limb. Whenever, by fatigue and
weakness, my terror yielded to drowsiness, the least noise roused me
to a sense of the hideousness of my condition. Once, in a fitful
slumber, I fell forward into the fire, and inflicted a wretched burn
on my hand. Oh! with what agony I longed for day!

A bright and glorious morning succeeded the dismal night, and brought
with it the conviction that I had been the victim of uncontrollable
nervous excitement. I resolved henceforth to banish it altogether;
and, in much better spirits than I anticipated, resumed my journey
towards the lake. Another day of unceasing toil among the tree-tops
and thickets overtook me, near sunset, standing upon a lofty headland
jutting into the lake, and commanding a magnificent prospect of the
mountains and valley over an immense area. In front of me, at a
distance of fifty miles away, in the clear blue of the horizon, rose
the arrowy peaks of the three Tetons. On the right, and apparently in
close proximity to the eminence I occupied, rolled the picturesque
range of the Madison, scarred with clefts, ravines, gorges and canons,
each of which glittered in the sunlight or deepened in shadow as the
fitful rays of the descending luminary glanced along their varied
rocky irregularities. Above where I stood were the lofty domes of
Mounts Langford and Doane, marking the limits of that wonderful
barrier which had so long defied human power in its efforts to subdue
it. Rising seemingly from the promontory which favored my vision was
the familiar summit of Mount Everts, at the base of which I had dwelt
so long, and which still seemed to hold me within its friendly shadow.
All the vast country within this grand enclosure of mountains and
lake, scarred and seamed with the grotesque ridges, rocky escarpments,
undulating hillocks, and miniature lakes, and steaming with hot
springs, produced by the volcanic forces of a former era, lay spread
out before me like a vast panorama.

I doubt if distress and suffering can ever entirely obliterate all
sense of natural grandeur and magnificence. Lost in the wonder and
admiration inspired by this vast world of beauties, I nearly forgot to
improve the few moments of remaining sunshine to obtain fire. With a
lighted brand in my hand, I effected a most difficult and arduous
descent of the abrupt and stony headland to the beach of the lake. The
sand was soft and yielding. I kindled a fire, and removing the
stiffened slippers from my fee