Then the dark moment passed and a hope came again;
It came like the smile of the sun through the rain,
For the current had turned and toward the south veering,
They could see, with a joy, that the hills they were nearing;
And the house was now slowing as onward it bore,
While people came running to meet them on shore,
As nearer and nearer the house-boat had veered,
Where were all of the town folks who heard and had feared
They were lost, and among them the care-worn mothers,
The anxious old fathers and sisters and brothers.