; and then he was steadily swimming on
once more, past moored barge with its lights, past steamboat pontoon;
and then with a rush he was driven against a stone pier; his hands
grasped at the slimy stones without avail, he was turned in an eddy
around and around, sucked under, and rose again, to swim on and on, till
at last, in the darkness, his hands touched the muddy pebbles of the
river shore, his knees struck heavily, and he crawled through a pool,
and then staggered to his feet, with the water streaming from him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

What next? It was all as in a dream, in which, in the gloom of the
thick night, he stumbled upon a flight of slippery steps, and walked up
and up, and then along a road which he crossed again and again, and
always walking on and on.

At times he guided himself by mechanically touching a cold rough stony
wall, till somehow it was different and felt slippery, and his hand
glided over the side.

Then darkness, and a sense of wandering. How long? Where? Why was he
wandering on?

------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was all a dream, but changed to a time when his head was as it were
on fire, and he was climbing mountains where diamonds glistened at the
top, but which he could not reach, though he was ever climbing, with the
sun burning into his brain, and the diamonds that he must find farther
and farther away.

And so on, and so on, in one long weary journey, to reach that which he
could not attain, and at last oblivion--soft, sweet, restful oblivion--
with nothing wrong, nothing a trouble, no weariness or care: it was
rest, sweet rest, after that toilsome climb.

The next sensation was of a cool soft hand upon his brow, and Mark Heath
opened his eyes, to gaze into those of a pale, grave-looking woman in
white, curiously-shaped cap; and she smiled at the look of intelligence
in his face as he said softly.

"Who are you?"

"Your nurse," was the reply.

"Nurse?"

One word only, but a chapter in its inquiring tone. "Yes," she said
gently; "you have been ill. Don't try to talk. Take this, and lie
quite still."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another long, dreamy time, during which there were noises about his
head--the gentle, pleasant voice of his nurse, and the firm, decisive
voice of the doctor. It might have been hours, it might ha