e would betray us we dared not light
a fire, which we should have liked to do, to dry our wet clothes.
However, we sat down and emptied our shoes of water, which we had been
afraid of taking off for fear of hurting our feet, and wrung out our
socks and trousers.

"Our hopes of ultimately escaping depended, we believed, on our being
seen by some vessel going up or down the river, but before one should
appear, we might, we knew full well, be overtaken by the gauchos.
Sleepy as we both were, we agreed that one of us must be ever on the
watch, while the other slept.

"We tossed up who should keep the first watch. It came to my lot, so
Desmond lay down, and I sat by his side, trying hard to keep awake, and
I must confess that it was about the most difficult job I ever had in my
life. I winked at the stars till they all seemed winking at me, I
pinched myself black and blue, I rubbed my hands, I kicked my feet, but
all to no purpose; I kept blinking and nodding as much as ever. I
should have been off in another moment, so I jumped up and took several
short turns along the shore. The thought that a jaguar might spring on
Gerald prevented me from going far. As I got to the farther end of the
beat I had marked out for myself I stopped, for I fancied that I heard
some curious squeaking and grunting, not unlike that made by a litter of
very young pigs. I listened attentively, and crept silently towards the
spot. The sounds came from beneath the roots of an old tree. I
suspected that they must be produced by a litter of capybaras, or
water-hogs, which creatures, as you know, frequent these shores in great
numbers. I marked the spot so as not to mistake it. Should we not be
able to catch the old animals we might secure the young ones if hard
pressed for food. This raised my spirits, and I was able to keep awake,
thinking of the best way to trap them.

"When my watch was over, I awoke Desmond, and told him what I had
discovered; he agreed with me that we need have no fear of starving.

"`Capital!' he answered, `and I dare say that we shall find some roots
and nuts.'

"`I am afraid, however, that we shall have to eat our meat raw,' I
observed.

"`That will be better than having no meat to eat, and I dare say a young
capybara will be very tender.'

"Desmond let me sleep on till daylight, or, rather, he fell asleep, and
neither of us awoke till the rising sun struck in our eyes. We then
discovered that the spot where