"How long I continued in that state I am unable to say, but I
believe for a considerable time. I was suddenly awakened by the
ceasing of the jolting to which I had become accustomed, and
of which I was perfectly sensible in my sleep. I started up
and looked around me; the moon was still shining, and the face
of the heaven was studded with stars. I found myself amidst
a maze of bushes of various kinds, but principally hazel and
holly, through which was a path or driftway, with grass growing
on either side, upon which the pony was already diligently
browsing. I conjectured that this place had been one of the
haunts of his former master; and, on dismounting and looking
about, was strengthened in that opinion by finding a spot under
an ash-tree, which, from its burnt and blackened appearance,
seemed to have been frequently used as a fire-place. I will
take up my quarters here, thought I; it is an excellent spot
for me to commence my new profession in; I was quite right to
trust myself to the guidance of the pony. Unharnessing the
animal without delay, I permitted him to browse at free will
on the grass, convinced that he would not wander far from a
place to which he was so much attached; I then pitched the
little tent close beside the ash-tree to which I have alluded,
and conveyed two or three articles into it, and instantly felt
that I had commenced housekeeping for the first time in my
life. Housekeeping, however, without a fire is a very sorry
affair, something like the housekeeping of children in their
toy-houses. Of this I was the more sensible from feeling very
cold and shivering, owing to my late exposure to the rain,
and sleeping in the night air. Collecting, therefore, all the
dry sticks and furze I could find, I placed them upon the
fire-place, adding certain chips and a billet which I found
in the cart, it having apparently been the habit of Slingsby
to carry with him a small stock of fuel. Having then struck a
spark in a tinder-box, and lighted a match, I set fire to the
combustible heap, and was not slow in raising a cheerful blaze.
I then drew my cart near the fire, and, seating myself on one
of the shafts, hung over the warmth with feelings of intense
pleasure and satisfaction. Having continued in this posture
for a considerable time, I turned my eyes to the heaven in the
direction of a particular star; I, however, could not find the
star, nor indeed many of the starry train, the greater number
having fled, from which circumstance, and from the appearance
of the sky, I concluded that morning was nigh. About this time
I again began to feel drowsy; I therefore arose, and having
prepared for myself a kind of couch in the tent, I flung myself
upon it and went to sleep.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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