It was the contentment of contempt for any and all of the ills of my
destiny, and a determination never again to humbug myself with the
delusions of hope. With a blow-away-and-do-your-worst kind of feeling,
I listened to the roar of the wind, as it swept down the steep cliffs and
deep gorges of the mountains, and striking the schooner, bore her away
from the land to the southwest. Such a mood of mind, however, cannot
long withstand the influence of prayer. The direct appeal to Deity
necessarily induces a mental state utterly incompatible with either the
rebellious promptings of the haughty and self-relying spirit,the indifference
of mere stoicism, or the self-abandonment of despair. I prayed and slept.
