nd
more miserable and anxious. I could get no news from my jailers,
nor did I ever see the overseer in whose house I was; and I
suffered from a constant dread that Vetch's plans, whatever they
were, were maturing, and that it would soon be too late for any
intervention.

On the third night of my imprisonment in the overseer's house (the
fourth since my arrival) I was very restless. My enforced
inactivity, and the lack of fresh air, were producing the natural
effect; every night I slept less, waking frequently, to toss and
heave until I sank again into a troubled slumber.

In one of these intervals, I heard a scratching sound--just such a
sound as a mouse makes behind the wainscot. I had not noticed it
before, and it caused me nothing but irritation now, for when a man
is wakeful, such sounds, however slight they may be, become
magnified to his overstrung nerves. I endured the sound for a time;
then shooed to scare the gnawing animal away. But it did not desist
for an instant, and at last, vexed beyond measure, I got out of
bed, groped my way to the spot whence I thought the sound proceeded
(it seemed to come from the floor) and stamped heavily on the
boards.

My action was heard by the men outside the door, and one of them
cried out angrily to know what I was about.

"'Tis a wretched mouse will not let me sleep," I replied.

"And what can you expect, you fool, when your room's over an empty
stable?" he said. "Curse me! what a fresh-water fair-weather fowl
you be!"

The scratching having ceased, I went back to bed. But in a few
moments it recommenced, at what seemed to be a spot nearer to me,
and, marveling somewhat at the persistence of the beast (for a
mouse is easily scared), I covered my head, and so endeavored to
shut out the annoyance.

I think I must have dozed again, for suddenly I found myself
sitting bolt upright, straining my ears as a man does when he is
suddenly wakened from sleep and is not sure whether 'twas by an
actual sound or by a sound heard in dream. And in a moment my doubt
was resolved; assuredly I heard a sound, and 'twas like a human
voice, but muffled. I listened intently; it appeared to come from
beneath me. While I was wondering who could have chosen the stable
as a place for conversation in the dead of night I could have sworn
(though half-believing it must be an hallucination) that I beard my
own name. In a trice I was out of bed, and groping my way under it,
my hand struck again