e sense
of my desperate condition came also a horrible sense of the ludicrous.
What would my principals in London think of their continental agent
shivering, without a rag on, upon the desolate banks of the Danube?
Here was I, a man well known upon 'Change, with four thousand pounds
in the three-and-a-half per cents, the idea of which had been a
comfort to me for many a long year, ready to forfeit the whole sum in
exchange for the raggedest pair of pantaloons that ever dangled from a
scarecrow, and ready, too, to go down upon my bare knees to any
ministering angel of an old Jew who would propose the bargain. I
grinned a despairing laugh at the thought of such an absurd compact,
and then groaned aloud as the conviction overcame me, that in my
present circumstances it would be a prudent one.

Relapsing into grim and savage silence, I glared gloomily at a sharp
jagged stone which lay at my feet, and at length, taking it in my
hand, walked mechanically into a stagnant pool, where a group of
willow sprigs were growing on a few old stumps barely emerging from
the water. I contrived to sever a dozen or two of the twigs by hacking
at them with the flint--and, carrying them to dry ground, was soon
busy in rehearsing over again the toilet of Adam in Paradise. Tying
their ends together, I crossed a couple of them over my shoulders in
the manner of a shooting-belt, and from these I managed to suspend a
kind of frock of green leaves, which effectually transformed my
appearance from that of the rude savage of the wild to the civilised
Jack-in-the-Green of May-day in London. I may declare without reserve,
that I never felt more proud or pleased with any exploit of my whole
life than I now did at the completion of my toilet. My spirits, which
had before been villainously depressed, rose all at once, and I no
longer despaired of restoration to society. I walked majestically up
and down, keeping a careful look-out both upon the water and the land.
A boat passed at the distance of half a mile from the shore, but I
tried in vain to attract the notice of the crew. My voice could not be
heard so far, and if by accident they saw me, they must have mistaken
me for a bush. I now turned my back to the river in disgust, and
commenced a severe and careful scrutiny upon the land-side, to see if
I could possibly in any direction make out any signs of life. Five or
six hours must have elapsed since the moment when I plunged headlong
from the ladder;