The pride was false, he said to himself, and arose from too high an estimate of his abilities; or it was the consequence of living so long entirely secluded from the world.  He acknowledged to himself that he had not been beaten down to his level.  Full of devotion to Aurora, he resolved to humble himself, to seek the humblest service in King Isembard’s camp, to bow his spirit to the orders of men above him in rank but below him in birth and ability, to submit to the numberless indignities of a common soldier’s life.

He proceeded to launch the canoe, and had already placed the chest on board when it occurred to him that the difficulties he had encountered the previous evening, when his canoe was so nearly lost, arose from his ignorance of the channels.  It would be advisable to ascend the hill, and carefully survey the coast as far as possible before setting forth.  He did so.  The war-ship was still visible from the summit, but while he looked she was hidden by the intervening islands.  The white foam and angry appearance of the distant open water direct to the eastward, showed how wise he had been not to attempt its exploration.  Under the land the wind was steady; yonder, where the gale struck the surface with all its force, the waves were large and powerful.

From this spot he could see nearly the whole length of the strait, and, gazing up it in the direction he had come, he saw some boats crossing in the distance.  As they moved so slowly, and appeared so broad, he conjectured that they were flat-bottomed punts, and, straining his eyes, he fancied he detected horses on board.  He watched four cross, and presently the first punt returned, as if for another freight.  He now noticed that there was a land route by which travellers or waggons came down from the northward, and crossed the strait by a ferry.  It appeared that the ferry was not in the narrowest part of the strait, but nearer its western mouth, where the shores were flat, and covered with reeds and flags.  He wondered that he had not seen anything of the landing-places, or of the ferry-boats, or some sign of this traffic when he passed, but concluded that the track was hidden among the dense growth of reed and flag, and that the punts, not being in use that day, had been drawn up, and perhaps covered with green boughs to shelter them from the heat of the summer sun.

The fact of this route existing, however, gave additional importance to the establishment of a fort on the shore of the strait, as he had so long contemplated.  By now, the first punt had obtained another load, and was re-crossing the channel.  It was evident that a caravan of travellers or merchants had arrived, such persons usually travelling in large bodies for safety, so that the routes were often deserted for weeks together, and then suddenly covered with people.  Routes, indeed, they were, and not roads; mere tracks worn through the forest and over the hills, often impassable from floods.