Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1903-09-28
CHAPTER XII.
The Dreams of a Fever.

L
head and fading away directly, then
more darkness and stumbling on, and
once more a dull yellow glow, and
this fading away, with the darkness
| increasing. Then a slight struggle, and
a few petulant responsiveness.
Why wouldn't the doctor let him
sleep?
Then another feeble struggle, SEN
sation of passing through the air,
sudden plunge into the icy water, and
then utter darkness, and a noise, as
IL of thunder, in his ears.
But the sudden immersion was cleo
trio in it's effect, sending a thrill
through nerve and muscle, though the
brain remained still drowsily inert,
while the natural instinct of desire tor
life chased away the helpless state of
collapse: and Mark Heath, old athlete,
expert swimmer man hardened by his
/ life in the southern colony, rose to the
surface. and struck out, swimming
slowly and mechanically, as il it were
/ the natural action of his muscles.
On and on, breasting the icy water,
keeping just afioat, but progressing
blindly where the tide willed; on and
on through the darkness, with the
yellow fog hanging like a solid bank
/ few feet above his head, as il the
rushing of the water were cutting the
lower stratum away.
! Now a yellow light shone weirdly
/ through the mist, came into sight, and
after glowing for a moment on the
murky current, died away.
On still, as if it were the tide-that
| last tide which sweeps away the part
| ing spirit-stroke after stroke, given
| mechanically; and then there was
another light-a dull red light, then an
angry glow-a stain as of blood upon
the black water; and it, too, died
away, but not till it had baihed the up
turned face with its crimson hue.
Onward still. the icy water thrilling
the swimmer through and through, put
| seeming to bring with it no dread, no
| sense of horror, no recollection OF the
past, no fear of what was TO come: The
| sensation was that ne was swimming
as one swims without effort in
| dream.
4 blow from some dark Shiny object
along whose side he glided, and then
on once more.
Another blow against something
which checked him for a time, and
| turned him face downward, so that the
| laundering recommended in his ears:
/ there was the sense of strangulation
and then he was steadily swimming
on once more, past moored barge with
| its light. past steamboat pontoon; and
then with rush he was driven against
a stone pier; ihs hands srasped at the
Shiny stones without avail. he was
turned in an eddy around and around,
sucked under, and rose again, to swim
on and on, till at last, in the darkness,
his hands touched the muddy pebbles
of the river shore, his knees struck
heavily, and he crawled through a
pool, and then staggered to his fee,
with the water streaming from him.
What next? 1t was all as in a dream,
in which, in the gloom of the thick
night. he stumbled upon a flight OF
slippery steps, and walked up and up,
and then along a road which ne
crossed again and again, and always
walking on and on.
At times he guided himself by
mechanically touching a cold rough
stony wall, till somehow it was dit.
ferent and felt slippery, and his hand
glided over the side.
Than do - Of ,,-a,,
dering. How long? Where? Why
was he wandering on?
1t was all a dream, but changed to a
time when his head was as it were Oh
fire, and he was climbing mountains
where diamonds glistened at the top,
but which he could not reach, though
he was ever climbing, with the sun
burning into his brain, and the
diamonds that he must find farther and
farther away.
And so on, and SO on, in one long
weary journey, to reach that whiC1 heI
could not attain, and at last oblivion
with nothing wrong, nothing a trouble,
10 WEAKNESS or care: it was rest,
sweet rest. after that toilsome climb.
The next sensation was of a cool
soft hand upon his brow, and Mark
Heath opened his eyes, to gaze into
those of a pale, grave-looking woman
in white, curiously-shaped cap; and
she smiled at the look of intelligence
in his face as he said softly:
Who are your"
Your nurse" was the reply.
'Nurse?"
one word only. LIT 4 charter II L !
iE-ui.iGg tone.
Yes she said gelt.y; ''yoV save
been I'll. Don't try to talk. TaEe 'hls,
and lie quite STILL"
Another long, dreamy time. during
which there were noises about rs
head-the gentle, pleasant voice o. h.s
nurse and the firm, decisive voice Of
the doctor. IL might have been hours.
il might have been days or weeks. h
did not know; and then came taa