338 SINGULAR ILLUSIONS. 



wrought ear like a peal of thunder, and aroused a com- 

 motion in my brain which threatened to shatter it. The 

 exhalations of the earth struck my sense of smell like 

 perfumes of too great a strength; at each breath of wind 

 I staggered like a drunken man. 



Still, I dragged myself along. 



I began to experience the most singular illusions. I 

 thought I saw an army defiling over the prairie, with 

 the pomp of banners and the glitter of bayonets; or now 

 it was a vast lake shining in the golden sunshine ah, 

 deceitful vision ! it disappeared immediately I pressed 

 forward to enjoy the refreshing waters. 



But it was more particularly during the night that I 

 was haunted by fantastic forms. The stars darted at me 

 their arrows, the moon showed its teeth ; I was cold, I 

 trembled, I felt as if plunged into an ocean of ice; and 

 the howl of the prairie wolves I mistook for the roar of 

 waves and the clash of tempests. My blood boiled in 

 my veins, though my entrails were frozen, as if death 

 had already paralyzed them. 



Then I felt as if I were cloven in twain; my body no 

 longer existed, and my feet refused to support my limbs. 



Still, I dragged myself along. 



The torpor which benumbed me passed away, every 

 now and then, under the exciting influence of hunger and 

 thirst; and then I was torn to pieces with emotions of 

 rage, and I flung myself upon the grass as if to browse 

 upon it. 



Still I continued to creep forward; for the intensity of 

 my pains was somewhat diminished by motion. By a 

 strange phenomenon, my weakened frame resumed at 

 intervals its vigour and its elasticity under the stimulus 



