158 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. x. 



out his arm, put his hand on my shoulder, and said, 

 " Tiens, Laroncle ; je ne vois pas bien." (Hold, Laronde; I 

 do not see well.) " What ! " said I, at the moment be- 

 ginning to feel the darkness growing upon me, " are you 

 night-blind ?" " Yes ; and have been so for three weeks. 

 I did not tell you I was on my way to the settlements to 

 get cured." 



' At that moment a flash of lightning shot across the 

 sky ; Jerome held my shoulder in a firm, gripe, but 

 I felt him tremble. I looked and strained my eyes in 

 vain. " Jerome," I said, " I am night-blind, too ; my sight 

 is gone. I am stone-blind now." We reached the rock, 

 which was within a yard of us, and sat down hand-in- 

 hand. Neither spoke for a long time ; we listened to the 

 stream gurgling past, and thought how helpless and 

 stricken we were. If we tried to ford the river, it was 

 just as likely we should go slanting off down the stream, 

 and perhaps tumble against the slippery stones. Jerome 

 said he could get across, if he knew the river ; but he 

 had never been at this crossing in the spring, and the 

 water was rising fast. I knew the stream would miide 



* ' o 



us in a direction that we might reach the shore ; but if 

 the current should sweep us off our legs, and we be carried 

 to the rapid below before we could swim to the side, it 

 would be a lost game then. We turned over these chances 

 as we sat on the rock, and then neither of us spoke for 

 some time. " What shall we do ? " I said, at length. " We 

 must stay where we are," he replied. " I have been caught 

 before, but it was in the woods, near the shanty, and I 

 heard the shouts and laughter of the men, and groped my 

 way ; but here we can do nothing ; we must stay where 



