He left me and I sat there, shaking my head and pounding the stone floor for joy. And I sang again, and sang again. Yes, the author of The Captive! And captive myself, and free at last! It was far into the night when I stopped singing; and then I lay down and never before had I known such peace; for I had found the way--I had seen the light--I was delivered from all fear and dulness for the rest of my days! I was so excited I could not sleep--when I fell asleep at last it was from sheer exhaustion. And when they roused me the next morning I bounded to my feet like a shot, and shouted to my soul, and was up and away through the forest like a startled deer again! They tried their very best to catch me, but they could not. I had not lived in the woods for nothing, I knew the paths, I knew where the mountains were. And when they thought they had me in court, I was on the very summits--and laughing and drunk with the mountain air! I have a keen sense of humor,--and of course I am never so drunk that I do not know I'm drunk, and know just what I'm drunk about--else how could I write poems about it? Do you think that when Shakespeare cried out his “Blow ye winds and crack your cheeks!” he did not know just what he was saying? Ah!--And when I saw all these queer little men about me, staring and wondering--and so solemn!--I laughed the inextinguishable laughter of Olympus, and shouted so that they dragged me out of court in a hurry. * * * * * And then there came the end! They took me to the insane asylum, and I sat down on the floor of a cell and gazed at myself in amazement and panted: So there _is_ a way you can live, after all! There _is_ a way you can make them support you! There _is_ a way you can do all your work in peace, and worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! I could scarcely believe it all--it took half an hour for me to realize it. And then I shouted that I was saved!--and fell to work at shaping that mad Song of the West Wind I had been so full of. * * * * * And then suddenly I heard a muffled voice say: “What in the dickens are you making all that rumpus for?” And I stared about me and saw that I was still crouching by the window in my room! And I shrank back and quivered with rage, because I knew that I had been making a noise and that some one out in the hall had been listening to me! * * * * * And that was the end of my long adventure. * * * * * December 30th.