THE LIGHT 93 



he remarked, when we had been on the 

 water, without a rise, for nearly an hour. 

 "No?" "I fear not," he said quietly: 

 " I never knew them rising well when 

 there were lanes of light." With a slow 

 wave of his left hand, he indicated the 

 offending glimmer. Was it possible that 

 this eminent thinker, P. P. A., actually 

 supposed that the light was distributed 

 in lanes ? The surmise was disquieting, 

 and I ventured to remark that there was 

 not really any lane of light : the light was 

 all over the water, though only a section 

 of it was seen by us : the same illusion 

 would be always produced by the sun, or 

 the moon, or a solitary star, if the boat 

 happened to be drifting towards the 

 source of light : if it were drifting any 

 other way, there would be no visible " lane 

 of light" at all. Incredible as it seems, 

 my surmise was not unfounded. My dis- 

 tinguished friend had not been consciously 

 using a figure of speech when he noted 

 the "lanes of light." After a moment's 

 reflection, he said, " Ah ! Just so. I 



