common spruce deal, and I could
soon have made a cross-cut of the whole piece, even with no better tool
than my knife, if I had been in a proper attitude, with the box fairly
before me. But instead of that, I was obliged to operate in a
constrained position, that was both disadvantageous and fatiguing.
Moreover, my hand was still painful from the bite of the rat, the scar
not yet being closed up. The troubles I had been enduring had kept my
blood in a constant fever, and this I suppose, had prevented the healing
of the wound. Unfortunately, it was my right hand that had been bitten;
and, being right-handed, I could not manage the knife with my left. I
tried it at times, to relieve the other, but could make little progress
at left-hand work.

For these reasons, then, I was several hours in cutting across a piece
of nine-inch deal of only an inch in thickness; but I got through at
last, and then, placing myself once more on my back, and setting my
heels to the plank, I had the satisfaction to feel it yielding.

It did not move a great way, and I could perceive that there was
something hindering it behind--either another box or a barrel--but this
was exactly what I had expected. Only two or three inches of empty
space were between the two, and it required a good deal of kicking, and
twisting backward and forward, and upward and downward, before I could
detach the piece from its fastenings of iron.

Before I had got it quite out of my way, I knew what was behind, for I
had passed my fingers through to ascertain. It was another
packing-case, and, alas! too similar to the one I was crouching in. The
same kind of timber, if my touch was true--and this one of my senses had
of late become wonderfully acute.

I felt its outline, as much of it as I could reach: the same size it
appeared to be--the same rough, unplaned plank, just like that I had
been cutting at--and both, as I now perceived, iron hooped at the ends.
Beyond doubt, it was "another of the same."

I came to this conclusion without proceeding further, and it was a
conclusion that filled me with chagrin and disappointment. But although
I felt too bitterly satisfied that it was another cloth-box, I deemed it
worth while to put the matter beyond any doubt. To effect this, I
proceeded to take out one of the pieces of the second box, just as I had
done with the other--by making a clear cut across--and then prising it
out, and drawing it towards me. It cost me