upon the bosom of the bright ocean.  Had the young waterman only been
there to counsel me, perhaps I might have acted differently; but he, my
best friend, was gone.

And now I had no confidant to whom I might impart my secret.  There was
one young fellow, a farm-servant, whom I thought I might have trusted.
I was fond of him, and I believe I was a favourite with him as well.
Twenty times I had it on my tongue's end to tell him of my intention,
but as often I checked myself.  I did not fear that he would betray me,
provided I gave up my design of running away; but I fancied he would
advise me against it, and in the event of my persisting, _then_ he might
betray me.  It would be of no use, therefore, seeking counsel from him,
and I kept the design to myself.

I ate my supper, and went to bed as usual.

You will expect to hear that I got out of bed, and stole away in the
night.

Not so.  I kept my bed till the usual hour for rising, though I slept
scarce a wink.  The thought of my important purpose kept me awake, and
during the few snatches of sleep I had, I dreamt of big ships and
rolling seas, of climbing up tall masts, and dragging black, tarry
ropes, till my fingers were in blisters.

I had at first partly made up my mind to take my departure in the night,
which I could easily have effected without danger of disturbing any one.
There were no burglars in our quiet little village, nor had any been
heard of for years, so that most people left their outside doors on the
latch.  The door of my uncle's house was on that night particularly free
of egress, for, it being summer, and the weather extremely hot, it had
been left "on the jar."  I could have slipped out without causing it
even to creak.

But though so very young, I was not without some powers of
ratiocination; and I reasoned that if I ran away in the night, I should
be missed at an early hour of the morning, and consequently sought for.
The searchers, or some portion of them, would be pretty certain to
follow me to the seaport town, and find me there as a matter of course.
I should be in no better position than if I had given John the slip on
the preceding day.  Moreover, it was but five or six miles to the town--
I should go over the ground in two hours at most--I should arrive too
early, before the people of the ship would be stirring--the captain
would be a-bed, and therefore I could not see him to offer myself as a
volunteer in his service.  These were the considerations that induced me
to remain at home until morning, although I waited impatiently for the
hour.

I ate my breakfast along with the rest.  Some one observed that I looked
pale and "out of sorts."  John attributed it to my journey of the
preceding day, under the hot sun; and this explanation seemed to satisfy
every one.

After breakfast I was afraid I should be ordered to some work--such as
driving a horse, from which I might not easily get off--some one might
be set to a task along with me, who might report me too soon if I should
absent myself.  Fortunately there was no work fit for me on that
particular day, and I was not ordered about anything.

Taking advantage of this, I brought out my sloop, which I was
occasionally in the habit of amusing myself with during hours of
leisure.  There were other boys who had sloops, and schooners, and
brigs, and we used to have races over the pond in the park.  It was
Saturday.  There was no school on Saturday, and I knew that some of
these boys would repair to the pond as soon as they had breakfasted, if
not sooner.  This would be a capital excuse for my going there; and with
the sloop ostentatiously carried I passed through the farmyard, and
walked in the direction of the park.  I even entered the enclosure, and
proceeded to the pond, where, as I had conjectured, I found several of
my companions with their little ships going, in full sail.

"Oh," thought I, "if I were to declare my intentions! what a stir it
would make if the boys only knew what I was about to do with myself?"

I was welcomed by the boys, who seemed glad to see me once more among
them.  The reason of this was, that of late I had been kept almost
constantly at work, and found but few occasions when I could join them
at play, and I believe I had formerly been a play favourite with most of
them.

But I remained among them only during the time in which the fleet made
one voyage across the lake--a miniature regatta, in which my own sloop
was conqueror--and taking the little vessel under my arm, I bade them
good-day, and left them.

They wondered at my going away so abruptly, but I found some excuse that
satisfied them.

As I crossed the park wall, I glanced back upon the companions of my
childhood, and the tears ran down my cheeks as I turned away from them
for ever.

I crouched along the wall, and soon got into the high road that led from
our village to the seaport town.  I did not remain upon the road, but
crossed it, and took into the fields on the opposite side.  My object in
doing this was to get under cover of some woods that ran for a good
distance nearly parallel to the direction of the road.  Through these I
intended to travel, as far as they would screen me from observation; for
I knew that if I kept on the road I should run the chance of being
passed or met by some of the villagers, who would report having seen me,
and thus guide the pursuit in the right direction.  I could not guess at
what hour the ship might weigh anchor, and therefore I could not make my
time for absenting myself from the village.  This had been the thought
that troubled me all the morning.  I feared to arrive too soon, lest the
vessel might not sail until I should be missed, and people sent after
me.  On the other hand, I dreaded lest I might reach the port too late,
and find the ship gone.  This would have been a disappointment worse
than to be taken back, and whipped for the attempt at running away--at
least, so I should have considered it at the time.  I say, then, that
this was the thought that had annoyed me all the morning, and still
continued to do so; for it no longer occurred to me that there was any
danger of my being refused once I offered myself on the ship.  I had
even forgotten that I was so small a boy.  The magnitude of my designs
had magnified me, in my own estimation, to the dimensions of a man.

I reached the woods, and traversed them from end to end unseen.  I met
neither ranger nor gamekeeper.  When I had passed through the timber, I
took into some fields; but I was now at a good distance from the road,
and I was less afraid of meeting any one who knew me.  I could tell how
far I was from the road, by keeping the sea in sight, for I knew that
the former ran close to the beach.

The tall spires of the seaport town at length came in sight, and by
these I was enabled to guide myself in the proper direction.  After
crossing a great many drains and ditches, and scrambling through
numerous hedges--here and there making a bit upon private roads that ran
in the right course--I arrived on the outskirts of the town.  I made no
pause there, but directing my steps among the houses, I soon found a
street that led towards the quay.  I saw the tall masts as I approached,
and wildly beat my heart as my eyes rested upon the tallest of all, with
its ensign drawn up to the main truck, and floating proudly in the
breeze.

I took note of nothing more; but, hurrying forward, I scrambled over the
broad plank staging; and having crossed the gangway, stood upon the deck
of the _Inca_.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

THE INCA AND HER CREW.

On crossing the gangway, I stopped near the main-hatchway, where five or
six sailors were busy with a large pile of barrels and boxes.  I saw
that they were lading the vessel, and with a tackle were lowering the
barrels and boxes into the hold.  They were in their shirt-sleeves, some
with Guernsey frocks and wide canvas trousers, smeared with grease and
tar.  One among them wore a blue cloth jacket, with trousers of similar
material, and it occurred to me that he might be the mate; for I fancied
that the captain of such a big ship must be a very grand individual, and
very superbly dressed.

He with the blue jacket was constantly giving orders and directions to
the sailors at work, which I noticed were not always promptly obeyed;
and frequently the men might be heard suggesting contrary modes of
action, until a hubbub of voices would arise disputing about the proper
plan for executing the work.

All this would have been different on board a man-of-war, where the
order of an officer is instantly obeyed without question or remark; but
on a merchant vessel it is far otherwise.  The orders of the mate are
often issued more as counsels than commands, and the men exercise a sort
of discretion in obeying them.  This is not always the case, and depends
very much on the character of the mate himself; but on board the _Inca_
the discipline did not appear to be of the strictest.  What with the
clatter of tongues, the "skreeking" of pulley-blocks, the rattling of
boxes against each other, the bundling of trucks over the staging, and
other like sounds, there was more noise than I had ever heard in my
life.  It quite disconcerted me at first; and I stood for some minutes
in a state of half bewilderment at what I heard and saw.

After a while there was a sort of lull.  The great water-butt that the
sailors had been lowering down the hatchway had reached the hold below,
and been rolled into its place, and this produced a temporary cessation
in the noises.

Just then one of the sailors chanced to set his eyes upon me; and, after
regarding me with a comic leer, cried out--

"Ho! my little marlin-spike!  What might _you_ be wantin' aboard?--goin'
to ship, eh?"

"No," rejoined a second; "don't yer see he's a captain hisself?--got his
own craft there!"

This remark was made in allusion to my schooner, which I had brought
along with me, and was holding in my hands.

"Schooner ahoy!" shouted a third of the men.  "Whither bound?"

This was followed by a burst of laughter from all hands, who were now
aware of my presence, and stood regarding me as though I was something
extremely ludicrous in their eyes.

I was rather abashed by this reception on the part of the rough tars,
and remained for some moments without knowing what to say or do.  But I
was relieved from my uncertainty by the mate in the blue jacket, who,
approaching me, asked, in a more serious tone, what was my business
aboard.

I replied that I wanted to see the captain.  Of course I believed that
there was a captain, and that he was the proper person to whom I should
address myself in regard to the business I had in view.

"Want to see the captain!" echoed my interrogator.  "And what might be
your business with him, youngster?  I'm the mate: won't I do?"

I hesitated a moment; but seeing that it was the captain's
representative who put the question, I thought there could be no harm in
frankly declaring my intentions.  I replied--"I wish to be a sailor!"

If the men had laughed loud before, they now laughed louder.  In fact
there was a regular yell, in which the mate himself joined as heartily
as any of them.

Amidst the peals of laughter, my ears were greeted with a variety of
expressions that quite humiliated me.

"Look yonder, Bill!" cried one, addressing a comrade who was at some
distance.  "Look at the wee chap as wants to be a sailor.  My eyes!  You
little tuppence worth o' ha'pence, you ain't big enough for a belayin'
pin!  A see-a-lor!  My eyes!"

"Does your mother know yer out?" inquired a second.

"No, that she don't," said a third, making reply for me; "nor his
father, neyther.  I'll warrant, now, the chap has run away from home.
Have you gi'n 'em the slip, little sticklebat?"

"Look here, youngster!" said the mate.  "Take my advice: go back to your
mother, give my compliments to the old lady, and tell her to take a turn
or two of her petticoat strings round you, belay them to the leg of a
chair, and keep you safe moored there for half a dozen years to come!"
This advice elicited a fresh peal of laughter.  I felt humiliated at
this rough bantering, and knew not what reply to make.  In my confusion
I stammered out the words--

"I have no mother to go home to!"

This reply appeared to produce a sudden effect upon the mirth of these
rude-looking men, and I could hear some of them give utterance to
certain expressions of sympathy.

Not so, however, the mate, who, without changing his tone of banter,
instantly rejoined--

"Well, then, go to your father, and tell _him_ to give you a good
flogging!"

"I have no father!"

"Poor little chap! it's a horphin arter all," said one of the tars, in a
kind tone.

"No father either, you say," continued the mate, who appeared to me an
unfeeling brute; "then go to your grandmother, or your uncle, or your
aunt, if you've got one; or go anywhere you like, but get about your
business from here, or I'll trice you up, and give you a round dozen on
the buttocks; be off now, I say!"

The brute seemed fully in earnest; and, deeply mortified by the threat,
I turned away in obedience to the command.

I had reached the gangway, and was about to step upon the plank, when I
observed a man coming in the opposite direction--from the shore.  He was
dressed in the same style as a merchant or other citizen might have
been, with a black frock-coat and beaver hat; but there was something in
his look that told me he belonged to the sea.  The complexion of his
face was of that weather bronze, and there was an expression in the eyes
which I knew to be characteristic of men who lead the life of the
mariner.  Moreover, his trousers were of blue pilot-cloth, and that gave
him a sea-faring look.  It struck me at the moment that he was the
captain of the ship.

I was not long in doubt.  On reaching the gangway, the stranger stepped
aboard with an air that betokened him the master; and I heard him issue
some orders in a tone that bespoke his full command of everybody within
hearing.

He did not stop after going aboard, but walked on towards the
quarter-deck of the vessel.

It occurred to me that I might still have some chance by addressing
myself directly to him; and, without hesitation, I turned back and
followed him.

In spite of some remonstrance from the mate and one or two of the men, I
kept on till I had overtaken the captain just as he was about to dive
down into his cabin.

I arrested his attention by plucking the skirt of his coat.

He turned round in some surprise, and inquired what I wanted with him.

In as few words as I could manage it, I made known my wishes.  The only
reply he made me was a laugh; and then turning round, he cried out to
one of the men--

"Here, Waters!  Hoist this urchin upon your shoulders, and set him
ashore.  Ha! ha! ha!"

Without saying another word, he stepped down the companion ladder, and
disappeared out of my sight.

In the midst of my chagrin, I felt myself lifted in the strong arms of
"Waters," who, after carrying me across the staging-plank, and some
yards over the wharf, deposited me upon the pavement, and thus addressed
me:--

"Now, my little sprat! take Jack Waters's advice, and keep out o'
salt-water as long as you can, else the sharks may get hold on you."

And then, after a pause, during which he seemed to reflect about
something, he inquired--

"And you're a horphin, are ye, my little 'un?  Got neyther father nor
mother?"

"Neither," I replied.

