Chapter XVIII

He cast a saddened look around, But he felt new joy his bosom swell, When, glittering on the shadowed ground, He saw a purple muscle shell; Thither he ran, and he bent him low, He heaved at the stern and he heaved at the bow, And he pushed her over the yielding sand, Till he came to the verge of the haunted land. She was as lovely a pleasure boat As ever fairy had paddled in, For she glowed with purple paint without, And shone with silvery pearl within; A sculler's notch in the stern he made, An oar he shaped of the bootle blade; Then spung to his seat with a lightsome leap, And launched afar on the calm blue deep.