yet attaching little importance to the presence of the brutes, I dragged my steps forward, but soon to find my strength spent and my spirits broken. Resting, the chill and roar of the wind as it plowed through the naked trees filled me with sadness and indescribable languor, in which the longing to sleep overcame all other thoughts. Despairing, I looked about for a place where I might lie down and yet in some measure be protected from the fierce cold and whirling snow. Some place, indeed, less bleak, with the appearance of warmth, if nothing more. So much indeed does the semblance of life lure us even in death; for of desire to live I now had none, and like a hunted animal, sought only a place in which to lie down and die. In this mood, and looking forward, a cluster of oaks caught my eye, their brown leaves seeming to offer shelter and warmth from the fierce storm and biting cold. Making my way slowly toward them, the wolves kept pace on either side, but not obtrusively, as if the end could now be plainly seen. Reaching the haven, and looking about despairingly, as one takes leave of the world, I found myself on the outer rim of the great forest. Gazing with hungry eyes toward the open country, the faint twinkle of a lighted candle after a while caught my eye across the intervening space, but dimly, and as one sees a star in the far-off heavens. Looking long and earnestly, I at last discerned the outlines of the Eagle’s Nest, standing black and chill in the wide expanse. At this I gave a cry of joy, and hearing it, the wolves too gave voice, but dolefully, as if the proximity of men filled them with dire dismay. Benumbed with cold and the clinging snow, but cheered by what I saw, I made my way from beneath the friendly trees to the open plain. Here the wind, meeting no obstruction, rushed on more fiercely than before; but pressing toward the light, which each moment shone more clear and warm, I at last reached the door, and lifting the latch, plunged forward into the room, carrying the snow that filled the entrance with me. Going down, I made out the sorrowful figure of Fox seated before the open hearth, his chin pitched forward in his hand, as if conjuring a doleful sermon of some sort. Calling his name as I fell, the light faded from my sight, and I knew no more. *CHAPTER XXXVII* *THE PRODIGAL* When I awoke from my stupor, I lay wrapped in blankets before a blazing fire, and on either side of me Fox and the landlord knelt, striving to infuse some warmth into my body and stiffened limbs. Next the fire their faces glistened as if aflame, but on the other side the shadows gave them a strange and sinister look, so that at first I did not know who they were. Soon recognizing them, I nevertheless lay still, having no desire to stir, until Fox, seeing me look about, shouted at the top of his voice: "Hurrah, he’s coming round!"