did he in any way exhibit any excitement whatever. He walked with a firm
step over the sand, neither hastening on nor lagging back, but advancing
calmly.

Before he had gone half-way it was dark. The sun had gone down in a sea
of fire, and the western sky, after flaming for a time, had sunk into
darkness. There was no moon. The stars shone dimly from behind a kind of
haze that overspread the sky. The wind came up more freshly from the
east, and Brandon knew that this wind would carry the ship which he
wished to attract further and further away. That ship had now died out
in the dark of the ebon sea; the chances that he could catch its notice
were all against him, yet he never faltered.

He had come to a fixed resolution, which was at all hazards to kindle
his signal-fire, whatever the chances against him might be. He thought
that the flames flaring up would of necessity attract attention, and
that the vessel might turn, or lie-to, and try to discover what this
might be. If this last hope failed, he was ready to die. Death had now
become to him rather a thing to be desired than avoided. For he knew
that it was only a change of life; and how much better would life be in
a spiritual world than life on this lonely isle.

This decision to die took away despair. Despair is only possible to
those who value this earthly life exclusively. To the soul that looks
forward to endless life despair can never come.

It was with this solemn purpose that Brandon went to the wreck, seeking
by a last chance after life, yet now prepared to relinquish it. He had
struggled for life all these weeks; he had fought and wrestled for life
with unutterable spiritual agony, all day long, on the summit of that