"A pity it are!  I was once a horphin myself.  Well, yer a spunky little
chap to be wantin' to go to sea, and ye deserve somethin' for it.  If I
were captain I'd take you along; but ye see I'm only afore the mast, and
kin do nothin' for ye; but I'll be back some day again, and maybe you'll
be bigger then.  Here, take this anyhow for a keepsake, and by it you'll
remember me till sometime when you see me in port again, and who knows
but then I may find a berth for you.  So good-bye now!  Go home again,
like a good boy, and stay there till you've growed a bit."

As the kind-hearted sailor said this, he handed me his knife, and
turning away, walked back on board his ship, leaving me alone upon the
wharf.

Wondering at his unexpected kindness, I stood gazing after him till he
disappeared behind the bulwarks; and then, mechanically putting the
knife in my pocket, I remained for a while without stirring from the
spot.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

NOT BIG ENOUGH.

My reflections were anything but pleasant, for never had I been so
mortified in my life.  All my fine dreams of reefing topsails, and
seeing foreign lands, had been dissipated in a period of less than ten
minutes.  All my plans completely frustrated.

My first feeling was that of extreme humiliation and shame.  I fancied
that the passers-by must all be aware of what had transpired, and of the
precise situation in which I stood.  I saw, moreover, the heads of
several of the sailors as they stood looking at me over the bulwarks,
and upon their faces I could perceive a derisive expression.  Some of
them were still laughing loudly.

I could bear it no longer, and without hesitation I hurried away from
the spot.

Near at hand were large boxes, barrels, and bales of merchandise lying
upon the wharf.  They were not piled together, but scattered about, with
spaces between them.  Into one of those spaces I glided, and was soon
out of sight of everybody, while everybody was equally hidden from my
sight.  I felt almost as if I had got clear of some danger; so pleasant
is it to escape from ridicule, even though one may feel that he has not
deserved it.

There was a little box among the others, just big enough for a seat, and
upon this I sat down, and gave way to reflection.

What had I best do?  Yield up all thoughts of the sea, and return to the
farm, and my crabbed old uncle?

You will say that this would have been the wisest course for me to have
pursued, as well as the most natural.  Perhaps so; but the thought of
doing so scarcely entered my mind.  I did certainly entertain the
thought, but as quickly abandoned it.

"No," said I to myself, "I am not yet conquered; I shall not retreat
like a coward.  I have made one step, and I shall follow it up, if I
can.  What matters it if they refuse to take me in this big proud ship?
There are others in port--scores of others.  Some of them may be glad to
have me.  I shall try them all before I give up my design."

"Why did they refuse me?"  I asked myself, continuing my soliloquy.
"Why?  They gave no reason; what could it have been?  Ha! my size it
was!  They compared me to a marlin-spike, and a belaying-pin.  I know
what a marlin-spike is, and a belaying-pin, too.  Of course, they meant
by this insulting comparison to insinuate that I am too small to be a
sailor.  But a boy-sailor--surely I am big enough for that?  I have
heard of sailor boys not so old as I am.  What size am I?  How tall, I
should like to know?  Oh! if I only had a carpenter's rule I would soon
settle that point!  How thoughtless of me not to have measured myself
before leaving home!  Can I not do it here?  I wonder if there is no way
of finding out how tall I am."

The current of my reflections was at this moment broken in upon, by my
observing on one of the boxes some figures roughly scratched with chalk,
and on closer inspection I made out the cipher to be "4 foot."  I saw at
once that it referred to the length of the box, for its height could not
have been so much.  Perhaps it had been thus marked by the carpenter who
made the case, or it may have been put on to guide the sailors in lading
the vessel.

Be that as it may, it gave me an idea; and in less than three minutes I
knew my stature to an inch.

I ascertained it in the following manner: I laid myself down alongside
the box, and close in to its edge.  Having placed my heels on a level
with one end, I stretched myself out to my full length.  I then felt
with my hand whether the crown of my head came flush with the other end
of the case.  It did not, though there was scarce an inch wanting to
make me as long as the box; but wriggle and stretch my joints as I
might, I could not get more than square with it.  Of course, it made no
difference--as far as determining my height was concerned: if the box
was four feet long, I could not be quite four feet; and as I knew a boy
of only four feet in height was but a very small boy indeed, I rose to
my legs, considerably mortified by the knowledge I had gained.

Previous to this measurement, I really had no idea I was of such short
stature.  What boy _does_ think himself much less than a man?  But now I
was convinced of my littleness.  No wonder Jack Waters had called me a
sprat, and his comrades had compared me to a marlin-spike and a
belaying-pin.

The knowledge I had gained of my Lilliputian stature put me all out of
heart with myself, and my designs now assumed a more gloomy aspect.  I
felt almost sure that none of the ships would receive me; for I
remembered that I had never heard of boy-sailors so small as I was.
Certainly I had never seen any; but, on the contrary, some nearly as
large as men, who were nevertheless called "boys" on board the brigs and
schooners that frequented our little harbour.  It would be hopeless,
then, for me to offer myself.  After all, I should have to go home
again.

I once more sat down upon the box, and proceeded to re-consider the
situation.  My mind is rather of an inventive turn, and it had a bent
that way even in earliest youth.  It was not long before a plan offered
itself that promised to relieve me from my dilemma, and enable me to
carry out my original intention to its full extent.

I was aided by memory in the conception of this plan.  I remembered
having both heard and read of boys--and men as well--concealing
themselves aboard ships, and being thus carried out to sea; and then
crawling forth from their hiding-places, when the vessels were too far
from land for them to be sent back.

The recollection of these daring adventurers had scarcely crossed my
mind, before I had formed the resolution to follow their example.  Quick
almost as the thought, I had made my resolve.  I could hide myself on
board a ship--perhaps that very ship from which I had been so
ignominiously expelled.  She was the only one that appeared to be
getting ready to sail; but, to tell the truth, had there been a dozen
others starting at the same time, I should have selected her before them
all.

You may be surprised at my saying so, but it is easily explained.  I was
so piqued at the people on board, especially the mate, on account of the
uncivil treatment he had shown me, that I felt at the time it would be a
sort of revenge to play them this trick.  I knew that they would not
throw me overboard; and with the exception of the mate himself, I had
not noted any symptoms of a cruel disposition among the sailors.  Of
course it was natural they should have enjoyed a joke at my expense; but
I remembered, also, that some of them had uttered expressions of
sympathy when they heard from me that I was an orphan.

In the big ship, then, was I determined to have passage--spite of mate,
captain, and crew!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

STEALING ABOARD.

But how was I to get aboard?  How conceal myself when there?

These were the difficulties that presented themselves.  I might walk on
deck as I had already done, but not without being observed by some of
the crew, and of course ordered ashore again.

Could I not bribe some of the sailors to let me go about the deck?  What
had I to bribe them with?  Not a penny of money.  My sloop and my
clothes--these last of very poor quality--were all I possessed in the
world.  I would have given the sloop, but a moment's reflection
convinced me that no sailor would set any value on an article which he
could easily make for himself; for I presumed that all sailors could
manufacture little ships at their pleasure.  It would be useless to
attempt bribing any of them with such a toy, and I thought no more of
it.

But stay!  I had something upon my person of some value.  I had a watch.
It is true it was but a very common one--an old-fashioned silver watch,
and not worth much, though it kept time well enough.  It had been given
me by my poor mother, though she had left me a much better one, which my
uncle had appropriated to himself.  The old one, of little value, I was
allowed to carry about with me, and fortunately it was in my fob at that
moment.  Would not this bribe Waters, or some other of the sailors, to
"smuggle" me aboard, and conceal me there till the ship got out to sea?
The thing was not unlikely.  At all risks, I resolved to make trial.

Perhaps the chief difficulty would be to see Waters, or any of the
sailors, apart from the rest, in order to communicate my wishes; but I
resolved to hang about the ship, and watch till some one of them should
come ashore alone.

I was not without hopes that I might be able to steal on board of
myself--perhaps after nightfall, when the men had "knocked off" work,
and were below in the forecastle.  In that case, I need not tell any of
them of my design.  In the darkness, I believed I might manage to crouch
past the watch or clamber over the side and get down below.  Once in the
hold, I had no fear but that I should be able to secrete myself among so
many barrels and boxes as they were stowing away.

There were two doubts that troubled me.  Would the ship remain in port
until night?  Would my uncle and his people not be after me before then?

For the first time, I was not very uneasy.  I saw that the vessel still
carried the same placard as on the preceding day--"_The Inca, for Peru,
to-morrow_!"  It was not likely she would sail upon that day.  Moreover,
there were still many packages of merchandise lying on the quay--which I
knew were intended as part of her lading, from the position in which
they were placed.  I had heard, moreover, that vessels, when bound for
distant parts, are not very punctual in their time of starting.

Reasoning in this way, I felt assured that the ship would not sail on
that day, and I should have the chances of boarding her in the
night-time.

But then there was the other danger--of my being captured and carried
back home.  On reflection this did not appear imminent.  They would not
miss me on the farm before nightfall; or if they did, they would wait
until dark before going in search of me, thinking, of course, that night
would bring me home.  After all, I had no reason to be apprehensive from
this source; and ceasing altogether to think of it, I set about making
preparations to carry out my design.

I had foresight enough to perceive, that when once in the ship, I should
have to remain concealed for at least twenty-four hours--perhaps much
longer.  I could not live so long without eating.  Where was I to get
provisions?  I had not, as already mentioned, one penny in the world,
wherewith to purchase food, and I should not have known where or how to
beg for it.

But an idea came into my head that promised to relieve me from this
dilemma.  I could _sell my sloop_, and thus obtain wherewith to buy
something to eat.

The little vessel would be of no more use to me now; and why not part
with her at once?

Without farther consideration, therefore, I made my way out from among
the barrels, and proceeded along the quay to look out for a purchaser
for my little craft.

I soon succeeded in finding one.  A sort of marine toyshop offered
itself; and after a little bartering with the proprietor, I closed the
bargain for a shilling.  My little sloop, neatly rigged as she was, was
worth five times the amount, and, under different circumstances, I would
not have parted with her for even that sum; but the Jew dealer evidently
saw that I was in difficulties, and, like all his tribe, had no scruples
about taking advantage of them.

I was now in ample funds for my purpose; and repairing to a convenient
shop, I laid out the whole of the money on cheese and crackers.  I
bought sixpence worth of each; and having crammed my pockets with my
purchase, I returned to my old place among the merchandise, and seated
myself once more upon the box.  I had grown somewhat hungry--for it had
got to be after dinner hour--and I now relieved my appetite by an attack
upon the crackers and cheese, which considerably lightened the cargo in
my pockets.

Evening was now approaching, and I bethought me that I might as well
take a stroll along by the side of the ship, by way of a reconnaissance.
It would enable me to ascertain where I might climb over the side most
easily, which knowledge would be of use to me when the hour should
arrive for making the attempt.  What if the sailors _did_ see me going
about?  They could not hinder me from walking along the quay, and they
would never dream of my object in staying there.  What if they should
take notice of me, and taunt me as before?  I could talk back to them,
and thus gain a good opportunity for observation--the very thing I
wanted.

Without losing another moment, I stepped forth from my resting-place,
and commenced sauntering along, with an assumed air of indifference to
all that was passing around.  I soon came opposite the stem of the big
ship, where I paused and looked up.  Her deck was nearly on a level with
the pavement, because she was now heavily laden, and of course at full
depth in the water; but the high bulwarks on her quarter prevented me
from seeing the deck.  I perceived that it would be easy to step from
the quay, and after clambering up the bulwarks, get over by the mizen
shrouds; and I at once made up my mind that this would be the proper
way.  Of course, I should have to creep through the shrouds with great
caution.  If the night should not prove dark enough, and I should be
detected by the watch, it would be all up with me.  I should get
caught--perhaps suspected as a thief and punished.  No matter; I was
resolved to risk it.

Everything was quiet on board.  I heard neither voice nor noises.  Some
of the merchandise was still lying upon the wharf, and therefore they
could not have finished lading the vessel.  But the men were no longer
at work, for I was now near enough to have a view of both the gangway
and the main hatch.  Whither could they have gone?

I moved silently forward, until I stood by the very end of the staging.
I had now a full view of the hatchway, and a considerable portion of the
main deck around it.  I saw neither the blue jacket of the mate nor the
greasy garments of the sailors.  All the men must have gone away to some
other part of the ship.

I paused and listened.  Indistinctly, I could hear the hum of voices
coming from the forward part of the vessel.  I knew they were the voices
of the crew in conversation with each other.

Just at that moment, I observed a man pass by the opening in the
gangway.  He was carrying a large vessel that steamed at the top.  It
contained coffee or some other hot viand.  It was the evening meal for
the people of the forecastle, and he who carried it was the cook.  This
accounted for the cessation of the work, and the absence of the sailors
from "amidships."  They were about going to supper.  Such was my
conjecture.

Partly impelled by curiosity, but as much by a new idea that had entered
my mind, I stepped upon the staging and glided cautiously aboard.  I
caught a glimpse of the sailors far off in the forward part of this
ship--some seated upon the windlass, others squatted upon the deck
itself, with their tin plates before them, and their jack-knives in
their hands.  Not one of them saw me--not one was looking in my
direction: their eyes were too busy with the cook and his steaming
copper.

