ere still in the near vicinity of
Nantucket. This notion, however, I was forced to abandon; for such being
the case, the brig must have frequently gone about; and I was entirely
satisfied, from her continual inclination to the larboard, that she had
been sailing all along with a steady breeze on her starboard quarter.
Besides, granting that we were still in the neighborhood of the
island, why should not Augustus have visited me and informed me of
the circumstance? Pondering in this manner upon the difficulties of
my solitary and cheerless condition, I resolved to wait yet another
twenty-four hours, when, if no relief were obtained, I would make my way
to the trap, and endeavour either to hold a parley with my friend,
or get at least a little fresh air through the opening, and a further
supply of water from the stateroom. While occupied with this thought,
however, I fell in spite of every exertion to the contrary, into a state
of profound sleep, or rather stupor. My dreams were of the most terrific
description. Every species of calamity and horror befell me. Among other
miseries I was smothered to death between huge pillows, by demons of
the most ghastly and ferocious aspect. Immense serpents held me in their
embrace, and looked earnestly in my face with their fearfully shining
eyes. Then deserts, limitless, and of the most forlorn and awe-inspiring
character, spread themselves out before me. Immensely tall trunks of
trees, gray and leafless, rose up in endless succession as far as the
eye could reach. Their roots were concealed in wide-spreading morasses,
whose dreary water lay intensely black, still, and altogether terrible,
beneath. And the strange trees seemed endowed with a human vitality, and
waving to and fro their skeleton arms, were crying to the silent waters
for mercy, in the shrill and piercing accents of the most acute agony
and despair. The scene changed; and I stood, naked and alone, amidst the
burning sand-plains of Sahara. At my feet lay crouched a fierce lion
of the tropics. Suddenly his wild eyes opened and fell upon me. With
a conclusive bound he sprang to his feet, and laid bare his horrible
teeth. In another instant there burst from his red throat a roar like
the thunder of the firmament, and I fell impetuously to the earth.
Stifling in a paroxysm of terror, I at last found myself partially
awake. My dream, then, was not all a dream. Now, at least, I was in
possession of my senses. The paws of some hu