Lives of Alcyone

directions in which he had to progress. The next day he suffered
greatly from the sun’ s heat, from which on the previous day the
sail had to a certain extent protected him, and as the days passed
on, and food and drink entirely failed him, he sank into a sort of
stupor of weakness. He was almost too apathetic to be despairing,
but he had little hope to be of good cheer, since all his suffering was
karmic, and he would certainly be saved in the end. This
encouraged him greatly and gave him strength to bear up for two
days more, and at the end of the end of that time he entirely lost
consciousness.
When he recovered it to be found himself on board a small
trading vessel in a sadly weak and emaciated condition, but still
alive and able with great difficulty to move and to speak a little. None
of the people of the ship spoke any language which she could
understand, and he wondered much how he came to be there, as he
found himself unable to recall anything of his past, nor did he even
know for the time his own name. The sailors of the little vessel were
kind to him in their rough way, and shared with him such coarse
food as they had, so that he became slowly somewhat more like
himself again, but still he could not recover his memory. The
phenomenon was a curious one, for it seemed as though his astral
and etheric bodies had been somehow dragged awry by the long-
continued suffering, and all his earnest efforts to remember were for
the present unsuccessful. He could understand nothing that was
said to him, and had to try to communicate with the kindly sailor by
means of signs.
After some days they reached a port—a city of some
importance, but the place was utterly strange to him, and everyone