METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 375 



rage within me ; and famine would tear and wrench at my 

 vitals. Thirst, fiery thirst, would seethe, and boil, and shoot 

 like electric flame along my veins. 



In this condition I had been moving along like one in a 

 dreadful dream, for two days, and yet no alleviation. I still 

 clung to my gun ; but, merciful heavens ! how heavy it had 

 become. It felt like Goliath's beam; sunk into my flesh, 

 and seemed to be crushing the very bones. Yet I would 

 not give it up. I could not bear the thought of being killed 

 without the opportunity of revenge. It would have been a 

 glorious happiness to have met the Comanches, and died 

 defiant. Those fiend-whelps, the wolves, to have them 

 snarling their white fangs over me, while I was yet alive, 

 was too horrible. 



I had almost lost the capability of further wrestling with 

 inevitable fate, when I suddenly noticed on the prairie before 

 me, that which appeared like a cluster of trees. I was strong 

 again in an instant. My feet seemed to be shod with some 

 buoyant principle. "Water! water! water!" my parched 

 lips articulated at every step. As I approached, I could 

 perceive there were other "motts" scattered at wide intervals 

 of miles in a line across the plain. This I knew indicated 

 the presence of a stream ; and oh, what a thrill of hope, for 

 I was humbled now, it sent through my weakened frame. 



In an hour I reached the nearest "mott," a cluster of 

 scrubby timber, covering about thirty square feet and I 

 almost screamed with eager delight, as I saw from the gully 

 on which it stood, the gleam of water. I dropped my gun, 

 tumbled down the bank, threw myself prostrate on the brink, 

 and plunged my head up to the shoulders in the clear fluid. 

 I gulped several huge rapid swallows on the instant ; but 

 when I paused for breath horror of horrors .'Great God ! 

 it was as salt as brine ! It all came up in an instant, and it 

 was like tearing out my vitals. The blackness of darkness 

 came around my brain. I was insensible. 



