courage and calmness of reasoning that neither of us could compass, and
I have never before been so clearly conscious of two persons in me--the
one that explained everything, and the other that laughed at such
foolish explanations, yet was horribly afraid.

Meanwhile, in the pitchy night the fire died down and the woodpile grew
small. Neither of us moved to replenish the stock, and the darkness
consequently came up very close to our faces. A few feet beyond the
circle of firelight it was inky black. Occasionally a stray puff of wind
set the billows shivering about us, but apart from this not very welcome
sound a deep and depressing silence reigned, broken only by the gurgling
of the river and the humming in the air overhead.

We both missed, I think, the shouting company of the winds.

At length, at a moment when a stray puff prolonged itself as though the
wind were about to rise again, I reached the point for me of saturation,
the point where it was absolutely necessary to find relief in plain
speech, or else to betray myself by some hysterical extravagance that
must have been far worse in its effect upon both of us. I kicked the
fire into a blaze, and turned to my companion abruptly. He looked up
with a start.

"I can't disguise it any longer," I said; "I don't like this place, and
the darkness, and the noises, and the awful feelings I get. There's
something here that beats me utterly. I'm in a blue funk, and that's the
plain truth. If the other shore was--different, I swear I'd be inclined
to swim for it!"

The Swede's face turned very white beneath the deep tan of sun and wind.