A NIGHT S ADVEXTURE. 9 



a corner, sheltering my hands with my cap, and sacri- 

 ficing a portion of the last letter from my lady-love 

 for tinder ; success rewarded me, and soon the sur- 

 roundings were brought out in deep relief by the 

 brilliant glow, reminding me of the deep contrast of 

 light and shadow in one of the much-admired pictures 

 by Rembrandt. The rain was not long delayed, and 

 after a few premonitory drops, came down as if the 

 flood-gates of heaven had been opened, accompanied 

 by the loudest thunder and most dazzling lightning. 

 There is nothing more powerfully impresses man with 

 the omnipotent power of the Creator, or with his own 

 utter insignificance, than being placed alone, unpro- 

 tected from the warring elements, listening to the 

 dismemberment of limbs from the parent tree-trunks by 

 the fury of the blast, or the scathing power of the 

 electric fluid. All my efforts to keep a good fire were 

 futile -sleep was out of the question while the inces- 

 sant attacks of the mosquitoes made me restless and 

 irritable. No sick man or storm-tossed mariner ever 

 more ardently longed for break of day. The night 

 appeared endless, and doubts of whether the sun 

 had not been delayed in his course, or taken his de- 

 parture to gladden with his rays the inhabitants of 

 other planets, intruded themselves. At last, faint 

 lines of light glimmered in the east, foretelling the 