I glanced hastily around; there was no one in sight.  The new idea to
which I have referred became more fully developed.  "Now or never!"
whispered I to myself; and under the impulse, I stepped down upon the
deck, and crouched forward to the foot of the main mast.

I was now on the edge of the open hatchway; and it was into this I
intended to go.  There was no ladder, but the rope by which the goods
had been lowered, still hung from the tackle, reaching down into the
hold.

I caught hold of this rope; and pulled on it, to find if it was securely
fastened above.  It proved to be so; and, grasping it firmly with both
hands, I slid downward as gently as I could.

It was a close shave that I did not break my neck--and as it was, I had
a tumble at the bottom--but I soon got to my feet again; and, scrambling
over some packages that were not yet stowed in their places, I crawled
behind a huge butt, and there ensconced myself in darkness and silence.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

HURRAH!  WE ARE OFF!

As soon as I had screened myself behind the butt, I squatted down; and,
in five minutes after, was so fast asleep; that it would have taken all
the bells of Canterbury to have waked me.  I had got but little sleep on
the preceding night, and not a great deal the night before that; for
John and I had been early up for the market.  The fatigue, moreover,
experienced in my cross-country journey, and the excitement of
twenty-four hours' suspense--now somewhat allayed--had quite done me up,
and I slept as sound as a top, only that my nap lasted as long as that
of a thousand tops.

There had been noises enough to have awaked me much sooner, as I
afterwards ascertained.  There had been the rattling of pulleys and
banging of boxes close to my ears, but I heard nothing of all this.

When I awoke, I knew by my sensations that I had been a long while
asleep.  It must be far into the night, thought I.  I supposed it was
night-time, by the complete darkness that enveloped me; for on first
squeezing myself behind the butt, I noticed that light came in by the
aperture through which I had passed.  Now there was none.  It was night,
therefore, and dark as pitch--that, of course, behind a huge hogshead
down in the hold of a ship.

"What time of night?  I suppose they have all gone to bed, and are now
snug in their hammocks?  It must be near morning?  Can I hear any one
stirring?"

I listened.  I had no need to listen intently.  I soon heard noises.
They were evidently caused by heavy objects striking and bumping, just
as if the sailors were still busy lading the vessel.  I could hear their
voices, too, though not very distinctly.  Now and then certain
ejaculations reached me, and I could make out the words "Heave!"

"Avast heavin'!" and once the "Yo-heave-ho!" chanted by a chorus of the
crew.

"Why, they are actually at work loading the vessel _in the night-time_!"

This, however, did not greatly surprise me.  Perhaps they wished to take
advantage of a tide or a fair wind, and were hurrying to complete the
stowage of the ship.

I continued to listen, expecting to hear a cessation of the noises; but
hour after hour passed, and still the clinking and clanking kept on.

"How very industrious!" thought I.  "They must be pressed for time, and
determined to start soon.  True, the placard `_For Peru--to-morrow_!'
did not keep faith to-day, but no doubt it will do so to-morrow, at a
very early hour.  So much the better for me; I shall the sooner get out
of my uncomfortable situation.  It's rather a hard bed I've had, and I
am growing hungry again."

With this last reflection, I was very willing to make a fresh onset upon
the cheese and crackers, and I accordingly did so.  I had found a fresh
appetite during my sleep, and I ate heartily, though it was the _middle
of the night_!

The noise of the lading still continued.  "Oh! they are going to keep at
it all night.  Hard work it is, poor fellows; but no doubt they will
receive double wages for it."

All at once the sounds ceased, and there was profound silence in the
ship--at least I could hear no one stirring about.

"At last they have knocked off," thought I; "they are now gone to bed;
but surely it must be near daybreak, though day has not yet broken, else
I should see some light through the aperture.  Well!  I shall try to go
to sleep again myself."

I laid me down as before, and endeavoured to compose myself to sleep.
In about an hour's time I had well-nigh succeeded in doing so, when the
thumping of the boxes re-commenced, and roused me up afresh.

"What? they are at it again!  Surely they cannot have been to sleep?--an
hour--it was not worth their while to lie down for an hour."

I listened to assure myself that they had really set about work again.
There could be no doubt of it.  I could hear the clinking and clanking,
and the creaking of the pulley-blocks just as before, only not quite so
loud.

"Well," thought I, "it is a strange crew, working thus all night long.
Ha! on second thoughts, perhaps it is a fresh set who are at it--another
watch that has relieved the former one?"

This was probable enough, and the conjecture satisfied me.  But I could
no more compose myself to sleep, and lay listening.

Still they worked on, and I could hear the noises through the longest
night I ever remember.  Several hours they had kept at it, and then
there was a pause of about an hour, and then I heard the work
progressing as before, and as yet there were no signs of morning--not a
ray of light came near me!

I began to fancy I was dreaming, and that those spells of work that
seemed to last for hours were only of minutes' duration.  And yet, if
they were only minutes, I must have been gifted with a strange appetite,
for no less than three times had I fallen ferociously upon my
provisions, until my stock was well-nigh exhausted.

At length the noises ceased altogether, and for several hours I did not
hear them.  During this interval there was almost complete silence above
and around me, in the midst of which I again fell asleep.

When I awoke, my ears were once more greeted with sounds, but these were
quite of another character from those I had before been listening to.
They were to me sounds of joy, for I at once recognised the well-known
"crik-crik-crik" of a windlass, and the rattling of a great chain.  Down
where I was, in the hold, I did not hear these noises very distinctly,
but enough so to know what was going on above.  _They were weighing the
anchor; the ship was about to sail_!

I could scarce restrain myself from giving a cheer; but I managed to
keep silence, fearing that my voice might be heard.  It was not yet
time.  If heard, I should be dragged forth, and sent packing without
ceremony.  I therefore lay as still as a mouse, and listened to the
great chain harshly rasping through the iron ring of the hawse-hole.
Harsh as it may have sounded in other ears, it was music to mine at that
moment.

The clicking and rasping both ceased after a while, and then another
sound reached me.  This resembled the rushing of a mighty wind, but I
knew it was not that.  I knew it was the "sough" of the sea against the
sides of the vessel.  It produced a delightful impression upon my mind,
for it told me that _the big ship was in motion_!

"Hurrah! we are off!"

CHAPTER TWENTY.

SEA-SICK.

The continued motion of the vessel, and the seething sound of the water,
which I could hear very plainly, convinced me that we had parted from
the quay, and were moving onward.  I felt completely happy; there was no
longer any fear of my being taken back to the farm.  I was now fairly
launched upon salt-water, and in twenty-four hours would be out on the
wide Atlantic--far from land, and in no danger either of being pursued
or sent back.  I was in ecstasies of delight at the success of my plan.

I thought it rather strange, their starting _in the night_--for it was
still quite dark--but I presumed they had a pilot who knew all the
channels of the bay, and who could take them into the open water just as
well by night as by day.

I was still somewhat puzzled to account for the extreme length of the
night--that was altogether mysterious--and I began to think that I must
have slept during the whole of a day, and was awake for two nights
instead of one.  Either that, or some of it must have been a dream.
However, I was too much joyed at the circumstance of our having started,
to speculate upon the strangeness of the hour.  It mattered not to me
whether we had set sail by night or by day, so long as we got safely out
into the great ocean; and I laid myself down again to wait until the
time should arrive, when I might safely show myself on deck.

I was very impatient for the arrival of that crisis, and for two special
reasons.  One was, that I had grown very thirsty, and longed for a
drink.  The cheese and dry crackers had helped to make me so thirsty.  I
was not hungry, for part of the provision was still left, but I would
gladly have exchanged it for a cup of water.

The other reason why I wanted to get out of my hiding-place was, that my
bones had become very sore from lying so long on the hard plank, and
also from the cramped attitude I was compelled to assume, on account of
the want of space.  So full of pain did my joints feel, that I could
hardly turn myself about; and I felt even worse when I continued to lie
still.  This also strengthened my belief that I must have slept during
the whole of a day, for a single night upon the naked timbers could
hardly have tired me so much.

What with the thirst, therefore, and the soreness of my bones, I kept
fidgeting and wriggling about for several hours, without intermission.

For these two reasons I was very impatient to crawl forth from my narrow
quarters, and set my foot upon deck; but for other reasons I deemed it
prudent to endure both the thirst and the aching, and remain where I was
for some time longer.

I had sufficient knowledge of seaport customs to be aware that ships
usually take a pilot a good way out to sea, and in all likelihood there
was one on board.  Should I show myself before this functionary had been
dismissed, I would certainly be taken back in his pilot-boat; which,
after all my success, and all my sufferings, would have been a
humiliating result.

Even had there been no pilot, we were yet in the track of fishing boats
and small coasting vessels; and one of these, inward bound, could easily
be brought alongside, and I might be chucked into it like a coil of
rope, and carried back to the port.

These considerations passed through my mind, and despite the torment of
thirst and the painful aching of my joints, I remained within my
lurking-place.

For the first hour or two, the ship moved steadily through the water.
It was calm weather, I supposed, and she was yet within the shelter of
the bay.  Then I perceived that she began to sway a little to and fro,
and the rushing of the water along her sides became hoarser and more
violent.  Now and then I could hear the loud bumping of waves as they
struck against the bows, and the timbers creaked under the concussions.

These sounds were not displeasing.  I reasoned that we had got out of
the bay, and were passing into the open sea, where I knew the wind was
always fresher, and the waves larger and bolder.  "The pilot," thought
I, "will soon be dismissed, and then I may safely show myself on deck."

Of course I was not without misgivings as to my reception by the people
of the ship--in truth, I felt serious apprehension upon that score.  I
remembered the harsh brutal mate, and the reckless indifferent crew.
They would be indignant at the deception I had practised upon them--
perhaps treat me with cruelty--flog me, or commit some other outrage.  I
was far from being easy in my mind about how they would use me, and I
would fain have avoided the encounter.

But that was clearly impossible.  I could not keep concealed for the
whole voyage, for long weeks, ay, months; I had no provisions, no water,
and sooner or later I must go on deck, and take my chances.

While speculating upon these chances, I began to feel very miserable,
not with mental anguish alone, but with bodily pain.  Worse than thirst
it was, or the soreness of my bones.  A new misery was fast growing upon
me.  My head swam with dizziness, the sweat started from my brow, and I
felt sick both at the heart and in the stomach.  I experienced a
suffocating sensation in my breast and throat, as if my ribs were being
compressed inwardly, and my lungs had not room enough to expand and let
me breathe.  My nostrils were filled with a nauseating smell--the smell
of "bilge-water"--for being at the bottom of the hold, I was close to
the latter, and could hear it "jabbling" about under the timbers, where
no doubt it had lain for a long time.  In all these symptoms I had no
difficulty in telling what ailed me: _sea-sickness_--nothing more.
Knowing this, I was not alarmed; but yet I experienced horrid
sensations, as every one must who is under the infliction of this
peculiar malady.  Of course I felt ten times worse, situated as I was,
choking with thirst, and no water near; for I fancied that a glass of
pure water would to some extent have relieved me.  It might remove the
nausea, and give me freer breath.  I would have given anything for one
mouthful.

In dread of that terrible pilot, I bore my sufferings as long as I
could.  But the rocking of the ship every moment became more violent,
and the smell of the bilge-water more nauseous.  In like proportion rose
the revolt in my stomach, until the sickness and retching became quite
unendurable.

"Surely the pilot must have gone back?  Whether or not, I can stand it
no longer; I must get upon deck, or I shall die--oh!"

I rose from my recumbent position, and began to grope my way along the
side of the great butt.  I reached the end of it, and felt for the
aperture by which I had squeezed myself in.  To my great surprise, I
found that it was closed up!

I could scarce credit my senses, and I felt again and again, passing my
hands upwards and downwards.  Beyond a doubt the aperture was shut up!
My hands met resistance everywhere, coming in contact with a
perpendicular wall, which, I could tell by the "feel," was the side of
an immense box.  It blocked up the interval between the butt and the
side of the ship so completely, that there was not space enough on
either side to thrust the point of my finger through.

I placed my hands to the box in hopes of being able to push it away, but
I could not move it.  I laid my shoulder to it, and heaved with all the
strength of my body; I could not even _shake it_!  It was a large
packing-case, no doubt filled with heavy goods.  A strong man could
scarce have stirred it from the spot, and my puny strength was
altogether insufficient to move it.

After an effort I desisted from trying, and crept back along the side of
the butt, hoping I might get out by the other end; but on reaching this,
my hopes were dissipated in a moment.  There was not the space of an
inch between the rim of the great cask and another similar barrel, which
filled the aperture up to the ribs of the vessel!  A mouse could hardly
have squeezed itself through between.

I next felt along the top of both casks, but with like result.  There
was just space in that direction to admit of passing my hand through,
and no more.  A huge beam, traversing along the top, was within a few
inches of the rounded sides of the casks, and there was no aperture that
would have permitted me, small as I was, to have squeezed myself
through.

