{"product_id":"2940012773517","title":"THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA","description":"The lightning streamed athwart the heavens in quick and vivid flashes.\u003cbr\u003eOne peal of thunder after another echoed from cliff to cliff, while a\u003cbr\u003edriving storm of rain, wind and hail, made the face of nature black and\u003cbr\u003edismal. There was something frightfully congenial in this uproar of the\u003cbr\u003econtending elements with the storm raging in Bacon's heart, as he rushed\u003cbr\u003efrom the scene of the catastrophe we have just witnessed. The darkness\u003cbr\u003ewhich succeeded the lurid and sulphureous flashes was not more complete\u003cbr\u003eand unfathomable than the black despair of his own soul. These vivid\u003cbr\u003econtrasts of light and gloom were the only stimulants of which he was\u003cbr\u003esusceptible, and they were welcomed as the light of his path! By their\u003cbr\u003eguidance he wildly rushed to his stable, saddled, led forth, and mounted\u003cbr\u003ehis noble charger, his own head still uncovered. For once the gallant\u003cbr\u003eanimal felt himself uncontrolled master of his movements, fleet as the\u003cbr\u003ewind his nimble heels measured the narrow limits of the island. A sudden\u003cbr\u003eglare of intense light served for an instant to reveal both to horse and\u003cbr\u003erider that they stood upon the brink of the river, and a single\u003cbr\u003eindication of the rider's will was followed by a plunge into the\u003cbr\u003etroubled waves. Nobly and majestically he rose and sank with the\u003cbr\u003eswelling surges. His master sat erect in the saddle and felt his\u003cbr\u003ebenumbed faculties revived, as he communed with the storm. The raging\u003cbr\u003eelements appeared to sympathize with the tumult of his own bosom. He\u003cbr\u003elaughed in horrid unison with the gambols of the lightning, and yelled\u003cbr\u003ewith savage delight as the muttering thunder rolled over his head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is a sublime stimulus in despair. Bacon felt its power; he was\u003cbr\u003econscious that one of the first laws of our organization,\u003cbr\u003e(self-preservation,) was suddenly dead within him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe ballast of the frail vessel was thrown overboard, and the sails were\u003cbr\u003espread to the gathering storm with reckless desperation. Compass and\u003cbr\u003erudder were alike abandoned and despised--they were for the use of those\u003cbr\u003ewho had hopes and fears. For himself he spread his sails and steered his\u003cbr\u003ecourse with the very spirit of the storm itself. Nature in her wildest\u003cbr\u003emoods has no terrors for those who have nothing to lose or win; no\u003cbr\u003eterrors for them who laugh and play with the very elements of her\u003cbr\u003edestruction; they are wildly, madly independent. It is the sublimity of\u003cbr\u003ethe maniac! Nevertheless there is a fascination in his reckless steps as\u003cbr\u003ehe threads the narrow and fearful windings of the precipice, or\u003cbr\u003ecarelessly buffets the waves of the raging waters. There are other\u003cbr\u003esensations of a high and lofty character in this disjointed state of the\u003cbr\u003efaculties. The very ease and rapidity with which ordinary dangers are\u003cbr\u003esurmounted, serves to keep up the delusion, and were it not for the\u003cbr\u003eirresponsible condition of the mind, there would doubtless be impiety in\u003cbr\u003eits developments. Such were Bacon's sensations as he wildly stemmed the\u003cbr\u003etorrent. He imagined that he was absolved from the ordinary\u003cbr\u003eresponsibilities and hazards of humanity! and to his excited fancy, it\u003cbr\u003eseemed as though petty fears and grovelling cautions were all that lay\u003cbr\u003ebetween humanity and the superior creations of the universe! that power\u003cbr\u003ealso came with this absolution from the hopes, fears and penalties of\u003cbr\u003eman's low estate. In imagination \"he rode upon the storm and managed the\u003cbr\u003ewhirlwind.\" The monsters of the deep were his playmates, the ill-omened\u003cbr\u003ebirds of the night his fellows. The wolves howled in dreadful concord\u003cbr\u003ewith the morbid efforts of his preternaturally distorted faculties, as\u003cbr\u003ethe noble and panting animal first struck the shore with his forefeet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEmerging from the water, he stroked down the dripping mane with a wild\u003cbr\u003eand melancholy affection. The very consciousness of such a feeling yet\u003cbr\u003eremaining in his soul, which he dared indulge, produced for the moment\u003cbr\u003ea dangerous and kindred train of emotions. These as before led him upon\u003cbr\u003eforbidden ground, and again the wild tumult of his soul revived.\u003cbr\u003eStriking his heels into the animal's flanks, and bending upon his neck,\u003cbr\u003ehe urged him over the ground at a pace in unison with the impetuosity of\u003cbr\u003ehis own feelings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fire and gravel flew from his heels, as he bounded through the\u003cbr\u003etrackless forests of the unsubdued wilderness. The frightened birds of\u003cbr\u003enight, and beasts of prey, started in affright, wild at the appearance\u003cbr\u003eupon the scene of one darker and wilder than themselves. The very\u003cbr\u003ereptiles of the earth shrunk to their hiding places, as the wild\u003cbr\u003ehorseman and his steed invaded their prescriptive dominions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMrs. Fairfax and her daughter, according to the commands of Sir William\u003cbr\u003eBerkley, were conveyed to his mansion. To them all places were now\u003cbr\u003ealike.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47172923818224,"sku":"2940012773517","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012773517","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}