154 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



into blessed sleep with the tepid water mur- 

 muring within a few feet of my weary head. 



I awoke soon after 3 A.M. The wind had 

 turned perishingly cold, so cold that I de- 

 cided to retire from my exposed situation and 

 seek for some spot more or less sheltered from 

 the streaming air-current. So I once more 

 waded back through the tepid water and 

 sought a refuge among the trees. The fire was 

 still alight; I had to pass it. Not a single 

 tartantula was visible; no doubt they had re- 

 tired to their lairs among the rocks on account 

 of the fall in the temperature. Yet I do not 

 suppose the latter was below 80 Fahr. ; the 

 susceptibility of one's skin is relative ; my dis- 

 comfort was due to the sudden change. I 

 wished I had not left my thermometer at the 

 wagon ; it would have been interesting to take 

 a reading at midnight. 



Once more I fell asleep, with the tree-trunks 

 groaning around me, as the boughs swayed in 

 the ever-freshening gale. 



