f my peril.

No wonder. If lost in the forest, then was I lost indeed. A single
hour might be enough. In that time the poison would do its work. I
should be found only by the wolves and vultures. O God!

As if to make my horrid fate appear more certain, I now remembered to
have heard that it was the very season of the year--the hot autumn--when
the venom of the _crotalus_ is most virulent, and does its work in the
shortest period of time. Cases are recorded where in a single hour its
bite has proved fatal.

"Merciful heaven!" thought I, "in another hour I shall be no more!" and
the thought was followed by a groan.

The danger nerved me to renewed efforts. I turned back on my tracks.
It seemed the best thing I could do; for in the gloomy circle around,
there was no point that indicated my approach to the open ground of the
plantations. Not a bit of sky could I discover,--that welcome beacon to
the wood-ranger, denoting the proximity of the clearings. Even the
heaven above was curtained from my view; and when I appealed to it in
prayer, my eyes rested only upon the thick black foliage of the
cypress-trees, with their mournful drapery of _tillandsia_.

I had no choice but to go back, and endeavour to find the path I had
lost, or wander on trusting to mere chance.

I chose the former alternative. Again I broke through the cane-brakes
and palmetto-thickets--again I forded sluggish bayous, and waded across
muddy pools.

I had not proceeded more than a hundred yards on the back track, when
that also became doubtful. I had passed over a reach of ground higher
and drier than the rest. Here no footprints appeared, and I knew not
which way I had taken. I tried in several directions, but could not
discover my way. I became confused, and at length completely
bewildered. Again was I lost!

To have been lost in the forest under ordinary circumstances would have
mattered little,--an hour or two of wandering--perhaps a night spent
under the shade of some tree, with the slight inconvenience of a hungry
stomach. But how very different was my prospect then, with the fearful
thoughts that were pressing upon me! The poison was fast inoculating my
blood. I fancied I already felt it crawling through my veins!

One more struggle to find the clearings!

I rushed on, now guided by chance. I endeavoured to keep in a straight
line, but to no purpose. The huge pyramidal buttresses of the trees, so
characteristic of th