Edgar Huntly: Or, Memoirs of a Sleepwalker

Edgar relates that he remembers sleeping but not sleepwalking, and awakes disoriented, in pain and darkness, without his shoes and stockings. Once he realizes he isn’t blind, but in a cave, Edgar feels around and finds an “Indian tomahawk” (155). Walking along the walls, he discovers he is in a pit with no exit at ground level, and he guesses he is in Clithero’s cave again (in truth, he is many miles away). After some immeasurable amount of time has passed, Edgar’s becomes so hungry that he eats a bit of his shirt and contemplates suicide-by-tomahawk.

Before giving in to suicidal urges, Edgar tries to climb out of the pit. The walls are smooth, but he finds a way up, and at the top sees a panther. Edgar throws the tomahawk, kills the panther, and drinks its blood, which makes him sick. After recovering and napping, Edgar is thirsty. He follows sounds that could be from a stream, but finds no water, and drinks his sweat. The sounds return, and Edgar follows them again, but they lead to a man-made fire at the entrance of the cave.