ears of my own life. There were
not then, as now, the rapid means of intercourse between this country
and America; as little, too, was there of that knowledge of the great
continent of the west which now prevails. Men talked of it as a far-away
land only emerging into civilization, and whose vast regions were still
untrodden and unexplored. Dreamy visions of the existence men might
carve out for themselves in such a scene formed the amusements of the
long hours of my solitary sick bed. I fancied myself at times a lone
settler on the bank of some nameless river, and at other moments as a
member of some Indian tribe, following their fortunes to the chase
and to the battle-field, and dreaming through life in the uneventful
stillness of the forest.

In part from the effect of malady itself, in part from this dreamy
state of mind, I sank into a state of impassive lethargy wherein nothing
pleased or displeased me. Worse than actual despondency, a sense of
indifference had settled down on all my feelings; and if I could have
asked a boon, it would have been to have been left utterly alone.
To reply when spoken to became irksome; even to listen was a painful
exertion to me. Looking back now on this period, it seems to me that
such intervals of apathetic repose are often inserted in the lives of
men of more than ordinary activity, acting as sleep does in our habitual
existence, and serving to rest and recruit faculties overcharged and
overworked.

I was in a very humble lodging in a very humble street, still attended
by doctors, and besieged by lawyers and solicitors, who came and went,
held consultations, questioned and cross-questioned me with a greedy
avidity on themes in which my own interest had long ceased, and which I
was gradually learning to think of with absolute aversion.

Ysaffich, whose confidence in our success rose higher every day,
appeared from time to time to see me; but his visits were generally
hurried ones, as he was constantly on the road, travelling hither
and thither, exploring registries here, and certificates there, and
fortifying our case by every possible means he could think of.
His energy was untiring; and in the shrewd devices of his quick
intelligence, even the long-practised acuteness of the lawyers
discovered great resources.

Paragraphs of a half mysterious kind in the public newspapers announced
to the world that a most remarkable case might ere long transpire, and
a claim be preferred wh