s
seeking.

I stumbled over the long grasses and more than once rolled down a hollow
full of nettles and thorns, which stung and scratched my face and hands
horribly. I scrambled out, however, almost directly, animated by a fiery
instinct of self preservation, and pulling out from my flesh the thorns
that hurt me most, I recommenced, blood-stained and unnerved, to grope
my way in the dark.

In one of my tumbles I felt a huge beast gallop over my body. What was
it? I thought it must be a wild-boar.

I remained there some time on the ground smarting and exhausted. My
strength and energy seemed to diminish every minute and the mad,
desperate thought flashed across my mind to not move any more but just
lie there under the rain to wait for death or daylight.

From the tall trees came peltering down upon me shells, husks and fruit,
the remains of a feast the monkeys were having upon the thick boughs
that sheltered them from the bad weather, and from afar came a low, dull
sound like the deep rumbling noise that often precedes Nature's
tragedies.

Life in the jungle had taught me what that fearful roar meant. It was
caused by the clamouring cries of thousands of wild beasts, rushing
forth from their dens and hastening towards the bloody convention which
every night they hold.

It gave me the force to make a supreme effort. I got up and staggered
forward, not knowing where I was going and trusting purely to chance.

But in the end I was obliged to give myself up for lost and every hope
of escaping my horrible fate forsook me. I could no longer shout but it
would have been useless, for the ever-increasing din would have
prevented others, and me, from hearing anything else. I managed to prop
myself up against a rock and with all the strength that was left me, I
clung to it with one hand whilst with the other I turned up the collar
of my thin, linen jacket and tried to cover my face.

Did I do this not to see the approaching danger and inevitable fate
which was fast overtaking me? I do not know; I only remember the act,
but not the thought that prompted it.

Anyway willing or not willing, I saw everything.

Close by, some big phosphorescent mushrooms illuminated the darkness
with their faint, ghastly gleams of light.

The tumult, the row, the trampling always seemed to get louder and
nearer. It was like the advance of an endless host of demons and evil
spirits.

Terrible crashes, furious roars, wild howls, and formi