide, for a wind rose that blew it in all directions.

In another hour, when I should have been
drawing near Thrums, I found myself in a wood,
and here I think my distress was greatest; nor is
this to be marvelled at, for, instead of being near
Thrums, I was listening to the monotonous roar
of the sea. I was too spent to reason, but I
knew that I must have travelled direct east, and
must be close to the German Ocean. I remem-
ber putting my back against a tree and shutting
my eyes, and listening to the lash of the waves
‘ against the beach, and hearing the faint toll of a
bell, and wondering listlessly on what lighthouse
it was ringing. Doubtless I would have lain
down to sleep for ever had I not heard another
sound near at hand. It was the knock of a
hammer on wood, and might have been a fisher-