I shall leave you to fancy my feelings, when the conviction broke upon
me that I was actually shut in--imprisoned--_built up among the
merchandise_!

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

ENTOMBED ALIVE.

I could now comprehend why the night had seemed so long.  There had been
light enough, but it reached me not.  The great box had intercepted it.
There had been day, and I knew it not.  The men had been working by day,
when I thought it was after midnight.  Instead of a single night, at
least two nights and a day had passed since I crouched into my
hiding-place.  No wonder I had hungered, and was thirsty--no wonder I
felt an aching in my bones.  The short intervals of silence I had
observed were the hours when the crew were at their meals.  The long
silence that preceded the weighing of the anchor, had been the second
night, when all were resting and asleep.

I have stated, that I fell asleep almost instantly after I had crept
into my lurking-place.  It then still wanted several hours of sunset.
My sleep had been sound and long, lasting, no doubt, till the following
morning.  But on the previous evening, the stowers had been at work--
though I heard them not; and during my deep, unconscious slumber, the
box, and no doubt many others, had been placed before the aperture.

Every point was now clear to me, and clearer than all was the horrifying
fact, that I was "boxed up."

I did not at first comprehend the full horror of my situation.  I knew
that I was shut in, and that no strength I could exert would be enough
to get me out; but for all that, I did not apprehend any great
difficulty.  The strong sailors, who had stowed the packages, could
remove them again; and I had only to shout and bring them to the spot.

Alas! alas! little did I think that the loudest shout I might raise,
could not have been heard by human being.  Little did I suspect, that
the hatchway, through which I had descended to the hold, was now closed
with its strong hatches and these again covered with a thick tarpaulin--
to remain so, perhaps, to the end of the voyage!  Even had the hatches
not been down, there would have been little chance of my being heard.
The thick wall of bales and boxes would have intercepted my voice, or it
might have been drowned altogether by the hoarse and constant rushing of
the waves, as they broke along the sides of the ship.

I say, that, on first discovering that I was closed in, my apprehensions
were but slight, I thought, only, that I should be delayed awhile from
getting water, which I now longed for exceedingly.  It would take some
time, no doubt, for the men to remove the boxes and relieve me; and
meanwhile I was in misery.  These alone were the thoughts that troubled
me.

It was only when I had screamed and shouted at the highest pitch of my
voice--after I had thundered upon the planks with the heels of my
shoes--after I had repeated my cries again and again, and still heard no
reply; it was only then, that I began to comprehend the true nature of
my situation.  Then, indeed, did I perceive its full and perfect horror.
Then, did the conviction burst upon me, that I had no prospect of
escape--no hope of being relieved; in short, that I was _entombed
alive_!

I cried, I screamed, I shouted.  Long and loudly I cried, but how long I
cannot tell.  I did not leave off till I was weak and hoarse.

At intervals I listened, but no response reached me--no sound of human
voice.  The echoes of my own reverberated along the sides of the ship,
throughout the dark hold; but no voice responded to its lamentable
tones.

I listened to discover whether I could not hear the voices of the
sailors.  I had heard them in their chorus, when they were weighing
anchor, but then the ship was at rest, and the waves were not lashing
her timbers.  Moreover, as I afterwards learned, the hold hatches had
then been up, and were only put down on our standing out to sea.

For a long while I listened, but neither command nor chorus reached my
ears.  If I could not hear their loud baritone voices, how could they
hear mine?

"Oh! they cannot hear me!  They will never hear me!  They will never
come to my rescue!  Here I must die--I must die!"

Such was my conviction, after I had shouted myself hoarse and feeble.
The sea-sickness had yielded for a time to the more powerful throes of
despair; but the physical malady returned again, and, acting in
conjunction with my mental misery, produced such agony as I never before
endured.  I yielded to it; my energies gave way, and I fell over like
one struck down by paralysis.

For a long while, I lay in a state of helpless stupor.  I wished myself
dead, and indeed I thought I was going to die.  I seriously believe,
that at that moment I would have hastened the event if I could; but I
was too weak to have killed myself, even had I been provided with a
weapon.  I _had_ a weapon, but I had forgotten all about it in the
confusion of my thoughts.

You will wonder at my making this confession--that I desired death; but
you would have to be placed in a situation similar to that I was in, to
be able to realise the horror of despair.  Oh, it is a fearful thing!
May you never experience it!

I fancied I was going to die, but I _did not_.  Men do not die either
from sea-sickness or despair, nor boys either.  Life is not so easily
laid down.

I certainly was more than half dead, however; and I think for a good
while insensible.  I was in a stupor for a long time--for many hours.

At length my consciousness began to return, and along with it a portion
of my energies.  Strange enough, too, I felt my appetite reviving; for,
in this respect, the "sea-sickness" is somewhat peculiar.  Patients,
under it, often eat more heartily than at other times.  With me,
however, the appetite of thirst was now far stronger than that of
hunger, and its misery was not allayed by any hope of its being
appeased.  As for the other, I could still relieve it; some morsels were
in my pocket.

I need not recount the many fearful reflections that passed through my
mind.  For hours after, I was the victim of many a terrible paroxysm of
despair.  For hours I lay, or rather tossed about, in a state of
confused thought; but at last, to my relief, I fell asleep.

I fell asleep, for I had now been a long time awake, and this, with the
prostration of my strength from mental suffering, had at length deadened
the nerve of pain; so that, despite all my misery, I fell asleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

THIRST.

I slept neither very long, nor very soundly.  My sleep was full of
dreams, all troubled and horrid; but not more horrid than the reality to
which I once more awoke.

After awaking, it was some time before I could think of where I was; but
on stretching out my arms, I was reminded of my situation: on every side
the wooden walls of my prison were within reach, and I could touch them
with my fingers all around.  I had little more than room sufficient to
turn myself in.  Small as was my body, another as big as myself would
almost have filled the space in which I was shut up.

On again comprehending my fearful situation, I once more gave utterance
to loud cries, shouting and screaming at the very highest pitch of my
voice.  I had not yet lost all hope that the sailors might hear me; for,
as already stated, I knew not what quantity of merchandise might be
stowed above me, nor did I think of the hatches of the lower deck being
fastened down.

Perhaps it was as well I did not know the whole truth, else the complete
despair which the knowledge must have produced might have driven me out
of my senses.  As it was, the intervals of despair already endured had
ever alternated with glimpses of hope; and this had sustained me, until
I became more able to look my terrible fate in the face.

I continued to cry out, sometimes for minutes at a time, and then only
now and again, at intervals; but as no response came, the intervals
between my spells of shouting became longer and longer, till at length,
resigning all hope of being heard, I allowed my hoarse voice to rest,
and remained silent.

For several hours after this, I lay in a sort of half stupor--that is,
my mind was in this state, but unfortunately my body was not so.  On the
contrary, I was racked with severe bodily pain--the pain of extreme
thirst--perhaps the most grievous and hardest to endure of all physical
suffering.  I never should have believed that one could be so tortured
by so simple a thing as the want of a drink of water, and when I used to
read of travellers in the desert, and shipwrecked mariners on the ocean,
having endured such agonies from thirst, as even to die of it, I always
fancied there was exaggeration in the narrative.  Like all English boys,
brought up in a climate where there is plenty of moisture, and in a
country where springs or runlets exist within a few hundred yards of any
given point, it is not likely I should ever have known thirst by
experience.  Perhaps a little of it at times, when at play off in the
fields, or by the sea-shore, where there was no fresh water.  Then I had
felt what we ordinarily call thirst--a somewhat unpleasant sensation in
the throat, which causes us to yearn for a glass of water.  But this
unpleasantness is very trifling, and is almost neutralised by the
anticipation we have of the pleasure to be experienced while allaying
it; for this, we know, we shall be able to accomplish in a very short
time.  Indeed, so trifling is the annoyance we feel from ordinary
thirst, that it is rare when we are compelled to stoop, either to the
ditch or the pond, for the purpose of assuaging it.  We are dainty
enough to wait, until we encounter a cool well or some limpid spring.

This, however, is not thirst; it is but thirst in its first and mildest
stage--rather pleasant from the knowledge you have of being able soon to
remove the pain.  Once take away this confidence--become assured that no
wells nor springs are near--no ponds, ditches, lakes, nor rivers--that
no fresh water is within hundreds of miles of you--no fluid of any kind
that will allay the appetite, and then even this incipient feeling of
thirst would at once assume a new character, and become sufficiently
painful to endure.

I may not have been so absolutely in need of drink at the time, for I
had not been so long without it.  I am sure I had often gone for days
without thinking of water, but this was just because I knew I might have
as much as I pleased at a moment's notice.  Now, that there was none to
be had, and no prospect of obtaining any, I felt for the first time in
my life that thirst was a real agony.

I was not again hungry.  The provisions which I had purchased with the
price of my sloop were not yet exhausted.  Some pieces of the cheese,
and several of the biscuits, still remained, but I did not venture to
touch them.  They would only have increased my thirst.  The last morsels
I had eaten had produced this effect.  My parched throat called only for
water--water at that moment appeared to me the most desirable thing in
the world.

I was in a situation somewhat similar to that of Tantalus.  Water I saw
not, but I heard it.  The hoarse rushing of the waves as they tore along
the sides of the ship was plainly audible.  I knew it was the water of
the sea--salt, and of no service to me, even could I have reached it--
but still it was the sound of water playing continually on my ears as if
to mock and tantalise me.

I need not recount the many painful reflections that passed through my
mind during the period that followed.  Suffice it to say, that for many
long hours I endured the terrible pain of thirst, without any hope of
being relieved from its torture.  I felt certain it was going to kill
me.  I knew not how soon, but I was sure that sooner or later it would
cause my death.  I had read of men living for days under the agony of
thirst, before life became extinct.  I tried to remember how many days
they had lived, but my memory was at fault.  Six or seven, I fancied,
was the longest period.  The prospect was appalling.  How could I endure
for six or seven days what I was then suffering?  How could I bear it
for even one day longer?  Oh! it was fearful to endure!  I hoped that
death would sooner come, and release me from such torture!

But a far brighter hope was nigh; and almost upon the instant that I had
given mental expression to that despairing wish, a sound fell upon my
ears that at once changed the current of my thoughts, and caused me to
forget the horror of my situation.

Oh! that sweet sound!  It was like the whisper of an angel of mercy!

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

A SWEET SOUND.

I was lying, or half-standing erect, with my shoulder against one of the
great ribs of the ship that traversed my little chamber from top to
bottom, dividing it into two nearly equal parts.  I had got into this
attitude merely as a change; for during the long days and nights since I
entered my confined quarters, I had tried every attitude I could think
of, in order to obtain freedom from the monotony of remaining too long
in one position.  I had tried sitting; also standing, though somewhat
bent; more generally I had lain down--now on one side, now on the
other--sometimes upon my back, and even sometimes on my face.

The position I had now assumed to rest me for a moment was a standing
one, though only half erect, as the height of my chamber was not equal
to my own length.  The point of my shoulder found a resting-place
against the rib of the vessel, and my head, drooping forward, was nearly
in contact with the side of the great butt, upon the swell of which my
hand rested.

Of course, my ear was close to the cask, almost touching its hard oaken
staves; and it was through these that the sound reached me which I have
described as having caused a sudden and pleasant reaction in my
feelings.

The sound itself was simple enough to understand.  I easily understood
it.  It was the "cluk-cluk" of water moving about inside the butt, its
motion being caused by the pitching of the ship, and a slight rolling of
the cask itself, which had not been steadily "cleated" in its place.

The first "cluk" was music to my ears; but I did not permit myself the
free enjoyment of it until I had fully satisfied myself as to the nature
of what I had heard.

I had raised my head with a start, and I now placed my cheek against the
oak staves, and stood with every nerve in my ear straining to catch the
sounds.  I waited a good while, for it was only at intervals that the
ship gave her heaviest lurches, and only then did the fluid within the
butt become disturbed.  I waited patiently, and my patience was
rewarded.  There again!--"cluk-cluk-cluk!"

"_Cluk-cleek-clee-chuckle-cluk_."  Beyond a doubt there was water in the
cask!

I could not restrain myself from uttering a shout of joy.  I felt like
one who had been for a long while in the act of being drowned, and who
at length had reached land, and was saved.

The sudden transition in my feelings almost caused me to faint; as it
was, I staggered back against the timbers, and dropped down in a state
of half-insensibility.

Not long did I remain so.  The acute torture soon prompted me to action;
and I rose again, and leant forward against the cask.

For what purpose?  To find the bung, of course; draw it out, and relieve
my thirst by a draught of water.  What other object could I have in
approaching it?

Alas! alas! my new-sprung joy fast fleeted away, almost as suddenly as
it had arisen!  Not quite so suddenly; for it took me some time to run
my fingers all over the swelling outlines of that great vessel; to pass
them around its ends as far as the heavy boxes would permit; to go over
the ground again and again, inch by inch, and stave by stave, with all
the careful touch of one who is blind.  Yes, it took me minutes to
accomplish this, and to become satisfied that the bung was not upon my
side of the cask--that it was either upon the top or the opposite side;
but, whether one or the other, it was beyond my reach, and it was
therefore as useless to me as if no such aperture existed.

