about noon
Then I reproached myself with my unthankful temper , and that I had repined at my solitary condition ; and now what would I give to be on shore there again ! Thus , we never see the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its contraries , nor know how to value what we enjoy , but by the want of it . It is scarcely possible to imagine the consternation I was now in , being driven from my beloved island -LRB- for so it appeared to me now to be -RRB- into the wide ocean , almost two leagues , and in the utmost despair of ever recovering it again . However , I worked hard till , indeed , my strength was almost exhausted , and kept my boat as much to the northward , that is , towards the side of the current which the eddy lay on , as possibly I could ; when about noon , as the sun passed the meridian , I thought I felt a little breeze of wind in my face , springing up from SSE . This cheered my heart a little , and especially when , in about half-an-hour more , it blew a pretty gentle gale . By this time I had got at a frightful distance from the island , and had the least cloudy or hazy weather intervened , I had been undone another way , too ; for I had no compass on board , and should never have known how to have steered towards the island , if I had but once lost sight of it ; but the weather continuing clear , I applied myself to get up my mast again , and spread my sail , standing away to the north as much as possible , to get out of the current . Just as I had set my mast and sail , and the boat began to stretch away , I saw even by the clearness of the water some alteration of the current was near ; for where the current was so strong the water was foul ; but perceiving the water clear , I found the current abate ; and presently I found to the east , at about half a mile , a breach of the sea upon some rocks : these rocks I found caused the current to part again , and as the main stress of it ran away more southerly , leaving the rocks to the north-east , so the other returned by the repulse of the rocks , and made a strong eddy , which ran back again to the north-west , with a very sharp stream .