Page 292 - erewhon

be very possibly wafted for hundreds or even thousands of
miles, far from Erewhon and the Erewhonians.
Already I had removed the wrappings and freed Arow-
hena; but I soon covered her up with them again, for it
was already very cold, and she was half stupefied with the
strangeness of her position.
And now began a time, dream-like and delirious, of
which I do not suppose that I shall ever recover a distinct
recollection. Some things I can recall—as that we were ere
long enveloped in vapour which froze upon my moustache
and whiskers; then comes a memory of sitting for hours and
hours in a thick fog, hearing no sound but my own breath-
ing and Arowhena’s (for we hardly spoke) and seeing no
sight but the car beneath us and beside us, and the dark
balloon above.
Perhaps the most painful feeling when the earth was hid-
den was that the balloon was motionless, though our only
hope lay in our going forward with an extreme of speed.
From time to time through a rift in the clouds I caught
a glimpse of earth, and was thankful to perceive that we
must be flying forward faster than in an express train;
but no sooner was the rift closed than the old conviction
of our being stationary returned in full force, and was not
to be reasoned with: there was another feeling also which
was nearly as bad; for as a child that fears it has gone blind
in a long tunnel if there is no light, so ere the earth had
been many minutes hidden, I became half frightened lest
we might not have broken away from it clean and for ever.
Now and again, I ate and gave food to Arowhena, but by

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