Around, over all, brooded a sense of everlastingness and infinity that deepened into and left on me an oppression as of madness.
Was I dead?
Was this hell?
Could these awful phosphorescent creatures be real?
My aching limbs left me in no doubt as to my being alive, and a serpent, gliding over my legs, causing me to shudder, made me realise it was no phantom of my brain.
I lay for some time trying to grasp my situation, and wondering how I came to be here.
Then I remembered having resolved to kill myself, and casting myself into the black abyss.
I must have fainted, for suddenly I was aroused by a feeling of horror; something had brushed across my face.
Opening my eyes, for a moment I thought it was a snake.
Then by the light, which it threw out as it came towards me, I saw it was one of the huge birds swooping to where I lay.
I picked up a stone, and waited until it was within a few feet.
Then threw it with what little strength I had.
Luckily my aim was straight.
The stone struck the bird on the wing; it fell,
