on, and seemed
as though they had come to bid me a last farewell.

Towards morning I woke from my sleep, if the languid stupour into
which I had fallen was worthy of that name. One fixed idea had taken
possession of my brain; I would put an end to myself, and I felt a
sort of pleasure as I gloated over the power that I had to terminate my
sufferings. I told Curtis, with the utmost composure, of my intention,
and he received the intelligence as calmly as it was delivered.

"Of course you will do as you please," he said; "for, my own part, I
shall not abandon my post. It is my duty to remain here, and unless
death comes to carry me away, I shall stay where I am to the very last."

The dull grey fog still hung heavily over the ocean, but the sun was
evidently shining above the mist, and would, in course of time, dispel
the vapour. Towards seven o'clock I fancied I heard the cries of birds
above my head. The sound was repeated three times, and as I went up to
the captain to ask him about it, I heard him mutter to himself,--

"Birds! why, that looks as if land were not far off."

But although Curtis might still cling to the hope of reaching land,
I knew not what it was to have one sanguine thought. For me there was
neither continent nor island; the world was one fluid sphere,
uniform, monotonous, as in the most primitive period of its formation.
Nevertheless it must be owned that it was with a certain amount of
impatience that I awaited the rising of the mist, for I was anxious to
shake off the phantom fallacies that Curtis's words had suggested to my
mind.

Not till eleven o'clock did the fog begin to break, and as it rolled in
heavy folds along the surface of the water, I could every now and then
catch glimpses of a clear blue sky beyond. Fierce sunbeams pierced the
cloud-rifts, scorching and burning our bodies like red-hot iron; but
it was only above our heads that there was any sunlight to condense the
vapour; the horizon was still quite invisible. There was no wind, and
for half an hour longer the fog hung heavily round the raft; whilst
Curtis, leaning against the side, strove to penetrate the obscurity. At
length the sun burst forth in full power, and, sweeping the surface of
the ocean, dispelled the fog, and left the horizon opened to our eyes.

There, exactly as we had seen it for the last six weeks, was the circle
that bounded sea and sky, unbroken, definite, distinct as ever! Curtis
gazed with intensest scru