In my search for the bung I had not forgotten the vent or tap-hole.  I
knew that every cask is provided with both these apertures--that one
should be in the side and the other in the head or end.  But my search
for the vent did not occupy two seconds of time.  I at once perceived
that both ends of the barrel, with the exception of a few inches near
the edge, were completely blocked up--one by the box, and the opposite
one by the other cask, already mentioned--the latter of which appeared
to be a counterpart of that in front of me.

It occurred to me that this other cask might also contain water, and I
proceeded to make a "reconnaissance" of it; but I could only "grope" a
small portion of its end, and there I felt only the smooth hard heading
of oak, that resisted my touch like a wall of rock.

It was only after all this had been accomplished, that I began once more
to feel the misery of my situation--once more to resign myself to
despair.  I was now tantalised even worse than ever.  I could hear at
intervals the "jabbling" of the water within two inches of my lips, and
was unable to taste it!  Oh! what I would have given for one drop upon
my tongue! one gill to moisten my throat, parched and burning like a
coal of fire!

If I had had an axe, with room to wield it, how I should have burst open
that huge cistern, and drank fiercely of its contents!  But I had no
axe, no weapon of any kind; and without one the thick oaken staves were
as impenetrable to me as if they had been solid iron.  Even had I
succeeded in reaching the bung or vent, how could I have got out the
stopper or vent-peg?  With my fingers it would plainly have been
impracticable; though in the eagerness of my first hope I had never
thought of this difficulty.

I believe that I once more sat or staggered down, and after a little
while rose up again, and made a fresh examination of the butt; but I am
not sure about what I did, for this new disappointment had quite
stupefied me, and I cannot exactly remember what followed for a good
while after.  I believe, however, that I performed these acts in a sort
of mechanical way; and also that I tried once more to move the box, and
pushed against it with all my strength; but, as before, to no purpose.

After this I must have lain down, and resigned myself to despair, that
again bound me in its hideous embrace.  How long I cannot tell; but its
spell was at length broken by a circumstance that once more put my
senses on the alert.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

TAPPING THE BUTT.

I had stretched myself lengthwise in my cell, and was lying upon my
right side, with my head resting upon my arm.  While thus placed, I felt
something pressing against my thigh, as though there was a protuberance
on the plank, or some piece of hard material under me.  It began to give
me pain, and I reached down my hand to remove it, at the same time
raising my body so that I might get at it.  I was a little surprised on
not finding anything, but the next moment I perceived that the hard
substance that annoyed me was not upon the planks, but inside the pocket
of my trousers!

What had I got there?  I remembered nothing, and might have supposed it
was some fragments of biscuit; but these I had deposited in the pockets
of my jacket, and they could not have got down to my trousers.  I felt
the article from the outside.  It was something very hard, and of a
longish shape; but I could not think what, for as yet I could remember
nothing that I had carried, with the exception of the biscuits and
cheese.

I had to raise myself up in order to insert my hand into the pocket, and
not until I had done so was I made acquainted with the nature of its
contents.  The hard oblong thing that had thus attracted my attention
was the knife given me by the sailor, Waters; and which, having thrust
mechanically into my pocket at the moment of receiving it, I had quite
forgotten.

The discovery caused me no particular emotion at the moment.  Simply a
thought of the kindness of the sailor as contrasted with the brutality
of the mate--just the same thought that passed through my mind at the
time the gift was presented.  With this reflection I drew forth the
knife, and flinging it down beside me, so that it might be out of the
way, I lay down on my side as before.

But I had scarcely stretched myself, when an idea crossed my mind, that
prompted me to start up again, as suddenly as if I had lain down upon
red-hot iron.  Unlike the latter, however, it was not a feeling of pain
that caused this quick movement, but one of pleasure--of joyful hope.
It had just occurred to me that with the knife I might make a hole in
the side of the cask, and thus reach the water!

So practicable did the design appear, that I had not a doubt of being
able to accomplish it; and the certainty I now felt of getting at the
precious contents of the cask, produced a complete revulsion in my
feelings--another sudden transition from despair to hope.  I groped
eagerly about, and soon recovered the knife.  I had scarce looked at it,
on receiving it from the hands of the friendly sailor.  Now I examined
it carefully--by the touch, of course--I felt it all over; and as well
as I was able by such a test, calculated its strength and fitness for
the work I had designed for it.

It was what is termed a "jack-knife," with a buckhorn handle, and but
one blade--a sort in common use among sailors, who usually carry them on
a string passed around the neck, and to which the knife is attached by a
hole drilled in the haft.  The blade was a square one, drawn to an
angular point, and shaped somewhat like the blade of a razor.  Like the
latter, too, the back was thick and strong, as I could tell by the
"feel."  I was gratified at perceiving this, for I knew that it would
require a strong blade to hew a hole through the tough staves of oak.

The instrument I held in my hands was the very thing for the purpose,
almost as good as a chisel.  Haft and blade were nearly of equal length,
and when opened out, they measured about ten inches together.

I have been thus particular in describing this knife; and from me it
merits all that has been said, and far more, in praise of its good
qualities; since, but for it, I should not now be alive to give an
account of its wonderful performances.

Well, having opened the knife, and drawn my fingers along the blade, and
felt it over and over again, in order to get acquainted with its form
and fitness; and then, having examined the back-spring, and tried its
strength by various openings and shuttings: having done all this, I went
to work upon the hard oak.

You will wonder that I wanted to take all these precautions.  You will
fancy that, tortured as I was by thirst, I would scarce have had so much
patience, but would have set about making the hole at once, in order the
sooner to get relief by a draught of the water.  Certainly my patience
was greatly tempted; but I never was what is called a rash boy, and in
that dark hour I felt more than ever in my life the necessity of
prudence and caution.  I knew that death--a horrid death from thirst--
awaited me, if I did not succeed in getting at the contents of the cask;
and should any accident happen to the knife, should the blade break, or
even the point be snapped off, this death would surely be my fate.  No
wonder, then, I took the precaution to examine well my weapon and
ascertain its strength.  I might have acted with more recklessness had I
reflected more.  Even had I been certain of procuring the water, what
then?  It could only save me from dying of thirst.  But hunger?  How was
that to be relieved?  Water was drink, but not food.  Where was I to
find food?

Strange to say, I did not think of food at that moment.  I was not yet
hungry, and the agony of thirst had hitherto been my only apprehension,
precluding all thoughts of the kindred appetite.  The prospect of the
nearer danger--that of perishing from the want of water--had hindered my
mind from dwelling on that which was more remote; and, strange to say, I
had as yet scarce given a thought to what shortly after became my
exclusive apprehension--the danger of dying by hunger.

It is certain, therefore, that had I reflected on this, I should have
proceeded with less prudence.  Fortunately, I did not reflect; but set
about the accomplishment of my purpose with due method and caution.

I selected a spot in the side of the cask, where one of the staves
appeared to be a little chafed and damaged.  I chose it better than
half-way from the top.  The cask might be only half full, though that
was not likely.  If so, it would be necessary for me to make my tap
below the surface of the water, otherwise I should have to make it over
again.  A hole would have been of no use to me, unless it entered below
the water-line.

Having chosen the spot, I at once set to work, and in a short while had
the gratification to find that I was rapidly hollowing out a space in
the thick stave.  The knife behaved admirably, and hard as was the oak,
it had to yield to the harder steel of that beautiful blade.  Bit by
bit, and chip by chip, the wood was detached before its keen point; and
as each fresh fibre was loosened, I seized it with my fingers and pulled
it off, to make way for the blade.

For more than an hour I kept on, of course working in darkness.  I had
by this time grown so familiar with darkness, that I he longer
experienced the feeling of helplessness one always has when suddenly
plunged into it.  My sense of touch seemed to have become keener and
more delicate, as is well-known to be the case with those who are blind.
I felt no difficulty on the score of light; and as it would have
availed but little for the work in which I was engaged, I never even
thought of its absence.

I did not progress as fast as a carpenter would have done with his
mortising chisel, or a cooper with his breast-bit or auger; but I had
the gratification of knowing that I was progressing.  Though slowly, I
perceived that the hollow was getting deeper and deeper; the stave could
not be more than an inch in thickness: surely I should soon be through
it?

I could have done the business in less time, had I been more reckless of
consequences; but I feared to strain too heavily upon the blade, and,
remembering the old adage, "The more haste the less speed," I handled
the precious tool with care.

It was more than an hour before I approached the inner surface of the
plank.  I knew that I was nearly through it from the depth to which I
had cut.

My hand now trembled as I worked.  My heart beat loudly against my ribs.
It was a moment of vivid emotion.  A fearful thought was in my mind--a
dread doubt was troubling me--a doubt that it was _water_!  This doubt
had occurred to me at an earlier period, but at no time did I feel it so
intensely as at that moment, just upon the eve of its solution.

Oh, heaven! should it not be water after all--should the contents of the
cask prove to be rum or brandy, or even wine!  I knew that none of these
would avail to quench my burning thirst.  For the moment they might, but
only for the moment; it would return fiercer and more craving than ever.
Oh! if it should be one, or any of them, then indeed was I lost--then
indeed might I yield up my last hope, and die as men have often died,
under the madness of intoxication!

I was close to the inner surface of the stave; moisture was already
oozing through the wood, where it had been penetrated by the point of
the blade.  I hesitated to make the last cut; I dreaded the result.

I hesitated but a short while.  The torture of my thirst impelled me on;
and plunging the blade deeply, I felt the last fibres yielding to its
point.  Almost at the same instant a cold spray rushed out, sprinkling
my hand upon the haft, and rushing far up my sleeve.

After giving the blade a twist, I drew it out, and then a jet shot
forth, as if forced from a syringe.  In another instant my lips covered
the vent, and I drank delicious draughts--not of spirits, not of wine--
but of water, cold and sweet as though it issued from a rock of
limestone!

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

THE VENT-PEG.

Oh! how I drank of that delicious water!  I thought I should never be
satisfied; but at length satiety was produced, and I thirsted no more.

The effect was not immediate--the first long draught did not relieve me,
or only for a time.  I longed again, and again placed my lips to the
spouting stream; and this I did repeatedly, until the longing returned
not, and the pangs of thirst were forgotten as if I had never felt them!

It is beyond the power of the imagination to form any idea of the agony
of thirst--mere fancy cannot realise it.  It must be experienced to be
known, but a proof of its intensity might be given by adducing the
horrible alternatives to which men have resorted when reduced to the
extremity of this torturing pain.  And yet, withal, as soon as the
craving is appeased, so soon as a sufficient quantity of water has
passed the lips, the pain exists no more, but ends with the suddenness
of a dream!  No other bodily ill can be so quickly healed.

My thirst was now gone, and I felt buoyant; but my habitual prudence did
not forsake me.  During the intervals when my lips were removed from the
vent, I had kept the water from running by pressing the end of my
fore-finger into the hole, and using it as a stopper.  Something
whispered me that it would be well not to waste the precious fluid, and
I resolved to obey the suggestion.  When I had finished drinking, I used
my finger as before; but after a little, I grew tired of making a
vent-peg of my finger, and looked about for something else.  I groped
all over the bottom timbers, but could find nothing--not the smallest
piece of stick within reach of my right hand.  It was the fore-finger of
my left that was playing vent-peg; and I dared not remove it, else the
water would have gushed forth in a tolerably thick, and therefore a
wasteful, jet.

I bethought me of a piece of cheese, and I drew what remained from my
pocket.  It was of too excellent a quality for the purpose, and crumbled
as I applied it to the aperture.  It was forced out of my fingers by the
strength of the spouting water.  A biscuit would have been equally
unserviceable.  What was I to do?

In answer to this interrogatory, it occurred to me that I might caulk
the hole with a rag from my jacket.  It was fustian, and would answer
admirably.

No sooner thought of, than with my knife I cut a piece from the flap,
and placing it over the hole, and punching it well in with the blade, I
succeeded in stopping the run, though I could perceive that it yet
leaked a little.  This, however, would not signify.  I only intended the
piece of cloth for a temporary stopper, until I could cast around, and
contrive something better.

I was once more free to reflect, and I need not tell you that my
reflections soon guided me back to despair.  To what purpose had I been
saved from death by thirst?  It would only be a protraction of my
misery--a few hours more of wretched existence--for certainly I must
meet death by hunger.  There was no alternative.  My little stock was
almost consumed.  Two biscuits, and a handful of cheese-crumbs, were all
that remained.  I might make another meal upon them--a very slight one;
and then--ay, then--hunger, gnawing hunger--weakness--feebleness--
exhaustion--death!

Strange to say that while suffering from thirst, I had not thought of
dying by hunger.  It would be more exact to say I had _scarce_ thought
of it.  At intervals, some glimpses of such a fate had been before my
mind's eye; but, as I have already stated, the stronger agony eclipsed
the weaker, and rendered it almost uncared for.

