I had not been lying down for very long when I began to feel much easier. The extreme cold had departed and the twitching pain in my limbs had gradually abated; but, meanwhile, the thirsty craving came back, and my head got still more dull and leadenlike. I took these symptoms to mean that I was getting weaker, and slowly dying. The struggle for life had been a protracted one, but it could not be kept up much longer. I had striven hard to keep my spirits up and live, but God had willed that I must go! My poor wife would soon know the worst. The end of my troubles would be the beginning of hers. My life being insured, she would not be left altogether penniless, but still the news of my death would be a sad blow to her and our relations. God help her, and them! A burning sensation seemed to shoot through my head! A strange buzzing sound filled my ears, and then I lost all consciousness! How long I lay in the cave, or whether in a swoon or sleeping, I cannot say, but when my senses returned I had a vivid impression that I had just awoke out of a fearful dream. The state of my body, and a glance at the rocks around, however, soon convinced me that the incidents of the past day and night were reality indeed. I now not only felt sore and numbed, but my whole body tingled with a peculiar sensation similar to that which a person feels when his leg, or foot, is said to be “asleep.” On looking outward, I fancied, in my half blind condition, that the sun was shining brightly on the sand, and I made up my mind, if possible, to get out to the heat. After a number of ineffectual attempts, I managed to rise once more on hands and knees, and got outside, although, when on the way, I reeled over, like a drunken man, at least a dozen times. With my back on the sand, I lay head up hill towards the cliffs, but was not there long till I felt sorry I had left the cave, for the sun seemed to have no heat in it, and the sand, drifting with the strong wind, flew all over me. I knew I was too far gone to attempt to return to the cave, and thought my time had come at last! Concerning the incidents which took place some time after my coming out of the cave on to the beach, the reader is already acquainted with them from the narrations given by others in the former portions of this book. Personally I have no clear recollection of these matters. Excepting during intervals of consciousness, all is blank to me up till Saturday morning, 30th December, when I found myself in bed at Clark’s hotel, Sorrento, surrounded with the best of comfort and attention. I distinctly remember hearing the voices of ladies coming nearer and nearer on the beach, and of my being ungracious enough to feel no joy at the sound. The thought uppermost in my mind then was “It’s all over. Too late, too late!”