f 4 T R A V E L S I N 
cholj filence which Is the ufual efFed of ex- 
treme defpondency. At laft they laid them- 
felves on the ground, and prepared to Deep ; 
feeking thus, a momentary refplte from evils, 
which would revive but the more acutely. 
Like them I had flretched myfelf alio on 
the earth; but not pofleffing the fame faculty 
of calling at will fleep to my folace, I gave my- 
felf up to the alarming refleclions which my 
horrible fituation naturally Induced. At one 
moment I reproached myfelf for that Ignis 
fatuus of hope, which had led me to brave fo 
many dangers to no purpofe, and drawn me 
away more than eight leagues from my camp : 
at another, I contemplated with forrow the 
unhappy companions of my journey, con- 
demned to fuffer every want with me : thea 
cafting my thoughts on myfelf, and feeing no 
remedy under my diftrefs, I wiflicd for death, 
and thought only on the means of haftening 
its approach. But the extreme of defpair often 
borders on the extreme of happlnefs. 
About an hour after midnight, Klaas, al- 
ways the fame, always thinking of me, and 
ever on the watch to give me fome agreeable 
intelligence, drew near on a fudden, and, In a 
voice 