Now, however, that all fears of the former were removed, the dread of
the latter usurped its place.  The little interval of buoyant feeling
which I experienced, was merely the consequence of my unexpected relief
from a painful suffering, and only lasted until calm reflection
returned.  In a few minutes it was over, and my apprehension of death
became as acute as ever.  It is wrong to call it an apprehension, for it
was a positive certainty that stared me in the face.  I had not given
five minutes' thought to my situation, till I felt as certain of death
as I was that I still lived.  There was no hope of escape from my
prison--that I had given up long ago; and since I had nothing to eat,
and not the slightest hope of obtaining anything, how was I to live?  It
required no reasoning to find an answer to the question.

Perish I must, and by hunger--there was no alternative, unless I chose
to die by my own hand.  I was now aware that I possessed the means to
effect the latter, but strange to say, the madness that would have
prompted me to it, during the first throes of my despair, was gone; and
I could now contemplate death with a calmness that surprised me.

Three modes of dying were possible, and within my reach--thirst, hunger,
and suicide; and it may astonish you to know that the next thing I did
was to take into consideration which of the three it would be easiest to
endure.

This in reality was the leading idea in my mind as soon as I became
convinced that I _must_ die.  You need not be astonished.  Only imagine
yourselves in my situation, and you will perceive that such thoughts
were but natural.

The first of these three I rejected at once--it _could not be the
easiest_.  I had almost tried it, and my experience satisfied me that
existence could scarce be ended in a less gentle way.  Only upon the two
last, therefore, did my mind dwell; and for some time I sat coolly
weighing the one against the other.  Unfortunately, my young days had
been passed in a manner almost heathenish; and at that time I did not
even know that taking one's own life was a crime.  This consideration,
therefore, had no weight in the balance, and all I had to guide me was
the conjecture as to which of the two modes of death would be least
painful!

And I sat for a long while--coolly and calmly I sat--engaged in this
singular contemplation.

Good and evil must be instinctive.  Something within told me it would be
wrong to take away the life which God had given, even though the act
might save me from protracted pain.

This thought triumphed; and, mustering all my courage, I resolved to
await the event, whatever time it might please God to put a termination
to my misery.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

THE BISCUIT-BOX.

Having resolved, then, not to die by my own hand, I at the same time
came to the resolution to live as long as I could.  Though my two
biscuits would not have served me for another good meal, I determined to
make at least four out of them, and also to make the intervals between
each two as long as possible--just as long as I could endure without
eating.

The desire of prolonging my existence had been gradually growing upon
me, ever since I had been relieved from the torture of thirst; and it
had now become as strong as at any period of my life.  The truth is, I
had a presentiment that I should still survive--that I was not going to
perish of hunger; and this presentiment--though ever so slight, and
entertained only at intervals--helped to sustain me with a sort of faint
hope.

I can hardly tell why I should have entertained it at all, so really
hopeless appeared my situation.  But then I remembered that, but a few
hours before, the prospect of obtaining water was equally hopeless, and
now I possessed enough to drown myself in.  Fanciful as it may seem,
this idea had occurred to me--that is, to drown myself!  But the moment
before, while contemplating the easiest means of death, that of drowning
had actually come before my mind.  I had often heard that it was about
the least painful mode of terminating one's existence.  Indeed I might
say that I had myself made trial of it.

When saved by Harry Blew I _was_ drowned to all intents and purposes--so
far as the suffering was concerned--and I am sure that had I been then
permitted to go to the bottom, I should never have felt another pang.  I
was satisfied, therefore, that drowning was not so very hard a death;
and I actually had it in consideration whether I should not cut my way
into the great butt, and in this way end my misery!  This was during my
moments of despair, when I seriously contemplated self-destruction; but
these moments had passed, and I again felt an unaccountable desire that
my life should be prolonged.

Perhaps this change in my sentiments is not so inexplicable.  The
strange circumstance of my finding the water, with the consequent escape
from death by thirst, had something in it of a nature almost miraculous:
something that suggested the hand of Providence stretched forth in my
favour.  That hand could equally aid me in other ways--could equally
save me from starvation by hunger; and though I knew not how, it might
yet deliver me from my fearful prison.

Perhaps some ideas of this kind were passing in my mind, and it was from
these I drew that indefinable presentiment that I should yet escape.

I ate my half biscuit, and again drank of the water, for my thirst kept
returning upon me, though it no longer gave me uneasiness.  I caulked up
the vent as before, and then sat down in silence.

I had no idea of making any exertion.  I had no hope that anything I
could do would in the least degree alter my situation.  What could I do?
My hope--if hope I may call it--rested only upon fate, upon chance, or
rather, I should say, upon God.  But how the hand of Providence could be
interposed on my behalf, I had not the slightest idea.

Those dark, silent hours were hard to endure.  It was only at intervals
that I was cheered by the presentiment I have described; but in the far
longer intervals between, I felt gloomy and despairing.

Nearly twelve hours must have passed before I ate my second half
biscuit.  I waited as long as I could, but at length I was obliged to
yield to the calls of hunger.  The little morsel produced no
satisfaction.  It rather appeared to render my appetite more keen and
craving.  I drank copiously, but although the water filled my stomach,
it had no effect in stifling the sensations of hunger.

In about six hours after, I made another meal--another half biscuit
gone.  I could not endure longer; and when the tiny crumb was swallowed,
I knew not that I had eaten.  I was as hungry as ever!

Scarce three hours was the next interval.  My brave resolution to make
the two biscuits last for as many days was to no purpose.  Not one day
had passed, and the last morsel had disappeared.

What next?  What should I eat next?  I was as hungry as ever.

_I thought of my shoes_.  I had read of men sustaining themselves for a
time by chewing up their boots, their belts, their gaiters, their
pouches and saddles; in short, anything that was made of leather.
Leather is an animal substance, and, even when tanned and manufactured,
still possesses nutriment, though only in a slight degree.  With these
memories, then, I thought of my shoes.

I was stooping down to unlace them, when I was startled by something
cold that struck me upon the back of the head.  It was a stream of
water.  The rag of fustian had been pressed out, and the water was
escaping.  The jet had fallen on the back of my head, just upon the bare
part of the neck, and its coldness, together with the suddenness of the
thing, caused me to start up in some surprise.

Of course, my astonishment ceased as soon as I perceived what it was
that had startled me.

I placed my finger in the aperture, and groping about for the rag, soon
found it, and recaulked the cask.

This had now happened more than once, and much water had been wasted.
The rag had become loosened by the action of the water, and was pressed
out.  It occurred to me that it might occur again while I was asleep,
and most of the water in the butt might run off, and thus get lost
altogether.  Some precaution, therefore, must be taken--I must find a
better stopper.

With this idea I went to work to contrive one.  I searched all around
the "floor" of my cabin in hopes of picking up some stray chip, but no
such thing was there.

I bethought me of cutting a splint from one of the great ribs of the
ship; and I made the attempt with my knife, but the wood was hard oak
and painted, and defied all my efforts to split off a piece large enough
for my purpose.  In the end, no doubt, I should have succeeded; but just
then it occurred to me that I could more easily get a supply from the
box.  This being a rough packing-case, was no doubt made of common deal;
and from the touch I was convinced that it was so.  Of course, being
much softer than the oak, and more easily split with a knife, I should
have a better chance of procuring what I wanted; and, moreover, a piece
of deal would do better for a stopper.

Shifting myself round, therefore, so as to face towards the box, I began
to feel all over it for the best place to use my knife upon.

At one of the corners I perceived the point of advantage, where one of
the boards slightly projected above the level of the top.  Into this
board I sunk my blade, pressing it downward, and causing it to act both
as a wedge and a chisel.  I had given but one push upon it, when I
perceived that the board was loose.  The nails which had fastened it had
either been broken off or drawn out, probably by the rough mauling it
had got while being stowed.  Whether or not, I felt that it was quite
loose, and moved under my touch.

I at once drew out the blade.  I saw that I could pull off the board
with my hands, and it would then be easier to split off the piece that I
wanted.  I laid the knife down, and applying my fingers to the
projecting end of the board, I seized it firmly, and pulled with all my
might.

It yielded to my strength.  There was some creaking and crackling, as
the nails were drawn out or broken; and then a sound reached my ears
that caused me to desist and listen.  It was the sound of some hard
objects escaping from out the box and falling with a rattle upon the
timbers beneath.

I was curious to know what these objects were, and letting go my hold, I
stretched my hands downward, and groped for what had been spilled.  I
lifted two of similar shape and size, and as I ran my fingers over them,
I could not restrain myself from giving utterance to a shout of joy.

I have said that my touch had grown almost as delicate as that of a
blind man; but had it been ever so obtuse, I could have told at that
moment, what were the two flat round objects which I held between my
fingers.  There was no mistaking the "feel" of them.  They were
_biscuits_!

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

A CASK OF BRANDY.

Yes, biscuits--each of them as large as a small plate, and nearly half
an inch in thickness, smooth and round and pleasant to the touch, and of
a rich brown colour--I could tell the colour, for I knew from the feel
that they were real _sea_ biscuits; or, as they are generally styled,
"sailor's biscuits," to distinguish them from the white "captain's
biscuits," to which, in my opinion, they are superior--far sweeter and
more wholesome.

How sweet they tasted at that moment! for on the very instant that I got
hold of them, did I raise one to my mouth, and bite a large piece out of
its smooth circumference.  Delicious morsel! a whole one was soon ground
into crumbs and swallowed, and then a second, and a third, and a fourth,
and a fifth, and perhaps still another! for I never thought of keeping
count, so long as hunger urged me to eat.  Of course, I washed them down
with copious libations from the butt.

I remember no meal eaten during all my life that I enjoyed with so much
relish, as this one of biscuits and water.  It was not simply from the
delight experienced by satisfying the cravings of a hungry stomach--
which of itself, as every one knows, is a high source of enjoyment--but
along with it, was the pleasure derived from my discovery--the
delightful consciousness, still fresh before my mind, that my life which
but the moment before I held as lost, was still to be spared me.  Beyond
a question, the hand of Providence _had_ interposed to save my life.

I had no doubt that this was so.  With such store both of food and
drink, I could live, despite the darkness of my dungeon, for weeks, for
months--until the voyage should come to an end, and the ship be emptied
of its cargo.

I felt sure of safety, as I made an inspection of my provision chest.
They came pouring forth, those precious cakes, spilling out at the
touch, and cracking together like castanets.

Their rattle was music to my ears.  I thrust my hands into the box,
delighting to bury my fingers amid the rich profusion of its contents;
as the miser joys to revel among his heaps of gold.  I thought I should
never tire groping among them, feeling how thick and large they were,
and drawing them out from the box, and putting them back into it, and
tumbling them about in every way.  I acted just like a child with its
drum and its ball, its top and its orange, rolling them from side to
side; and it was a long time before I grew tired of this childlike play.

Long--I am sure I must have gone on in this way for nearly an hour,
before the excitement into which the discovery had put me cooled down,
and I could act and think calmly.

It is difficult to describe the sensation one feels, when suddenly
rescued from the jaws of death.  Escape from an impending danger is
different, as one is not certain that the danger would end in death; for
there are few kinds of peril that produce the conviction that death must
be the event.  When this conviction once enters the mind, and after that
the self-expecting victim survives, the sudden reaction from despair to
joy is a feeling of such intense happiness, as almost to cause
bewilderment.  Men ere now have died of such joy, while others have gone
mad.

I neither died nor went mad; but could my behaviour have been observed
for some time after breaking open the biscuit-box, it might have been
_supposed_ that I was mad.

The first thing that restored me to calmer reflection, was the discovery
that the water was running from the cask, in a full jet.  The aperture
was quite open.  I was chagrined at making this observation--I may say,
terrified.  I knew not how long the waste had been going on; the _sough_
of the sea outside prevented me from hearing it, and the water, as soon
as it fell, filtered off under the timbers of the vessel.  Perhaps it
had been running ever since I last drank; for I had no recollection of
having put back the rag stopper.  My excitement had hindered me from
thinking of it.  If that were really the case, then there had been much
waste, and the thought filled me with dismay.

But an hour ago, I should have not so much regarded this loss of water.
Then I knew there would still be drink enough to outlast the food--to
last as long as I expected to live.  Now, however, my altered prospects
caused me to regard the circumstance with very different ideas.  I might
be months alive, and still cooped up behind the cask.  Every drop of its
contents might be required.  If it was to run short before the ship
reached her port, then I should be brought back to my original position,
and death by thirst would be my fate after all.  No wonder, I perceived
with dismay that the stopper was out, and the stream was flowing!

I lost not a moment in pressing my fingers into the hole, and cutting
off the run.  Then once more corking with the rag, I proceeded to carry
out my original design, of making a proper vent-peg of wood.

A piece was easily obtained from the board I had detached from the lid
of the box--for it was the lid that was towards me; and the soft deal,
yielding to the keen blade of my knife, was soon shaped into a conical
peg, that fitted exactly.

