veil from his waist, and dropped it into the flowing water. For he
remembered the request of Ino, to whom he owed his life.

He had indeed escaped the sea; but his position seemed almost
hopeless. There he lay, naked, and more dead than alive, without food
or shelter, in a strange land, without a sign of human habitation in
view. Crawling painfully to a bed of rushes he lay down and considered
what was best for him to do. He could not remain where he was, for it
was an exposed place, with no protection from the dew, and open to the
chill breeze from the river, which blows at early dawn. A few hours of
such a vigil would certainly kill him in his exhausted state. If, on
the other hand, he sought the shelter of the woods, he feared that he
would fall a prey to some prowling beast.

At last he determined to face the less certain peril, and made his way
into a thicket not far from the river side. Searching for a place
where he might lie he soon came upon two dense bushes of olive, whose
leaves and branches were so closely interwoven that they formed a sort
of natural arbour, impenetrable by sun, or rain, or wind. "In good
time!" murmured Odysseus, as he crept beneath that green roof, and
scooped out a deep bed for himself in the fallen leaves. There he lay
down, and piled the leaves high over him. And as a careful housewife
in some remote farmhouse, where there are no neighbours near, covers
up a burning brand among the ashes, so that it may last all night, and
preserve the seed of fire; so lay Odysseus, nursing the spark of life,
in his deep bed of leaves. And soon he forgot all his troubles in a
deep and dreamless sleep.