152 
A VOYAGE TO SFITZBEBGEN. 
family dwindled down to one specimen only, a tho¬ 
rough solicitude was manifested for it, and every con¬ 
ceivable means was adopted to save its life. The 
choicest delicacies we placed before it, but it needed 
no further help; it could select for itself, and did. 
Grown sickly with the change of clime, and grown 
feeble by exposure to the cold, it could no longer 
venture on a journey to the table, its feeble wings 
refused their office. Then was the true nature of 
our hardy men most surely seen ; their susceptible 
natures hidden beneath a rough exterior came brightly 
out; it was only a fly, but even a fly excited their 
sympathy, and the fly was welcome! As its powers 
flagged they lifted it tenderly to the topmost pane of 
glass in our cabin window to catch the warmest rays 
of the sun. 
Alas!'the. inexorable laws of climate could not be 
stayed on account of the fly, and in spite of every 
attention and care, the poor thing grew feebler and 
feebler day by day. No longer able to support itself 
on the pane, it descended lower, yet lower, on the 
cabin window, till it finally rested on the lowest sill, 
and before long its watchful attendants w^ere called 
upon to witness the end of their little friend. 
It had rolled over from weakness and lay upon its 
back, and after many a spasmodic kick it died. 
