o look around. They might come talking
carelessly, or they might steal about in dead silence, if they suspected
that I was still alive.

I thus passed the day. I did sometimes think that I should have been
wiser had I remained within the bounds of civilisation, instead of
wandering about the world without any adequate motive. The reflection,
too, that the end of my days was approaching, came suddenly upon me with
painful force. How had I spent those days? I asked myself. What good
had I done in the world? How had I employed the talents committed to
me? I remembered a great many things I had been told as a child by my
mother, and which had never occurred to me since. The more I thought,
the more painful, the more full of regrets, grew my thoughts. I am
bound to tell you all this. I am not ashamed of my feelings. I believe
those thoughts did me a great deal of good. I blessed my mother for all
she had taught me, and I prayed as I had never prayed before. After
this I felt much comforted and better prepared for death than I had been
till then. The day passed slowly away. Darkness came on. I grew very
hungry and faint, for I had no food in my pocket, and had taken nothing
since the morning. Had I not been wounded, that would have been a
trifle; I had often gone a whole day without eating, with, perhaps, a
lap of water every now and then from a cool stream. I could not sleep a
wink during the whole night. At times I hoped that if my friends were
victorious they might return to learn what had become of poor Obed and
me. In vain was the hope. The night wore on, the dawn returned. I
tried to stretch my legs; I found that I could not move them.

The hours of the next day passed slowly by; I thought I heard the cries
and shrieks of the redskins in the distance--they seemed to draw nearer
and nearer--they were entering the wood--yes, I was certain of it--they
got close up to my tree--as I looked down, I saw their hideous,
malicious faces gazing up at me, eager for my destruction. Then
suddenly I became aware that they were only creatures of my imagination,
conjured up through weakness and hunger. All was again silent. "If
this state of things continues, I shall certainly drop from my hold," I
thought. Then suddenly I remembered that I had some tobacco in my
pocket. Edom Ragget had handed it to me to cut up for him. I put a
piece in my mouth, and chewed away at it. I felt much better. The
evening cam