were drowned. I swam up in a slanting direction, hoping to avoid the
boat that I had struck. Suddenly I saw all the boats in the lock
quite clearly just above me, and every one of their curved varnished
planks and the scratches and chips upon their keels. I saw several
gaps among the boats where I might have swam up to the surface, but
it did not seem worthwhile to try and get there, and I had forgotten
why I wanted to. Then all the people leaned over the sides of their
boats: I saw the light flannel suits of the men and the coloured
flowers in the women's hats, and I noticed details of their dresses
quite distinctly. Everybody in the boats was looking down at me;
then they all said to one another, 'We must leave him now,' and they
and the boats went away; and there was nothing above me but the
river and the sky, and on either side of me were the green weeds
that grew in the mud, for I had somehow sunk back to the bottom
again. The river as it flowed by murmured not unpleasantly in my
ears, and the rushes seemed to be whispering quite softly among
themselves. Presently the murmuring of the river took the form of
words, and I heard it say, 'We must go on to the sea; we must leave
him now.'

Then the river went away, and both its banks; and the
rushes whispered, 'Yes, we must leave him now.' And they too
departed, and I was left in a great emptiness staring up at the blue
sky. Then the great sky bent over me, and spoke quite softly like a
kindly nurse soothing some little foolish child, and the sky said,
'Goodbye. All will be well. Goodbye.' And I was sorry to lose the
blue sky, but the sky went away. Then I was alone, with nothing
round about me; I could see no light, but it was not dark--there was
just absolutely nothing, above me and below me and on every side. I
thought that perhaps I was dead, and that this might be eternity;