There is a power of endurance in human beings, both in their bodies and in their minds, which, I have often thought, seems to be wonderfully adapted and exactly proportioned to the circumstances in which individuals may happen to be placed—a power which, in most cases, is sufficient to carry a man through and over every obstacle that may happen to be thrown in his path through life, no matter how high or how steep the mountain may be, but which often forsakes² him the moment the summit is gained, the point of difficulty passed, and leaves him prostrated³, with energies gone, nerves unstrung, and a feeling of incapacity pervading⁴ the entire frame that renders the most trifling⁵ effort almost impossible.

 

During the greater part of that day I had been subjected to severe mental and much physical excitement, which had almost crushed me down by the time I was relieved from duty in the course of the evening. But when the expedition whose failure has just been narrated⁶ was planned, my anxieties and energies had been so powerfully aroused that I went through the protracted⁷ scenes of that terrible night without a feeling of the slightest fatigue⁸. My mind and body were alike active and full of energy. No sooner was the last thrilling fear of danger past, however, than my faculties⁹ were utterly¹⁰ relaxed; and when I felt the cool breezes of the Pacific playing around my fevered brow, and heard the free waves

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