Brave sailor! how I blessed thee for thy gift!

I blamed myself much for this piece of negligence; and I felt regret,
too, that I had tapped the cask so low down.  However, the latter had
been itself a measure of precaution; and at the time it was done, I had
but one thought, and that was to allay my thirst as quickly as possible.

It was fortunate I noticed the jet as soon as I did.  Had it been
allowed to continue running, until it stopped of itself--in other words,
had the surface of the water sunk to the level of the tap-hole--then
would there have been but little left, scarce enough to have lasted me
for a week.

I endeavoured to ascertain what had been the amount of wastage, but I
could arrive at no satisfactory conclusion.  I sounded the cask, by
striking it in different places with the butt end of my knife, but I
derived little knowledge from this.  The creaking of the ship's timbers,
and the rush of the waves, prevented any observation of this kind from
being definite or accurate.  I fancied that the blows gave back a very
hollow sound, as if a large space within was empty.  If it were a fancy,
it was far from being a pleasant one; and I gave over my "soundings"
with a considerable feeling of uneasiness.  Fortunately the tap was a
very small hole, and the jet from it of no great thickness.  As near as
I could tell by the touch, and from the repeated application I had made
to it with my lips, this could not have been over the thickness of my
little finger, which at that time was not of much greater circumference
than a goose's quill.  I knew that such a tiny stream would be a long
while in spending the contents of so large a tank; and I endeavoured to
recall to mind how long it might have been since I last drank.  In this,
however, I was not successful.  It seemed but a short while to me, but
excited as I had been, and confused in my ideas, it might have been an
hour, or even more.  I was completely baffled in any calculation that I
attempted.

I remained for a considerable time, pondering upon some scheme by which
I might determine the quantity of water that still remained in the cask,
for about this I was now most anxious.  Only one hour before, food had
been the source of my uneasiness; before that it had been drink; and now
once more drink was my trouble, for of meat I had a plenty.

I remembered having heard that brewers, coopers, and others whose
business lies among the great wine vaults of the docks, had a way of
telling pretty nearly the contents of a barrel of liquid, without
submitting them to actual measurement, but I had not heard how they
managed the matter.  I regretted not having been told.

I thought of a plan by which I could have ascertained, to a nicety; but
I lacked the proper instrument to put it in execution.  I understood
enough of hydraulics to know that water will rise to its own level if
guided by a pipe or tube; I knew, therefore, that if I had only
possessed a piece of hose, I could have attached it to the tap-hole, and
thus discovered how high the water stood in the cask.

But where was the hose or other pipe to be had?  Of course I could not
get at what I desired in this way, and I relinquished the idea without
giving it farther consideration.

Just at this moment a better plan suggested itself, and I proceeded to
put it in execution.  It was so simple, I wondered I had not thought of
it before.  It was neither more nor less than to cut another hole
through the staves, higher up, and if need be another, and so on, until
I reached a point where the water ceased to run.  This would give me the
knowledge I wanted.

Should I make my first hole too low, I could easily stop it with a peg,
and so with all the others.

It is true that I was laying out for myself a considerable amount of
work, but I rather liked this than otherwise.  While employed, I should
feel much happier, as my occupation would enable me the better to pass
the time, and keep me from thinking too much of my miserable situation.

But just as I was about to commence my experiments on the butt, it
occurred to me that I had better try the other one--that which stood at
the end of my little chamber.  Should this also prove to be a
water-cask, then I need be no longer uneasy, for surely two such great
vessels should contain enough to supply me during the longest voyage
that ever was made.

Without more ado, then, I turned upon the second cask, and commenced
drilling a hole in the end of it.  I was not so excited as before, for I
did not feel that so much depended upon the result.  For all that, it
caused me a good deal of disappointment, when, on getting the point of
my blade through to the inside, I discovered that the stream that came
jetting out was not water but pure brandy, which proved that it was a
brandy-cask I had tapped.

I again turned my attention to the water-butt; for I was now more
anxious than ever to ascertain how much it contained, since on this
depended my future safety.

Choosing a stave near the middle of the cask, I proceeded in the same
manner as I had done when making my first incision; and working
constantly for an hour or more, I felt the thin shell springing before
the point of my knife.  My apprehensions were acute, though not so much
as on the former occasion.  Then it was a matter of life or death,
almost upon the instant; now the contingency was more remote, and not
quite so definite or certain.  Withal I could not help a strong feeling
of anxiety, nor could I avoid uttering an exclamation of delight, when I
felt the cold spring of water gushing along the blade of my knife.  I
soon closed the slight aperture, and re-commenced my drilling process
upon the next stave higher up.

This I also penetrated in due time, and was again rewarded for my
patient labour by getting my fingers wet, from the inside.

Another step higher, with a result like.

Another, and the water came not.  No matter, I was now far up near the
top of the cask.  I had found water at the last boring but one.  It must
stand still higher within.  The cask, therefore, was more than three
parts full.  Thank Heaven!  There would be enough to last me for many
months!

I felt satisfied with the result, and, sitting down, I ate another
biscuit with as much relish and contentment as if I had been dining upon
turtle and venison at the table of a Lord Mayor.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

GOING ON "RATIONS."

I was full of complacence.  There was nothing now to cause me
uneasiness.  The prospect of being cooped up for six months might have
been very unpleasant under other circumstances, but after the far more
terrible dread of horrid death from which I had just been delivered, it
appeared as nothing; and I resolved to bear my long imprisonment with
patience and resignation.

Six months I would have to endure this gloomy confinement--six months,
at the least.  There was but little probability of my being released
before the expiration of a half-year: a long term--long and hard to be
borne either by captive or criminal--hard even in a lighted chamber,
with bed and fire, and well-cooked food, in daily converse with human
beings, and the sound of human voices almost continually ringing in your
ears.  Even with these advantages, to be shut up for six months is a
painful experience.

How much more painful would mine be, cramped up in close quarters, where
I could neither stand erect nor lie at full length; neither couch, nor
fire, nor light to give me comfort; breathing foul air, reclining upon
the hardest of oak, living upon bread and water--the simplest diet upon
which a human being could exist, and that unvaried by the slightest
change, with no sound ever reaching my ear save the almost ceaseless
creaking of the ship's timbers, and the monotonous surging of the ocean
wave--certainly six months of such an existence was not a pleasant
prospect to contemplate.

Withal I regarded it not.  I was still too happy at my deliverance from
death, to be nice about the kind of life that was before me, though, as
time passed, most probably I should grow tired enough of such a dreary
existence.

Now I was all joy and confidence.  Not so confident, however, as to rely
upon conjecture--upon a mere guess as to the amount of my means of
existence.  Upon this point I was determined to be fully assured, and
that without further loss of time.  My stores, both of food and drink, I
resolved to submit to actual measurement, in order to be satisfied as to
whether they would be sufficient to last me till the end of the voyage.

Hitherto I had felt no apprehension upon this head.  Such a large box of
biscuit, and such an inexhaustible well of water, could never be
expended.  This was my first idea; but, after a little reflection, I
began to have doubts.  The constant drop will wear a hole in the hardest
stone, and will also empty the largest cistern, if time be allowed it;
and six months was a long time--nearly two hundred days--a very long
time.

As I reflected thus, I grew a little uneasy as to the quantity both of
my food and drink; and to put an end to all doubt upon the subject, I
came to the above determination of measuring them.  I recognised the
prudence of such a course.  If it turned out that there were plenty of
both, and to spare, I should no longer be troubled with doubts; and if,
on the other hand, there was a danger of either running short, I should
then adopt the only precaution possible, and at once put myself on
_short rations_!

When I look back, and think of my cunning at this early age, I am now
astonished at it; but it is surprising what forethought even a child
will exhibit, when placed in circumstances where self-preservation calls
forth all its instincts and energies.

Without more ado, then, I proceeded to make my calculation.  I allowed
for time, the full six months; or in other terms, a period of 183 days.
I did not even subtract the time--about a week, since we had set sail.
That I set aside to my advantage, allowing the full period of 183 days,
lest I might err by making the time too short.  Surely, in six months,
the vessel would reach her port, and her cargo be discharged?  Surely, I
might depend upon this?

No, not surely.  I was far from being confident on this head.  I knew
that a voyage to Peru was usually reckoned a six months' voyage; but I
was not certain whether this was considered the average time; whether it
would be accounted a long voyage or a short one; and, therefore, I had
no confidence in basing my calculation on such uncertain data.

There was the danger of delay from calms in the tropical latitudes,
through which we should have to pass--from storms off Cape Horn,
renowned among mariners for the fickleness of its wind--other obstacles
might be encountered, and the voyage protracted far beyond the period
above mentioned.

I was not without such apprehensions, as I proceeded to examine my
resources.  To ascertain how long my stock of food would last, was
simple and easy.  I had only to count the biscuits, and find out their
number.  I knew their size, and that I could live on two a day, though I
was not likely to grow fat on the allowance.  Even one a day, or still
less than that, would sustain life; and I resolved to be as sparing of
them as I could.

I soon ascertained the exact number.  The box, as nearly as I could
guess, was about a yard long and two feet wide, by about one foot in
depth; for I noticed that it was a shallow one set upon its edge.  Had I
known its exact dimensions, I could have told the number of biscuits
without counting them.  Each was a little less than six inches in
diameter, and of an average thickness of three-fourths of an inch.
Therefore, packed as they had been, there would be exactly 32 dozen in
the case.

But counting them over one by one was no labour, on the contrary, it
afforded pleasure to me; and drawing them forth out of the box, I told
them off in dozens.  I found that 32 dozen was the number, wanting
eight; but the odd eight I was able to account for satisfactorily.  I
knew where _they_ had gone.

Thirty-two dozen would make 384 biscuits; and, now that I had eaten
eight of them, there remained exactly 376; which, at the rate of two per
diem, would last for 188 days.  True, 188 days would be a little over
six months, but as I had not a clear confidence about the length of the
voyage being only six months, I perceived that I must go on short
rations, of less than two biscuits a day.

What, thought I, if there should be another box of biscuits behind the
one I had emptied?  That would secure me against all chances, and make
my mind easy at once and for ever.  What if there should be another?
Was it unlikely?  No: the reverse.  In the stowage of a ship's hold,
there is not much order observed as regards the sort of goods that are
placed in juxta-position, but rather is regard paid to the size and
shape of the packages; and things of a miscellaneous kind are often
stowed together, according to convenience, as the particular piece--
whether box, bale, or barrel--may fit into a particular space.
Notwithstanding that I knew all this, still it was probable enough that
two boxes of biscuits had been placed side by side.

How was I to ascertain?  I could not get round the box, even now that I
had emptied it; for, as already stated, it blocked up the whole aperture
through which I had originally squeezed myself.  Neither could I get
over the top nor under it.

"Ha!"  I exclaimed, as a thought suddenly suggested itself, "I shall go
_through_ it."

The idea was feasible enough.  The board which I had already pulled off,
left an aperture wide enough to admit my body.  This had been part of
the top or lid.  I could, therefore, get my head and shoulders inside,
and with my knife cut a large hole in the bottom opposite.  That would
enable me to ascertain whether another biscuit-box was beyond.

I was not slow in putting my new design into execution.  I first widened
a little more the aperture in the top, so that I could work more
conveniently; and then I attacked the bottom with my knife.  The soft
deal yielded pretty freely, but I had not made much progress in this
way, when a better plan came into my head.  I perceived that the bottom
boards of the case were only nailed on--perhaps a little more securely
than those of the top, but still not fast enough to resist the blows of
a mallet or hammer.  I had neither one nor the other, but I thought of a
tolerable substitute--my heels.  Laying myself, therefore, in a
horizontal position, and placing my hands against the great rib to act
as a support, I thrust both my feet inside the box.  In this position I
was able to administer such a series of lusty kicks upon the bottom
boards, that one of them soon sprung its nails, and was pressed outward,
until I felt it could be driven no farther on account of some weighty
impediment beyond.

I now got back to my old position, and examined the progress I had made.
I saw that I had dislodged a wide board, so far as the nails were
concerned; but it still stood upright, and prevented me feeling what was
behind it.

Using all my strength, I succeeded in pressing it to one side and then
downward, until an aperture was obtained, through which I could thrust
my hands.  Sure enough, a box was on the other side--a rough
packing-case, resembling that I had just broken through--but whether of
like contents had yet to be determined.  It would not take long to tell
what it contained.  I once more exerted my strength, and succeeded in
pressing the loose board quite into a horizontal position, so that it no
longer obstructed me.  The other box was scarce two inches beyond; and
falling to upon it with my blade, I soon penetrated through its side.

Alas! my hopes of finding more biscuit were doomed to disappointment.
Some woollen substance--either coarse cloth or blankets closely-packed--
filled the inside, feeling as solid to the touch as a piece of timber.
There were no biscuits there; and I was now convinced I should have to
take to the short rations, and make the best of what I already
possessed.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

GAUGING THE WATER-CASK.

