248 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



the world, and as if the sun were shedding its light 

 and heat for me alone. 



I waited in this place for two daj^s, vainly expecting 

 the return of my friends, until my stock of bear's 

 meat was quite exhausted, and I began to feel the 

 pangs of hunger, and to give way to the torments 

 of despair. Soon, however, the very excess of my 

 misfortune recalled me to myself, and I determined 

 to nerve myself against my fate. I cried out v/ith 

 all my strength to rouse myself from the state into 

 which I was sinking. 



" No," said I, " I will not die of want and hunger. 

 If the coyotes can live in this frightful desert, so can 

 I. I will have the agility of a panther, the sagacity 

 of a dog, and the sight of an eagle. I will be as 

 swift as the deer, and will fight hand to hand with 

 the wild beasts of the forest. Die of hunger! a 

 thousand times, no. Eather than that, I will light 

 up fires over the prairie until the Comanches find 

 me, and they shall either pity and spare me, or put 

 me out of my misery at once." 



Once more I climbed up a tree to seek for some 

 signs of human life, but in vain. All round, to the 

 distant horizon, there was nothing but the mountams 

 and the plain. Then I came down again, and fell 

 prone upon the grass. 



I remained in this position for some time, and 

 my brain grew excited with a thousand terrible 

 fancies. A bird came and perched over my head. 



