Part 16 (1/2)

It was sent in mercy, for I do not think I could otherwise have endured s When I awoke to the present matters had not iain This occurred several tis, I found that I had becory, and to ainst the bulkhead on some nails stuck in the upper part, were very nearly dry I put thearments should I be discovered I had no rats in store, so intended to make my meal off biscuits and olives I put my hand down to where I had stowed them, as my dismay not to be able to find either the cask of biscuits or the jars of olives and pickles I felt about in all directions, hoping that I had th convinced that they had gone

I then recollected that the chief volume of water out of the butt must have washed them away Still they could not be far off I lay down on the kelson and felt about with my hand on every side My search for a moment was in vain At last I picked up an olive, and then another My fear was that the jar was broken What if the pickles and biscuits had shared the same fate? That this was the case was too probable, and if so ether

After further search I ca, so that the bottle of pickles would have had no chance of escaping I had fortunately ed to pick up several olives, which I put into it Creeping along I came at last upon the pickle-bottle, and nearly cutfor it

A few pickles were near it I drew them out of the water which had escaped froone and all the vinegar which was so cooling and refreshi+ng; but allad to recover them I found, however, scarcely a fourth of the olives and pickles The loss of the biscuits was thein the water, would be hout the bottom of the shi+p The sooner I could recover whatever remained the better I ate three or four olives and a piece of pickle to stay the gnawings of hunger, and went on with my search

The shi+p, itto and fro

I searched and searched,the biscuits in a for fainter and fainter; still I knew that the keg, either entire or broken, must be somewhere within my prison-house, for so I must call it I stopped at last to consider in what direction it could have been thrown Perhaps being lighter and of larger bulk than the other things, it ot jammed in the casks or cases My search proved to me that it could not be close beneath the kelson; I therefore felt backwards and forwards everywhere I could geta biscuit out, fixed on the head tightly or not

Having smashed it in, in order to broach the cask, it was not very easy to do so, and I had an unpleasant feeling that I had put on the top only sufficient to prevent the rats ju down into the inside If so, the chance of the biscuits having escaped was sth I touched the cask, which had been thrown from one end of the hold to the other It was on its side With treerness I put in my hand Alas! Only a fehole biscuits and a few broken ones remained These I transferred to my pocket-handkerchief with the olives and pickles, for fear of losing them The remainder must be somewhere on the way I tried back in a direct line, but could not find even a mashed biscuit I then recollected that the cask had probably been jerked fro-place It was a wonder that any of its contents reed the field of e pulpy masses which had once been biscuit They were too precious to be throay I put theot back also several bits, which, though wet, had not lost their consistency I was grateful for theh they would not keep, they would assistexistence for some few days I ate soest it The other pieces of biscuit and the olives and pickles had been, I suppose, washed away out of my reach, for I felt about in every direction, but could laymore It may be supposed that the exertions I had , but itabout all this time, and that I had to hold on with one hand while I felt with the other, to preventjerked about and battered and bruised As it was, I slipped and tumbled several times, and hurt myself not a little I therefore crawled back to o to sleep I had not for so and tre in their nests as much alarmed as I was, and possiblythat theycome to sea, and wished themselves safe back on shore in the houses or barns frorated I hoped, however, that when the storivethem I expected that it would quickly cease, but in this I was disappointed There came a lull, and the shi+p did not toss about asan excursion aht do so without ain thrown off my couch by a sudden lurch; and fro, I had good reason to suppose that the hurricane was once reatest difficulty I crawled back tothe canvas round ined that one or the other water-butts would give way, and that I should be either crushed by its falling on ht ould bethe shi+p was receiving cause her to start a plank The water would rush in, and before I could possibly her level I should be drowned, even should the shi+p herself keep above water, and that I thought was not very likely

I had read enough about shi+pwrecks and disasters at sea to be aware that such a circumstance sometimes occurs The end of a plank called a butt occasionally starts away from the ti its way in, opens the plank more and more, till the sea coe is at once discovered, and a thruot over the spot, there is little chance of a shi+p escaping fro When a butt starts froh the water, her destruction is almost certain, as a plank is rapidly ripped off, and no h I had heard crashi+ng noises which had made ed fro She was seldom on an even keel, but when she heeled over it was always on one side As yet all the strain to which she had been subjected had produced no leaks, as far as I could judge from the small quantity of water in the hold, and that was chiefly what had come out of the butt Had I not put the remnants of the olives and biscuits in er pressed, I took a ss I suffered chiefly froo to the water-butt, lest I should be thrown over to the opposite side after I had drawn out the spile, before I could catch any water as it spouted out, and thatmy store, for I so mainly depended on it for existence, as it enabled me to subsist on a much smaller quantity of food than I could have done without it At length I could bearup, cautiously crawled towards the butt, stopping to hold on directly I felt the shi+p beginning to give a lurch

