such entertainment as he could supply. He sent
his fish to market when he caught more than he could consume, and he
and his children made ropes and cordage, for which also he had a ready
sale on the river. Pending this communication, he prepared me a
substantial supper, to which I did ample justice, and then shewed me,
at my request, to a small, neat chamber, where I sought and found the
repose I so much needed.

I sank into a profound slumber, heavy and dreamless, within a minute
after I lay down--the result, no doubt, of the utter exhaustion of
every faculty, both of body and mind. Possessing a vigorous
constitution, and a perfectly healthy frame, I escaped the reaction of
nervous excitement, which most persons in similar circumstances would
have undergone, and which in many would have terminated in fever and
delirium, and perhaps death. But I did not escape altogether. After I
had lain in total forgetfulness for some hours, my imagination woke up
and plagued me with dreams of indescribable terror and alarm. I was
swimming for whole days and nights together in a shoreless sea, tossed
by storms, and swarming with monsters, one or other of which was
continually seizing me by the foot, and dragging me down; while over
my head foul birds of prey, each and all with the terrified face of
the poor wretch whom I had frightened in the marsh, and clutching
firearms in their semi-human claws, were firing at my head, and
swooping to devour me. To avoid their beaks, I dived madly into the
depths below, where I had to do battle in the dark with the grim and
shapeless monsters of the deep. Then, bursting with the retention of
my breath, I rose again to the surface, and enjoyed a moment's pause,
until the screaming harpies again gathered around me, and, convulsed
with fear, I dived again as the vivid flash from their firearms
dazzled my eyes. While performing one of these violent feats,
occasioned by a flash which appeared to blaze over the whole sky, I
woke suddenly. My landlord, the old fisherman, was standing by my
bedside; he had drawn aside the curtains of my bed, and let the
sunshine in upon my face, the hot gleam of which was doubtless the
blazing flash of my dream. I laughed aloud when I found myself snug in
bed, and proceeded to dress in the old man's best holiday suit, which
he placed at my service. My wounded foot had well-nigh healed in the
night, and I could walk comfortably. During breakfast, I gave the old
man and hi