He was travelling north on the side of the main channel between the big island and the forest that went forever and there were constant openings to inlets and coves. Some were fairly shallow, only going back into the forest for a few hundred paces. But some were much deeper, winding far out of sight. The problem with many of them was that the trees came down to the water’s edge in an abrupt manner, sitting atop a sheer rock wall.

What he was looking for now was a place where a heavy stream or small river came out into the sea and left a gravel bar covered with brush and willows, and the only way to find such a place was to go into each of the deep clefts until he could see the end.

He picked the first deep opening and started in. He was lucky and found that it went in a long way – the current was flooding at this time and carried him along as well as paddling – ending in just such a sweeping gravel pan.

But before he moved that far – perhaps halfway in – on the north side of the inlet the land sloped down gradually to a rocky ledge. Just after the first wide bend there was a large stand of blackberry bushes so thick some of the plants actually hung over the side of the shore into the water, making a rich green tunnel.

The berries were ripe, hanging heavily on each thorny branch within easy reach. He nosed the canoe under the overhang so that some of the branches were hanging into the canoe, and ignoring the stings from the thorns he took handfuls of berries and – caught up in his hunger – didn’t even chew but swallowed them whole.

They were so sweet they made his jaws ache.

He kept eating them until his gut rumbled and turned over to tell him to slow down. He did so, but kept eating the berries, squeezing them now against the roof of his mouth with his tongue so the juice came out of each berry like a sweet drink.

He did not know that he had been a long time at the berries until he felt the current running into the inlet change, starting to head out, and he had to hold on to the bushes to keep from being pulled out of the inlet.

Still he kept eating, holding the canoe in place with one hand while gathering berries with the other until at last the edge of his hunger seemed to lose some of its sharpness. He was not full. He thought then he would never be truly full again. But there was some control and as his frantic pace at grabbing and eating slowed, he came suddenly to find he was not alone.