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Rh 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,