Here's my two cents on top of Bob's: My recollection of the sequence at this point in Clemens's life is that he had decided to take a job offer at the ENTERPRISE *before* he left on his long walk, so I don't think it's a case of Sam wandering in the desert and coming to an important decision because he had a "breakdown." He knew before he headed out that he would now try to earn a living as part of a newspaper--a situation with which he was familar from the days working on Orion's papers. Also, I think it is important to remember that for much of the 19th century the average American male took up many occupations in his lifetime--because he was a failure at the first several efforts (John Clemens, George Washington Harris, and U.S. Grant are other instances that come readily to my mind). That was what part of the meaning of the "lure" of the American frontier: to try again, maybe even leaving one place for another one step ahead of the sheriff trying to collect for debts. Sam Clemens had been on his own for a long time and had enjoyed more success than many when he decided that mining was too damned dirty and difficult compared to scribbling the news. None of this means that the question is not interesting in psychological terms: what kinds of hopes and fears did Sam have during the long walk--a good time to meditate. But "breakdown" strikes me as melodramatic and incorrect for a way to describe the moment. Jim