. The hunter and the trapper in North America ; or, Romantic adventures in field and forest. From the French of Bénédict Révoil . it was more particularly during the night that Iwas haunted by fantastic forms. The stars darted at metheir arrows, the moon showed its teeth; I was cold,—Itrembled,—I felt as if plunged into an ocean of ice; andthe howl of the prairie wolves I mistook for the roar ofwaves and the clash of tempests. My blood boiled inmy veins, though my entrails were frozen, as if deathhad already paralyzed them. Then I felt as if I were cloven in twain; my body nolonger existed, an
. The hunter and the trapper in North America ; or, Romantic adventures in field and forest. From the French of Bénédict Révoil . it was more particularly during the night that Iwas haunted by fantastic forms. The stars darted at metheir arrows, the moon showed its teeth; I was cold,—Itrembled,—I felt as if plunged into an ocean of ice; andthe howl of the prairie wolves I mistook for the roar ofwaves and the clash of tempests. My blood boiled inmy veins, though my entrails were frozen, as if deathhad already paralyzed them. Then I felt as if I were cloven in twain; my body nolonger existed, and my feet refused to support my limbs. Still, I dragged myself along. The torpor which benumbed me passed away, everynow and then, under the exciting influence of hunger andthirst; and then I was torn to pieces with emotions ofrage, and I flung myself upon the grass as if to browseupon it. Still I continued to creep forward; for the intensity ofmy pains was somewhat diminished by motion. By astrange phenomenon, my weakened frame resumed atintervals its vigour and its elasticity under the stimulus A MAGICAL PANORAMA. 339. PEOPLED WITH VAPOROUS ANUELS. of certain ecstatic visions which charmed and transportedme. In those rare moments when I was free from pain,I saw unfold before me, as in a magical panorama, the 340 THE TENTH DAY. sweetest, brightest scenes of my past life, illuminated bythe faces I most dearly loved; but all this, so to speak,was spiritualized. It was not the reality which struck my eyes, but akind of celestial world peopled with vaporous angels jthey looked at me with a touching and tender air, shed-ding abundant tears at my miserable fate, bendingtowards me, and wreathing themselves in mazy andvoluptuous dances. I extended my arms to seize theseenchanting images, and suddenly a terrible internal agonydissipated the intoxicating spectacle, and restored me tothe awful reality. I began again to live; but what a life ! In this wise I dragged myself along fo
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