[figure description] Page 039.[end figure description]

“At that moment, a light gleamed from Goat
Island, and I heard—Was it fancy?—a halloo.
Another light shone, followed by another, and
another; and the flash of lightning disclosed
a dozen men upon the bank. The same bright
glare exhibited me, also, to them, and they set
up a great shout that was no longer to be
mistaken for a noise made by the winds or
waters: it came distinctly to my ears; and I
saw my friends run down the bank towards
the rocks, waving their torches and their
hands, as if to bid me be of good cheer.

“My transports were inexpressible, as I beheld
them, some picking their way from rock
to rock, advancing as near to me as they
could, while others seemed to remain on the

[figure description] Page 040.[end figure description]

island only to prepare the means for securing
a still nearer approach. They were gathering
logs to make bridges—knotting ropes
together to float, or throw, to me—nay, I
knew not what they were doing; but I knew
they were doing every thing they could, toiling,
every man, with generous zeal; and all
of them, when the lightning discovered me
standing with outstretched hands, bursting
into shouts meant to encourage and animate
my spirits.

“But the good work proceeded slowly; they
advanced but a little way on the rocks, when
the boiling currents brought them to a pause.
A log was brought, and one step further secured;
and then another pause. I saw, there
was doubt, and wavering, and confusion among
them, and cried aloud to them not to desert
me. Another log was brought and thrown
over the chasm that arrested them: it bent,
shook, and was half whelmed in the torrent,
and they—yes, it was plain to me—they feared
to tread it! One man, at last, a noble
creature, stirred by the piercing cries which
I now uttered, dreading lest they should give
over their exertions in despair, attempted the
passage of the log—reached its middle, staggered—
and then fell into the flood. A dismal

[figure description] Page 041.[end figure description]

shriek burst from his companions—But he
was not lost! A rope had been previously
fastened around his body; and with this they
snatched him from the death he had so intrepidly
dared for me.

“This perilous adventure seemed to strike
them all with dread. The confusion and
wavering among them became still more manifest:
some crept back to the island; others
pointed to the river rolling down increased
and still growing floods; and others again
looked up to the clouds, which were blacker
and fiercer than ever. They uttered no more
shouts, they offered no longer encouraging
gestures. It was plain, they were abandoning
me to my fate, or resolved to wait for
further assistance; when every moment of delay
was to me full of danger. The floods
were already high upon my rock, and still
rising. Another hour, a half hour—perhaps
but a few moments—and assistance must
come to me too late. They knew this; yet
they were leaving me—yes, it was plain they
were leaving me!

“I grew frantic at the thought; and, ungrateful
for what they had already done, invoked
curses upon them for failing in what they
could not do.

[figure description] Page 042.[end figure description]

“Did my execrations reach their ears? As
they turned to depart, a single figure detached
itself from the group, ran across the log
which had so nearly caused the death of the
former adventurer, and then, with such tremendous
leaps as I never thought mortal man
could make, and with a courage that seemed
to laugh all perils to scorn, sprang from rock
to rock, and at last stood at my side!—Will
you not fancy despair had driven me mad,
and that what I now saw and heard was the
dream of a mind overcome by sudden insanity?
I saw, then—no man—but an infernal
fiend standing at my side, who said to me,—
`Be thou my servant, and I will set thee
upon dry land.' And as he spoke, I felt my
rock trembling and sinking under my feet.
What will not a man not do for life? `I
will be thy servant,' I cried. With that, he
laughed the laugh of a devil in my face, and
struck the rock with his foot; and down I
sank to perdition. He struck the rock with
his foot; or was it a thunder-bolt that smote
it, crushing it away like an arch of sand? It
melted from beneath me, and down I sank—
down, down into the abyss; and the waters
fell upon me like a mountain, crushing, drowning,
suffocating; and I—and I—” The

[figure description] Page 043.[end figure description]

narrator paused a moment, wiped the sweat-drops
from his forehead, and then laying his
hand upon a mossy bank beside him, continued,—
“I found myself lying on this identical bank,
a fragment of my boat beside me, the rest of it
emerging from the water below that log,”
(pointing to the little bridge to the islet)
“against which it had struck and been broken,
and hurrying off to the cataract at the rate
of sixty miles an hour!”

I looked at the stranger in astonishment,
perhaps also with indignation; for his story
had taken deep hold on my feelings: but I
saw in him nothing to justify a suspicion that
he was amusing himself at my expense. On
the contrary, his appearance indicated deep
earnestness and deep emotion; and he was
manifestly struggling to shake off the effects
of a harrowing recollection. But the affair
was a mystery I desired to penetrate; and I
exclaimed, somewhat hastily, and, indeed,
with no little simplicity—

“And so, sir, I am to understand, you
were not upon that rock at all?”

“Certainly,” he replied; “I never was on
that rock in my life, and, please Heaven, I
never shall be. But, sir”—and here he summoned
a faint smile, and again wiped his

[figure description] Page 044.[end figure description]

brows—“you do not, I believe, entirely conceive
me. I tell you what was partly an adventure,
and partly a dream. It is true, that
I fell asleep in my boat—that my boat broke
her moorings and drifted into the rapids; and
it is also true, that, while thus drifting towards
destruction, I dreamed all I have told
you—the cries from the shore—the toss from
the boat, and the swim to the rock—the appearance
of the people upon Table Rock and
Goat Island, the demon and all—that I dreamed
this, while thus floating. But in reality,
while I was thus pleasantly engaged, my
boat drifted into the channel here before us,
and struck that bridge-log with a violence
which both dispersed my dream and saved
my life, by hurling me ashore.

“This is my whole story. You are surprised,
perhaps, that I made so much ado of
my dream, and so little of the real adventure.
But in truth, sir, I know nothing of the real
adventure, except that I fell asleep in my
boat and was thrown ashore on Goat Island—
Remember, I was asleep all the time. The
dream is, to me, the real adventure, after all;
for it had, and still has, upon my mind, all the
force of reality. You observe, that I look
upon this foaming channel before us—upon

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that log, which if I had gone over or under,
I must have perished, with little or no emotion;
while, on the contrary, the sight of the
rock, the scene of imaginary perils and sufferings,
affects me in the strongest manner.
Truly, the dream, the dream's the thing, that,
with me, constitutes the soul of the adventure;
and I tell you it, not so much to surprise
you with its singularity, as to add one
illustration to the many you have yourself,
perhaps, gathered, of the power of the imagination
in striking into the heart impressions
deeper and more abiding than have been imprinted
by the touch of reality. One may
understand the incurable hallucinations of
madness, who will remember the influence of
a dream.”

I thanked the gentleman for his story and
explanation; and, after some hesitation, begged
to know what construction he put upon
his compact with the juggling fiend.

“Why, hang him, as he did not comply
with his engagement to place me on dry land,
(as was natural enough for a devil,) I consider
the contract as broken, and my bond of
servitude cancelled,” the stranger replied,
laughing; but added, a little more seriously—
“I lay the thing to heart, notwithstanding.

[figure description] Page 046.[end figure description]

A man may be shown, even in a dream, the
true infirmity of his character—the flimsiness
of his virtue, the weakness of his courage.
In the daylight, we are all actors—actors
even to ourselves: it is only in sleep we can
remove the mask, and look upon ourselves
as heaven made us.

“But, morbleu! the tavern-bell rings. Let us
leave cold water and philosophy, and go to
dinner.”

p018-298

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