Without more ado, then, I turned upon the second cask, and commenced
drilling a hole in the end of it. I was not so excited as before, for I
did not feel that so much depended upon the result. For all that, it
caused me a good deal of disappointment, when, on getting the point of
my blade through to the inside, I discovered that the stream that came
jetting out was not water but pure brandy, which proved that it was a
brandy-cask I had tapped.

I again turned my attention to the water-butt; for I was now more
anxious than ever to ascertain how much it contained, since on this
depended my future safety.

Choosing a stave near the middle of the cask, I proceeded in the same
manner as I had done when making my first incision; and working
constantly for an hour or more, I felt the thin shell springing before
the point of my knife. My apprehensions were acute, though not so much
as on the former occasion. Then it was a matter of life or death,
almost upon the instant; now the contingency was more remote, and not
quite so definite or certain. Withal I could not help a strong feeling
of anxiety, nor could I avoid uttering an exclamation of delight, when I
felt the cold spring of water gushing along the blade of my knife. I
soon closed the slight aperture, and re-commenced my drilling process
upon the next stave higher up.

This I also penetrated in due time, and was again rewarded for my
patient labour by getting my fingers wet, from the inside.

Another step higher, with a result like.

Another, and the water came not. No matter, I was now far up near the
top of the cask. I had found water at the last boring but one. It must
stand still higher within. The cask, therefore, was more than three
parts full. Thank Heaven! There would be enough to last me for many
months!

I felt satisfied with the result, and, sitting down, I ate another
biscuit with as much relish and contentment as if I had been dining upon
turtle and venison at the table of a Lord Mayor.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

GOING ON "RATIONS."

I was full of complacence. There was nothing now to cause me
uneasiness. The prospect of being cooped up for six months might have
been very unpleasant under other circumstances, but after the far more
terrible dread of horrid death from which I had just been delivered, it
appeared as nothing; and I resolved to bear my long imprisonment with
patience and resignation.

Six months I would have to endure