what he is reading unhappily reminds him of french landing , of sumner street and chase street , of the lights in the window of the oak tree inn , the thunder five lurking in nailhouse row , and the gray ascent from the river , of queen street and maxton 's hedges , the little houses spreading out on grids , all of it choked by unseen fog ; which engulfs a battered no trespassing sign on the highway and swallows the sand bar and glides hungry and searching down the valleys .