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Show 406 THE LII,Y AND THF. TOT£)(, never suffered him to be beyond reach of hi!J arm, and, after several hours of the grc:~.tcst toil, succeeded in placing him snfcly upon the broad summit of the mountain. And what a prospect bad they obtained-what a world of wonder, of beauty and sublimity- fertile realms of forest; boundless valleys o~ verdure ; illimitable srasof mountain range, their billowy tops rolhng onward and onward, till the eye lost them in the misty vapors of the sea of sky beyond. But the cyeli of our adventurers were not sensible to the sublimity and beauty of the scene. They beheld nothing but its wildness, its stillness, its coldness, its loneliness, its dread and dreary solitude. "We arc but two, my brother, two of all," said the elder D'Erlach. "Let us die together, my brother." "If fate 80 pleases," wo.s the reply-'1 well! But let us hope that \Ve may live together yet." 11 I am done with hope. I am too weary for hope. My heart is froz~n. I see nothing but death, and in death I see something very sweet in the slumber which it promises. Why should we live? It is but n. prolongation of the struggle. Let us die. Ob ! Alphonse, your life is not less precious W me than mine own. I would freely give mine, at any moment, to render yours more safe; yet, if you agree, my hand shall strike the dagger into your heart, if yours will do for mine the s.~me friendly office." "No more, my brother ! L et us not spdhk or think after this fa.shion. Our frail and feeble bodies are forev01: grudgeful of the authority which our souls exercise upon them. If they arc weary, they would escape from weariness, at sacrifices of which they know not the extent; would they sleep, they are not unwilling that the sleep should be death, so that they may have respite from AI.PIIO.SSE n1ERLACII. 407 toil. 1\Iy brother, I will not suffer my body so to sway my soul if I can help it. I will still live, and still toil, and still struggle onward, and when I perish it shall be \Vith my foot advanced, my hand raised, and my eyo guiding, in the progress onward-forever onward. It will be time enough to think of death when death grapples m1 and there is no help. But, till that moment, I mock and defy the t<'mpter, who would persuade me to rest before my limbs nrc weary and my strength is gone." 'l But, Alphonse, my limbs arc weary, and my strength is gone." " Let your heart be strong ; keep your soul from weariness, and your limbs will receive strength. Sleep, brother, under the shelter of this great rock, while I kindle fire at your feet, and prepare something for you to cat." And while the elder brother slept, the other watched and warmed him, nnd some shreds of meat dried in the sun, and a slender supply of meal corns, parched by the fire, with a vessel of water, was prepared and ready for him at a'vakening. But. Lo awakened in no better hope than when he had laid down. lie ate and was not 11trengthened. The hope had gone out from his heart, the fire from his eye, his soul lacked the cheerful vigor necetsary to exertion, and his: physical strength was nearly cxhallilted. u Would that I had not awakened!" was his mournful exclamation, as his eyes opened once more to the dreary prospect from the bald eminence of that desolate mountain-tower. "Would that I might close mine eyei and sleep, my brother, sleep ever, or awake to consciousness only in a better world." u This world is ourr:, my brother," responded the younger, impetuously; and, if we are men, if we had no misgivings-if we |
