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202 ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



ful Pleiades began their nightly search for their lost 

 sister. In the zenith a meteor wavered and trem- 

 bled for a moment, then fell and faded away. " A 

 wandering star," I said, " to which is reserved the 

 blackness of darkness forever." The balsams felt 

 the dew, and from their pendant spears dropped 

 odors. I rolled myself in my blanket, and lay 

 gazing upward. A thousand recollections thronged 

 upon me ; a thousand hopes rose up within me. 

 The heavens elicited confidence, and unto them I 

 breathed my aspirations. I felt that He who tell- 

 eth the number of the stars took note of me. The 

 Spirit which garnished the heavens would grant me 

 audience. I approached Him reverently, and yet 

 with confidence, for I remembered that it is writ- 

 ten, '* the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, 

 and the earth shall wax old like a garment, but 

 my salvation shall be forever, and my righteous- 

 ness shall not be abolished." 



Then, without help of book or spoken word, I 

 committed myself to Him, in whose sight the 

 night is as the day ; and, alone in that vast wilder- 

 ness, far from home and friends, I closed my eyes 

 and slept as one who sleeps on a guarded bed. 



