irst time, felt all the misery of my fate. In a paroxysm of despair
I threw myself again upon the mattress, where, for about the period of
a day and night, I lay in a kind of stupor, relieved only by momentary
intervals of reason and recollection.
At length I once more arose, and busied myself in reflection upon the
horrors which encompassed me. For another twenty-four hours it was
barely possible that I might exist without water--for a longer time I
could not do so. During the first portion of my imprisonment I had made
free use of the cordials with which Augustus had supplied me, but they
only served to excite fever, without in the least degree assuaging
thirst. I had now only about a gill left, and this was of a species of
strong peach liqueur at which my stomach revolted. The sausages were
entirely consumed; of the ham nothing remained but a small piece of the
skin; and all the biscuit, except a few fragments of one, had been eaten
by Tiger. To add to my troubles, I found that my headache was increasing
momentarily, and with it the species of delirium which had distressed me
more or less since my first falling asleep. For some hours past it had
been with the greatest difficulty I could breathe at all, and now each
attempt at so doing was attended with the most depressing spasmodic
action of the chest. But there was still another and very different
source of disquietude, and one, indeed, whose harassing terrors had
been the chief means of arousing me to exertion from my stupor on the
mattress. It arose from the demeanor of the dog.
I first observed an alteration in his conduct while rubbing in the
phosphorus on the paper in my last attempt. As I rubbed, he ran his nose
against my hand with a slight snarl; but I was too greatly excited at
the time to pay much attention to the circumstance. Soon afterward,
it will be remembered, I threw myself on the mattress, and fell into
a species of lethargy. Presently I became aware of a singular hissing
sound close at my ears, and discovered it to proceed from Tiger, who was
panting and wheezing in a state of the greatest apparent excitement, his
eyeballs flashing fiercely through the gloom. I spoke to him, when he
replied with a low growl, and then remained quiet. Presently I relapsed
into my stupor, from which I was again awakened in a similar manner.
This was repeated three or four times, until finally his behaviour
inspired me with so great a degree of fear, that I became f
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