Cedar Keys 
worse. I felt anxious for something sour, and 
walked back to the village to buy lemons. 
Thus and here my long walk was interrupted. 
I thought that a few days’ sail would land me 
among the famous flower-beds of Texas. But 
the expected ship came and went while I was 
helpless with fever. The very day after reach- 
ing the sea I began to be weighed down by in- 
exorable leaden numbness, which I resisted and 
tried to shake off for three days, by bathing in 
the Gulf, by dragging myself about among the 
palms, plants, and strange shells of the shore, 
and by doing a little mill work. I did not fear 
any serious illness, for I never was sick before, 
and was unwilling to pay attention to my feel- 
ings. 
But yet heavier and more remorselessly 
pressed the growing fever, rapidly gaining on 
my strength. On the third day after my arrival 
I could not take any nourishment, but craved 
acid. Cedar Keys was only a mile or two dis- 
tant, and I managed to walk there to buy 
lemons. On returning, about the middle of the 
[ 127 ] 
