Cedar Key. 



from the village drunk. This was the cause of 

 the watchman's refusal. Feeling that I must 

 get to bed, I made out to reach it on hands and 

 knees, tumbled in after a desperate struggle, and 

 immediately became oblivious to everything. 



I awoke at a strange hour on a strange day 

 to hear Mr. Hodgson ask a watcher beside 

 me whether I had yet spoken, and when he 

 replied that I had not, he said: "Well, you must 

 keep on pouring in quinine. That 's all we can 

 do." How long I lay unconscious I never 

 found out, but it must have been many days. 

 Some time or other I was moved on a horse 

 from the mill quarters to Mr. Hodgson's house, 

 where I was nursed about three months with 

 unfailing kindness, and to the skill and care of 

 Mr. and Mrs. Hodgson I doubtless owe my life. 

 Through quinine and calomel — in sorry abun- 

 dance — with other milder medicines, my ma- 

 larial fever became typhoid. I had night 

 sweats, and my legs became like posts of the 

 temper and consistency of clay on account of 

 dropsy. So on until January, a weary time. 

 [ 129 ] 



