178 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



set on tlie A.lps, tinge his mental horizon, and create a 

 gustatory after-glow which warms his whole frame. Hamited 

 by such recollections, tormented by the appetites they deve- 

 lop, his nature undergoes mysterious, modifying influences ; 

 new and grander ferocities are awakened, which, in tm*n, 

 develop fiercer daring, and render him ten times more for- 

 midable. Hitherto he has wanted something of the daring 

 commensurate with his streng-th. He has always avoided 

 personal combat with an European, when honourably the 

 challenge could be ignored. But now the case is very differ- 

 ent ; now, the scent of human blood thrills along every fibre ; 

 and when sight reveals the proximity of his noble foe, then 

 flashes the tawny eye with sombre fire, the terrible talons 

 tear up the earth, he dresses his mighty mane, and prepares 

 for the fight in slow, solemn, concentrated wrath, clearly 

 foreseeing that two issues, and only two, remain open for 

 him — man-beef, or a tomb. 



Not less profound, although not quite so terrible to his 

 enemies, is the difference between the man who has once 

 tasted of a noble sea-side passion, once lived wdth his micro- 

 scope for a few months on the wealthy shores of some secluded 

 spot, indulging in a new pursuit — and the common man, 

 utterly remote from all such experience, walled out from it 

 by blank negation, incapable of even conceiving the heights 

 and depths of such a passion. Visions of those ecstatic 

 hours for ever accompany the happy man. He may return 

 to his home, and resume the labours of his profession, which 

 secures him pudding, and, it may be, praise : he continues 

 the daily round, but not as before. He is a changed man. 



