break his chill. It increased till his teeth chattered with the cold.

"Perhaps," thought he, "if I can sleep a little I will get better." But
he could not sleep. He was burning with fever and then shaking with cold
by turns. He felt a strong thirst, but he was so weak that he could
scarcely get the goat's milk. He had no sooner drunk the milk than his
tongue was as dry as before. He felt better after a night of sleep, but
the next day his fever and chills were worse than before. Then he
bethought him of his parents. How kindly his mother had taken care of
him! Now no one was near that could assist him.

"Ah," he sighed, "must I die here? Who would bury me? There is no one
to miss me." At this the tears came to his eyes.

His sickness increased with each day. Occasionally the fever would go
down sufficiently to allow him to get something to eat. Then it would be
worse than before. In his dire need he wanted to pray, but he was so
weak that he could only stammer, "Dear God, help me, or I shall die!"

One night he had a strange dream. He thought he saw his good old father
standing before him calling to him. He spread out his arms and cried
aloud, "Here I am, here I am!" He tried to get up, but he was so weak
that he fell back fainting.

He lay there a long time, but finally came to. He felt a burning thirst,
but no one reached him a drop of water. He prepared to die. He folded
his hands and prayed to God that he would be merciful to him. He prayed
forgiveness from his parents. Once more he raised his head and gazed
wildly around, then he sank back and knew no more.

When he again awoke he felt better. His hot fever had gone. He attempted
to walk. He had just enough strength to crawl to the table and fetch a
shell of water. When he tried to walk he had to sit down at every two or
three steps.

From this he recovered gradually, growing better and better, and he
thanked God inwardly for his recovery. His sickness had continued from
June 18 to July 3.

XXIV

ROBINSON'S BOWER

Robinson's sickness set him thinking about his home. He had been so
afraid of animals when he came to the island that he thought of nothing
but protection from them. He had been now a year on the island and had
seen nothing more dangerous than a goat. The fear of animals had
practically faded away. In thinking over his sickness he made up his
mind that it was caused by sleeping in his cave where the sun never
shone. The ventilation se