I ain observe, that close down to the keel as I was, I felt this her level I went on, until I believed that I was close to the butt, then waiting for another lurch Directly it had taken place, I drew myself carefully up, and searched about for the spile I found it, and drew it out, and let the water spout out into th and sadly flagging spirits I stopped to breathe, and then again applied my mouth to the hole I should have been wiser had I refrained, for before I could drive in the spile I was hove right away to the opposite side of the hold, al of the water-butt which had burst I could hear the water rushi+ng out, and it was some time before I could recover myself sufficiently to crawl back to try and stop it I was alh I had to mourn the loss of no small quantity of the precious fluid My purpose accomplished, I made my way back to my couch Hours passed by Sometimes I would fancy that the storination, I pictured to myself the shi+p, officers, and crew under some dreadful doom, destined to be tossed about on the wide Atlantic for months and years, then perhaps to be disasso Sea, of which I had read, where the weeds collect, driven by the current thrown off by the gulf-stream, till they attain sufficient thickness for aquatic birds to walk over them

I reiven ht, perhaps, that he had co thus punished for it The only one of the crehoory Growles, was certainly a bad speci to be honest traders, they were pirates; and even when I had obtained my liberty they would not scruple to make me walk the plank, should my presence be inconvenient I cannot, however, describe the hundred-and-one gloomy ideas which I conjured up How far they were from the truth time only was to show

The shi+p continued her eccentric proceedings with more or less violence

The te sounds still rose froo which had shi+fted, and which it appeared tobe smashed to atoms The worst of the matter was, that I had no one to blame but e captain, I should have felt s on others When I was able to reflect more calmly on my situation, I remembered that the storm must inevitably so a week, or even a fortnight, and soer, but if I could hold out to its terht do, I hoped that I should at last effect my liberation Ithe incidents of this memorable portion of my existence

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Still in the hold--Dreaain--Chicken-pie--Return of the rats--I i them--Two rats at one meal--My state of mind--”Mercy! Mercy!”--While there's life there's hope--I recoet out of the hold with some success--Purer air--My weakness returns--I recover th--Still no outlet--I perform my ablutions--My desire to live at all hazards returns--”Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise”--The yarn of Toney Lawson--The evil effects of getting drunk--The ”Viper”--Toney obliged to give in-- Toney's thoughts of escape--The fate of the ”Viper” determines the question--Toney's wonderful escape

Perhaps one of the most painful circumstances connected withhow the time went by

I re that I was at a jolly picnic with old friends near Roger Riddle's cottage That the cloth was spread with pies and tarts, a cold sirloin of beef, a dish of fowls, and a te and singing, in theof a chicken and a slice of haet the mustard-pot, when to my surprise it beca up to catch hold of it, not wishi+ng thus to lose radually careeable consciousness that I was in the hold of the ”Emu,” and that I had only a few s of my stock of provisions, independent of the pickles in the corner of my handkerchief

The shi+p, however, was perfectly quiet The gale o down By putting entle ripple as she glided along, but no other noise was to be heard The bulkheads had ceased to creak, the o to crash, and all was perfectly quiet overhead

My hunger showedti the remainder of my biscuits and olives I had thus only the pickles to exist on, unless I could catch soht of water, and then sat down to consider the plans I had before thought of to trap h I could not see I could feel, and ive it a small mouth so contrived that I could close it suddenly with a string A of various thicknesses; I found on , but enough to gather in the ih not an efficient substitute I had been so long accusto through the holes I had er was an incentive to perseverance

With my knife I first of all cut a piece off my canvas of sufficient size for my purpose I am sure that I could not have done it so well at any time before, had I attempted to perfores, and passing the string through the holes I had et the string through without another boring, at others I succeeded at the first atte at each stitch It was a slow operation, but the result was beyond , thickish piece of hard twine, which I devoted to the reat regularity, so as not to leave an opening large enough for a rat to ju till my task was accomplished, as I was anxious to ascertain whether it would answer the object I had in view

While I orking I heard the rats running about, and two or three knocked their noses against ain coa for their pleasure

I had, however, retained a sed to eat it up, I had sufficient resolution to devote as a bait to the rats