He was now impatient as an
eagle in a grate. He passed week after week in clambering the
mountains to see if there was any aperture which the bushes might
conceal, but found all the summits inaccessible by their
prominence. The iron gate he despaired to open for it was not only
secured with all the power of art, but was always watched by
successive sentinels, and was, by its position, exposed to the
perpetual observation of all the inhabitants.
He then examined the cavern through which the waters of the lake
were discharged; and, looking down at a time when the sun shone
strongly upon its mouth, he discovered it to be full of broken
rocks, which, though they permitted the stream to flow through many
narrow passages, would stop any body of solid bulk. He returned
discouraged and dejected; but having now known the blessing of
hope, resolved never to despair.
In these fruitless researches he spent ten months. The time,
however, passed cheerfully away--in the morning he rose with new
hope; in the evening applauded his own diligence; and in the night
slept soundly after his fatigue.
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