ble of
forming any distinct opinion upon what he saw or heard. Still, actuated
by the unconscious principle of self preservation, he tottered on, cold,
feeble, and breathless, now driven back like a reed by the strong rush
of the storm, or prostrated almost to suffocation under the whirlwinds,
that started up like savage creatures of life about him.

During all this time his faithful dog never abandoned him; but his wild
bowlings only heightened the horrors of his situation. When he fell, the
affectionate creature would catch the flap of his coat, or his arm,
in his teeth, and attempt to raise him; and as long as his master had
presence of mind, with the unerring certainty of instinct, he would turn
him, when taking a wrong direction, into that which led homewards.

Owen was not, however, reduced to this state without experiencing
sensations of which no language could convey adequate notions. At first
he struggled heroically with the storm; but when utter darkness threw
its impervious shades over the desolation around him, and the fury of
the elements grew so tremendous, all the strong propensities to life
became roused, the convulsive throes of a young heart on the steep of
death threw a wild and corresponding energy into his vigorous frame,
and occasioned him to cling to existence with a tenacity rendered still
stronger by the terrible consciousness of his unprepared state, and the
horror of being plunged into eternity unsupported by the rites of his
church, whilst the crime of attempting to take away human life lay
on his soul. Those domestic affections, too, which in Irishmen are
so strong, became excited; his home, his fireside, the faces of his
kindred, already impressed with affliction for the death of one brother,
were conjured up in the powerful imagery of natural feeling, the
fountains of which were opened in his heart, and his agonizing cry for
life rose wildly from the mountain desert upon the voice of the tempest.
Then, indeed, when the gulf of a twofold death yawned before him,
did the struggling spirit send up its shrieking prayer to heaven with
desperate impulse. These struggles, however, as well as those of the
body, became gradually weaker as the storm tossed him about, and with
the chill of its breath withered him into total helplessness. He reeled
on, stiff and insensible, without knowing whither he went, falling with
every blast, and possessing scarcely any faculty of life except mere
animation.