ill for a fresh prospect, he turned aside to every cascade, and pleased
himself with tracing the course of a gentle river that rolled among the
trees, and watered a large region, with innumerable circumvolutions.

7. In these amusements, the hours passed away uncounted; his deviations
had perplexed his memory, and he knew not toward what point to travel. He
stood pensive and confused, afraid to go forward lest he should go wrong,
yet conscious that the time of loitering was now past. While he was thus
tortured with uncertainty, the sky was overspread with clouds, the day
vanished from before him, and a sudden tempest gathered round his head.

8. He was now roused by his danger to a quick and painful remembrance of
his folly; he now saw how happiness is lost when ease is consulted; he
lamented the unmanly impatience that prompted him to seek shelter in the
grove, and despised the petty curiosity that led him on from trifle to
trifle. While he was thus reflecting, the air grew blacker and a clap of
thunder broke his meditation.

9. He now resolved to do what remained yet in his power; to tread back the
ground which he had passed, and try to find some issue where the wood
might open into the plain. He prostrated himself upon the ground, and
commended his life to the Lord of nature. He rose with confidence and
tranquillity, and pressed on with his saber in his hand; for the beasts of
the desert were in motion, and on every hand were heard the mingled howls
of rage, and fear, and ravage, and expiration; all the horrors of darkness
and solitude surrounded him; the winds roared in the woods, and the
torrents tumbled from the hills.

10. Thus, forlorn and distressed, he wandered through the wild without
knowing whither he was going or whether he was every moment drawing nearer
to safety or to destruction. At length, not fear but labor began to
overcome him; his breath grew short, and his knees trembled, and he was on
the point of lying down, in resignation to his fate, when he beheld,
through the brambles, the glimmer of a taper. He advanced toward the
light, and finding that it proceeded from the cottage of a hermit, he
called humbly at the door, and obtained admission. The old man set before
him such provisions as he had collected for himself, on which Obidah fed
with eagerness and gratitude.

11. When the repast was over, "Tell me," said the hermit, "by what chance
thou hast been brought hither; I have been now twenty yea