noon
A hundred times he had planned and pictured the home-coming , but each time Fate , or the will of a Providence that he could not understand , had intervened , and with the crushing of each new hope and the wiping out of each delightful picture that his imagination drew , he decided to look not into the future , but do his best in the present and trust to Providence for the rest , for , as he expressed it , `` Th ' Lard 's makin ' His own plans an ' He 's not wantin ' me t ' be meddlin ' wi ' un , an ' so He 's not lettin ' me do th ' way I lays out t ' do , an ' I 'll be makin ' no more plans , but takin ' things as they comes along . '' In this frame of mind he held the vessel steadily to her course and kept a constant lookout for land or a sail , and on the morning of the third day after the release from the ice pack was rewarded by a shout from Netseksoak announcing land at last . Eagerly he looked , and in the distance , dimly , but still there , appeared the shore in low , dark outline against the horizon . Towards noon a sail was sighted , and late in the afternoon they passed within hailing distance of a fishing schooner bound down north . He shouted to the fishermen who , at the rail , were curiously watching the _ Maid of the North _ , as she plowed past them . -LSB- Illustration : `` He held the vessel steadily to her course '' -RSB- `` What land may that be ? '' pointing at a high , rocky head that jutted out into the water two miles away .