CHAPTER IX.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 175, 21 June 1873, Page 2

CHAPTER IX.

We mosfco endure ; this is the short and plain. Eobeetson recoTered consciousness after a while, awoke to a sense of pain and misery, and to thus much knowledge of hip position — that he know he was lying, far away from \ human help, somewhere among the Welsh mountains. He knew also that life still remained in him, for he could move a hand and n foot ; but whether or not ho were hopelessly scattered by his fall, ho couldn't tell. The whole weight of the universe seemed upon him ; his pain was fierce ; his mental torture profound ; but above all other sensations, the one which dominated and absorbed all tho rest waa an OTerpowering thirst. Any thought, or hope, or desiro there might be in his brain was compassed by the one great longing, by the ono eager desire — .to drink. He was 1} mg — warm, indeed, for ho was burning with fever — somewhere in. tho bowels of the earth. A white patch above was the opening to his prison, no doubfc. A few light flakes of snow fluttered down upon him; one fell apon his parched lips, and seemed like a sweet kiss from heaven. But ! these soon ceased ; and nothing was to be seen or heard but a never-ending hum, which was, indeed, a distant echo of of the loud whirrying of the tempeßt, and the roar of tho dashing stream. I How much of the torment would he still have to endure ? How long before merciful death would come ? Surely if all the pleasurable sensations of his life could have been reduced to an arithmetical expression, the tortures of the last hour would have far exceeded their sum. Surely ho was wronged ; surely he had not earned this great suffering. But whom should he accuse? Wh,at s/olid Fate would listen to ins ravings p For verily human misery is but a grain of dust m tho great balances of the universe. Let him groan; let him call to the gods to helphhn! Have tho stones oar*? Is there a living hcai't in tho granite ? There is a limit to all things : torture prolonged becomes insensibility ; tfie tormentors may come with their fangs, w ith their irons, the cxecutiouor may bo there with hia bars, with his wheels — another turn to tho rack, another wrench to the tortured limbs ; but ho is not here whom you would put to question ; ho is away ; your victim has escaped you ; your holy offices can. no further go. Thus, then, whilo lying insensible on the gravel, the stormwinds humming their lullaby fur overhead, there came to this young man a most gracious vision. The harsh outlines of splintered rocks seamed to change to the, soft waves of 1 titling branches - r ho was lying bj a pellucid, gently flowing ftream, in a dim and shadowy forest. Through a solomn glade, which shewed at its further outlet a glimpse of sunlight, three figures were advancing. Throe women of comely mien, of soft placid browp, of sweet and kindly eyes, with Btately necks, fair rounded bosoms., and soft white twining arms, approached him, divided from him by the flowing stream, and looked compassionately upon him. And when he asked them, wonderingly, what manner of beings they were, they told him they were tho Dccc ma/rei, tho mother-gods, the gods of the sweet woodlands, of the shadowy forests ; and they would lm^e given him drink from tlie btienm ; but with a great shaking and quivering, the scene du>->ohcd, nnd ho ■ was standing on a Hillry dcsoit, 11 hot and glaring sun de- ! vowing lu<> bruin ; and jet it wus not tbe sun. but a god. I'l nm Mitlirus,' he suid, ' the fecundator of all tilings ; into my boing shall you bo absorbed.' And when tho agony was (00 grcntv again tho scene was changed into confined phantasmagoria of inoougi uous absurdities, which must }ct bo reconciled and reduced 10 order, the strain of which upon tho brain was ngonv even more profound than the most cruel suffering of the body. And then ho begun to think of green fields, and the haymaking time, ojid of tho sheep calling to their lambs in tho swelling breasts of the Downs. Then his senses came to hi»n for a moment, and he knew ho was mad as ho lay there, wounded, d^ing, bleating like a lamb that has been shut out of the sheep-fold.