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 t