They were motionless. Though
lustrous themselves, they created no illumination around them. This
circumstance, added to others, which reminded me of similar objects
noted on former occasions, immediately explained the nature of what I
beheld. These were the eyes of a panther. Thus had I struggled to obtain a post where a savage was lurking and
waited only till my efforts should place me within reach of his fangs. The first impulse was to arm myself against this enemy. The
desperateness of my condition was, for a moment, forgotten. The weapon
which was so lately lifted against my own bosom was now raised to defend
my life against the assault of another. There was no time for deliberation and delay. In a moment he might
spring from his station and tear me to pieces. My utmost speed might not
enable me to reach him where he sat, but merely to encounter his
assault. I did not reflect how far my strength was adequate to save me. All the force that remained was mustered up and exerted in a throw. No one knows the powers that are latent in his constitution. Called
forth by imminent dangers, our efforts frequently exceed our most
sanguine belief. Though tottering on the verge of dissolution, and
apparently unable to crawl from this spot, a force was exerted in this
throw, probably greater than I had ever before exerted. It was
resistless and unerring. I aimed at the middle space between those
glowing orbs. It penetrated the skull, and the animal fell, struggling
and shrieking, on the ground. My ears quickly informed me when his pangs were at an end. His cries and
his convulsions lasted for a moment and then ceased. The effect of his
voice, in these subterranean abodes, was unspeakably rueful. The abruptness of this incident, and the preternatural exertion of my
strength, left me in a state of languor and sinking, from which slowly
and with difficulty I recovered. The first suggestion that occurred was
to feed upon the carcass of this animal. My hunger had arrived at that
pitch where all fastidiousness and scruples are at an end. I crept to
the spot. I will not shock you by relating the extremes to which dire
necessity had driven me. I review this scene with loathing and horror. Now that it is past I look back upon it as on some hideous dream. The
whole appears to be some freak of insanity. No alternative was offered,
and hunger was capable of being appeased even by a banquet so
detestable. If this appetite has sometimes subdued the sentiments of nature, and
compelled the mother to feed upon the flesh of her offspring, it will
not excite amazement that I did not turn from the yet warm blood and
reeking fibres of a brute. One evil was now removed, only to give place to another. The first
sensations of fullness had scarcely been felt when my stomach was seized
by pangs, whose acuteness exceeded all that I ever before experienced. I
bitterly lamented my inordinate avidity. The excruciations of famine
were better than the agonies which this abhorred meal had produced. Death was now impending with no less proximity and certainty, though in
a different form. Death was a sweet relief for my present miseries, and
I vehemently longed for its arrival. I stretched myself on the ground. I
threw myself into every posture that promised some alleviation of this
evil. I rolled along the pavement of the cavern, wholly inattentive to
the dangers that environed me. That I did not fall into the pit whence I
had just emerged must be ascribed to some miraculous chance. How long my miseries endured, it is not possible to tell. I cannot even
form a plausible conjecture. Judging by the lingering train of my
sensations, I should conjecture that some days elapsed in this
deplorable condition; but nature could riot have so long sustained a
conflict like this. Gradually my pains subsided, and I fell into a deep sleep. I was visited
by dreams of a thousand hues. They led me to flowing streams and
plenteous banquets, which, though placed within my view, some power
forbade me to approach. From this sleep I recovered to the fruition of
solitude and darkness, but my frame was in a state less feeble than
before That which I had eaten had produced temporary distress, but on
the whole had been of use. If this food had not been provided for me I
should scarcely have avoided death. I had reason, therefore, to
congratulate myself on the danger that had lately occurred. I had acted without foresight, and yet no wisdom could have prescribed
more salutary measures. The panther was slain, not from a view to the
relief of my hunger, but from the self-preserving and involuntary
impulse. Had I foreknown the pangs to which my ravenous and bloody meal
would give birth, I should have carefully abstained; and yet these pangs
were a useful effort of nature to subdue and convert to nourishment the
matter I had swallowed. I was now assailed by the torments of thirst. My invention and my
courage were anew bent to obviate this pressing evil. I reflected that
there was some recess from this cavern, even from the spot where I now
stood. Before, I was doubtful whether in this direction from this pit
any avenue could be found; but, since the panther had come hither, there
was reason to suppose the existence of some such avenue. I now likewise attended to a sound, which, from its invariable tenor,
denoted somewhat different from the whistling of a gale. It seemed like
the murmur of a running stream. I now prepared to go forward and
endeavour to move along in that direction in which this sound apparently
came. On either side, and above my head, there was nothing but vacuity. My
steps were to be guided by the pavement, which, though unequal and
rugged, appeared, on the whole, to ascend. My safety required that I
should employ both hands and feet in exploring my way. I went on thus for a considerable period. The murmur, instead of
becoming more distinct, gradually died away. My progress was arrested by
fatigue, and I began once more to despond. My exertions produced a
perspiration, which, while it augmented my thirst, happily supplied me
with imperfect means of appeasing it. This expedient would, perhaps, have been accidentally suggested; but my
ingenuity was assisted by remembering the history of certain English
prisoners in Bengal, whom their merciless enemy imprisoned in a small
room, and some of whom preserved themselves alive merely by swallowing
the moisture that flowed from their bodies. This experiment I now
performed with no less success. This was slender arid transitory consolation. I knew that, wandering at
random, I might never reach the outlet of this cavern, or might be
disabled, by hunger and fatigue, from going farther than the outlet. The
cravings which had lately been satiated would speedily return, and my
negligence had cut me off from the resource which had recently been
furnished. I thought not till now that a second meal might be
indispensable.