OR, VULCAN S PEAK. 133 At length the fever abated in its violence, though it began to assume, what for a man in Mark Woolston s situ ation was perhaps more dangerous, a cha vter of a low type, lingering in his system and killing . mi by inches. Mark was aware of his condition, and though:, of the means of relief. The ship had some good Philadelphia porter in her, and a bottle of it stood on a shelf over his berth. This object caught his eye, and he actually longed for a draught of that porter. He had sufficient strength to raise him self high enough to reach it, but it far exceeded his powers to draw the cork, even had the ordinary means been at hand, which they were not. There was a hammer on the shelf, however, and with that instrument he did succeed in making a hole in the side of the bottle, and in filling a tumbler. This liquor he swallowed at a single draught. It tasted deliciously to him, and he took a second tumbler full, when he lay down, uncertain as to the consequences. That his head was affected by these two glasses of porter, Mark himself was soon aware, and shortly after drowsiness followed. After lying in an uneasy slumber for half an hour, his whole person was covered with a gentle perspira tion, in which condition, after drawing the sheet around him, the sick man fell asleep. Our patient never knew how long he slept, on this all- important occasion. The period certainly included part of two days and one entire night; but, afterwards, when Mark endeavoured to correct his calendar, and to regain something like a record of the time, he was inclined to think he must have lain there two nights with the inter vening day. When he awoke, Mark was immediately sensible that he was free from disease. He was not im mediately sensible, nevertheless, how extremely feeble dis ease had left him. At first, he fancied he had only to rise, take nourishment, and go about his ordinary pursuits. But the sight of his emaciated limbs, and the first effort he made to get up. convinced him that he had a long state of probation to go through, before he became the man he had been a week or two before. It was well, perhaps, that his head was so clear, and his judgment so unob- scured at this, his first return to consciousness. Mark deemed it a good symptom that he felt disposed VOL. I. 12