My next operation was to put all the biscuits back into the box, for
strewed loosely about as they were, they interfered seriously with the
accommodation of my cabin, which by their bulk was diminished more than
half.  In fact, I had scarce room to turn myself in, so long as they
remained outside the case, and I therefore lost no time in restoring
them to their former place of deposit.  To make the box hold them all, I
was obliged to pack them in regular rows, as they had been before; with
this difference, that the case having been tilted on its side, the
biscuits had been lying with their edges in a horizontal position,
whereas I now built them vertically--the proper mode of packing such
goods, and the way in which they had been placed when they came from the
stores of the baker.  Of course, it mattered not which way, as regards
the space they would take up.  On the flat side, or on their edges, it
was all the same; and when I counted in the thirty-one dozen and four
odd, the box was full, with only a little empty space in the corner,
which the eight missing biscuits had formerly occupied.

So, then, I had taken stock of my larder, and now knew the exact amount
of provision I had to depend upon.  With two biscuits _per diem_ I could
stand siege for a little better than six months.  It would not be high
living, yet I resolved to do with even less, for I could not feel
certain that six months would be the full period of my privations.  I
formed the resolution to make two a day the rule, and never to exceed
that number; and on such days as I felt best able to bear hunger, I
should stint my measure a quarter or half a biscuit, or even a whole
one, if I found it possible.  This economic purpose, if successfully
carried out, would throw forward the day of absolute want to a much
longer period than six months.

My food being thus rationed out, it appeared equally necessary that I
should know the quantity of water I might use each day.  To ascertain
this, at first appeared to be beyond my power.  Apparently I had no
means of measuring what remained in the butt.  It was an old wine or
spirit cask--for such are the vessels generally used on board ships to
carry water for their crews--but what kind of wine-cask I could not
tell, and therefore I could not even guess at the quantity it might have
contained when full.  Could I only have established this point, I should
then have been able to make a rough calculation as to what had been
already spent; rough, but perhaps sufficiently precise for my purpose.

I remembered well the _table of liquid measure_--I had good reason to
remember it--the most difficult of all the tables to commit to memory.
I had received many a smart rodding, before I was able to repeat it
over; but I at length succeeded in getting it _pit-pat_.

I knew that wine-casks are of very different dimensions, according to
the sort of wine they contain: that under the different names of
"pipes", "butts", "hogsheads", "puncheons", "tuns," and "pieces," they
hold more or less, from the hogshead of hock of thirty gallons to the
great tun of wine containing 252.  That the spirits--brandy, whiskey,
rum, gin; and the wines--sherry, Port, Madeira, Teneriffe, Malaga, and
many other sorts, are transported in casks of different capacity, but
usually containing about 100 gallons.  I even remembered the number of
gallons of each, so well had my teacher--a great statistician--drilled
me in "liquid measure;" and could I only have known what sort of wine
had once been carried inside of my water-butt, I could have told its
measure in a moment.  I fancied there was the "bouquet" of sherry about
it, and that would have made it a "pipe" of 108 gallons; but it might
have been a Madeira pipe, which holds only 92, or Cape, or Marsala,
which are about the same size.  It might have been Port, which would
have stretched its capacity to 115, or a puncheon of Scotch whiskey,
some of which contain 120 gallons.  I did not think it had been this
last, else I should have known the peculiar "twang" which Scotch whiskey
gives to water, however diluted it may be.  Certainly, there was a
perceptible flavour of some liquor, but I was too young to be
experienced in drinks, and I learnt nothing from this.  No doubt a
wine-taster could have told in an instant what sort had formerly filled
the barrel, for an old wine-cask will retain the particular "bouquet" of
the wine it had carried after performing several voyages as a
water-butt.

I drew out the stopper, and tasted the water.  I had not thought of
noticing its flavour before.  It appeared to me to be sherry; but as I
have said, it might be Madeira, which would make a difference of sixteen
gallons--an important item in a calculation such as I was desirous of
making.  I therefore could not trust to my judgment to make this the
basis of a computation, and I had to think of some other device.

Fortunately in my school arithmetic there were a few hints upon
mensuration, and the good master had instructed us in these.

I have often wondered that the simple but useful problems of this
branch, of science are so much neglected, while the most useless and
irrational rhymes are hammered into the heads of poor unfortunate boys.
I have no hesitation in giving my opinion, that a knowledge of simple
mensuration, which may be obtained in a week's study, is of more value
to an individual--or to the whole human race, if you will--than a
perfect scholarship in all the dead languages of the world.  Greek and
Latin!  These have been very barriers to the advancement of knowledge!

Well, I was saying that my old teacher had taught me a few simple
problems in mensuration; and fortunately I still held them in my memory.
I could tell the solid contents of a cube, of a parallelopipedon, of a
pyramid, of a globe (nearly), of a cylinder, and of a cone.  The last
was the figure that now interested me.

I knew that a barrel was a pair of cones--that is, truncated cones or
_frustums_--with the bases resting against each other.  Of course, when
I was taught how to measure a cone, I was also instructed to do the same
with the frustum of one.

To ascertain the capacity of my butt, therefore, it was only necessary
for me to know its length--or its half-length would do as well--its
circumference at either end, and also its circumference around the
thickest part or "swell."  These three measurements given me, I could
tell to a quart how much water would fill it--in other words, I could
calculate how many cubic inches of water it should contain.  Knowing
this, I should simply have to divide by 69 and a small fraction over,
and this would give me the number of quarts, which another simple
division of 4 would reduce to gallons, if I required to use this
standard.

I perceived, therefore, that if I could get the three measurements, I
could soon tell the capacity of my butt; but therein lay the difficulty.
How were these measurements to be obtained?

I might have obtained the length, for that was before me from end to
end; but how should I get the circumference either of the middle or of
either end?  I could not reach over the top, nor around the ends.  Both
directions were blocked up against me.

Another difficulty stared me in the face.  I had nothing wherewith to
measure them--neither rule nor tape--no standard by which I could
determine the number of feet or inches; so that even had all sides been
free to me, I should still have been in a dilemma.

I was determined, however, not to yield the point until I had given it a
good thinking.  The occupation would help me to pass the time; and, as I
have already hinted, this was a matter of primary importance.  Besides,
that faithful old schoolmaster had many a time impressed upon us the
valuable truth, that perseverance often finds success where success
appears impossible.  Remembering this bit of admonition, I resolved not
to regard the thing as impracticable, until I had exhausted all my
powers of contrivance.

I persevered, therefore, and in less time than I must take in describing
it, I hit upon a plan for "gauging" the butt.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

MY MEASURING-RULE.

The details of my plan suggested themselves in the following order:--

While examining the cask, to find if there was not some means of
ascertaining its different diameters, I discovered the very way itself.
All I wanted was a straight rod or stick, of sufficient length to reach
quite across the butt at its thickest part.  It was plain to me, that by
inserting such a stick into a hole in one side of the cask, and passing
it on till it touched the staves on the other side, at a point
diametrically opposite, I could thus obtain the exact measurement of the
diameter of that part of the vessel, since the portion of the rod
reaching from side to side would be the diameter itself.  The diameter
once obtained, it needed only to multiply by three to get the
circumference.  But in the calculation which I was desirous of making,
it was the diameter itself I wanted to find, and not the circumference.
I only thought of the latter, because, under ordinary circumstances,
when a cask is bunged up, it is easier to measure the circumference of
the swell than its diameter.  In no case does it signify which, as the
figure three will always reduce the one to the other, near enough for
most practical purposes, though not mathematically exact.

Now, it so chanced that one of the holes I had cut through the staves
had been made in the very middle of the swell, where the butt was
thickest.  Therefore a straight stick passed into this hole, and pushed
on till it touched the opposite side, would give the greatest diameter
of the cask.

You may imagine that this might have been obtained by simply planting
the stick in a vertical position _outside_ the butt, and notching it at
a point on a level with the top of the vessel.  True, this might have
been done had I been operating with a barrel lying upon a plain surface,
with nothing around it to obstruct me, and plenty of light to observe
the true level.  Even thus it would have been rough guess work, and not
to be depended on when a calculation was to be made involving life or
death in its consequences--for such it really did involve--at least, I
supposed so.  But the butt was so placed, resting upon the timbers of
the ship, with its swollen side sunk between them, that I could not have
measured it in this manner.  Even though I might have marked a rod on a
line with its top, I could not have planted the other end so as to be on
a level with its base.

There seemed no other way to get at the thing than by inserting a
straight stick into the hole, and thus measure the diameter; nor did I
trouble myself about any other, as this appeared to be the best plan I
could adopt.

Where was I to find my stick--my measuring-rule?  That is your question,
is it not?

It is easily answered.  The deal board that had formed part of the
biscuit-box would supply me with the material, and out of that I could
soon make one.  No sooner thought of than I set about it.

The board was but a little over two feet in length, and of course not
long enough to reach across the great cask, which at its thickest part
appeared four or five.  But a very little ingenuity sufficed to overcome
this obstacle.  I should only have to split off three thin pieces, and
by splicing their ends together, I should get a stick of length
sufficient.

I did so.  Fortunately, the deal was cut nicely with the grain of the
wood; and in splitting it, I guided the blade of my knife so as not to
let it run out at the edges.

I succeeded in getting three pieces of the thickness I wanted; and,
after shaving off their angles, and making them clean and trim, I cut
their ends with a slant for the splice.

The next thing was to obtain two pieces of string, and this was the
easiest thing in the world.  I wore upon my feet a pair of little
"buskins" that laced up to the very ankle.  The laces were thongs of
calfskin, each of them a full yard long.  They were just the thing; and,
drawing them out of the holes, I completed the splicing, and now held in
my hands a straight stick full five feet in length--quite long enough, I
conceived, to reach across the thickest part of the butt, and slender
enough to go into the hole--which I had already widened a little to
receive it.

"So far good," thought I; "I shall now insert the measuring-stick, and
find my diameter."

I rose to my feet to carry out this design, but I need not describe the
mortification I felt on perceiving that the first of these operations,
which would appear to be the simplest of all, could not be performed.
At the first trial I saw that it was quite impossible.  It was not
because the hole was too small, or the stick too large.  I had made no
mistake about this; but my miscalculation was in regard to the space in
which I had to work.  Lengthways my little chamber was nearly six feet,
but crossways little more than two; and up where the hole was--in which
I intended to insert the measuring-rod--it was still less.  Of course to
get the stiff piece of stick into the cask was plainly impossible--
without bending it, so that it must break--for the dry deal would have
snapped through like the shank of a clay pipe.

I was a good deal chagrined at not having thought of this before; but I
was still more vexed at the idea of being obliged to abandon the design
of making the measurement I had intended, for before reflecting I
believed that this was to be the result.  A little further
consideration, however, helped to a new plan, proving the importance of
not arriving too hastily at conclusions.  I discovered a way of getting
in the stick to its full length, without either breaking or bending it.

This could be effected by taking it to pieces again, then first
inserting one of the pieces, and holding it till the second could be
spliced on to its end, and then pushing both into the cask, and joining
the third piece in a similar fashion.

About this there appeared no difficulty, and the result proved there was
none; for in less than five minutes after conceiving it, I had carried
the design into execution, and the measuring-rod stood inside the
barrel, with one end projecting some inches on the outside.

Holding this end carefully in my hand, I caused the other to play about
on the opposite side, until I felt convinced that it touched the point
that was exactly _vis-a-vis_ with the aperture; and then steadying the
stick, I notched it with my knife, on a level with the outer surface of
the stave.  To calculate from this notch would not be correct, as it
would be more than the diameter of the cask--that is, in reference to
what it would contain--but I had no intention of doing so.  I should
make allowance for the thickness of the stave, and that would give me
the measurement I wanted.

Having made my mark, I drew forth my measuring-rod, piece by piece, as
it had been plunged in.  I took care as I did so to notch both the
splices, so that I might be able to put them together again in the exact
place where they had been while making the measurement.  All this
attention to such minute particulars was of importance, and I knew it to
be so, for the mistake of even a quarter of an inch in the length of my
diameter would cause a difference of many gallons in the result.  Most
certainly, then, was it of consequence that I should be precise in my
_data_.

I now had the diameter of the swell; the next thing was to get that of
the head, or end.  About this there was less difficulty--in fact, not
any.  It was obtained in a few seconds.

Though I could not myself get round either of the ends of the butt, nor
even my arm, I could pass the rod around them, and in this way measure
them.  Even had there not been space to admit the measuring-stick, I
should have found a means--by simply drilling another hole with my
knife, close to either end, and gauging as before.  But this would have
occupied time, and it was not necessary to do so, since the stick passed
along the head of the butt without any obstruction, till its end rested
against the projecting rim on the opposite side.  I had nothing to do
but assure myself that its point was fair in the middle, and then make
my mark as before.

The length of the butt was yet to be ascertained; and this, though
apparently a simple operation, cost me a good deal of consideration,
before I could get at it with any degree of exactness.  You may fancy
that it would have been easy enough to get at the length, by just
placing the stick parallel to the cask, and notching it square with the