this gloomy confinement--six months,
at the least. There was but little probability of my being released
before the expiration of a half-year: a long term--long and hard to be
borne either by captive or criminal--hard even in a lighted chamber,
with bed and fire, and well-cooked food, in daily converse with human
beings, and the sound of human voices almost continually ringing in your
ears. Even with these advantages, to be shut up for six months is a
painful experience.

How much more painful would mine be, cramped up in close quarters, where
I could neither stand erect nor lie at full length; neither couch, nor
fire, nor light to give me comfort; breathing foul air, reclining upon
the hardest of oak, living upon bread and water--the simplest diet upon
which a human being could exist, and that unvaried by the slightest
change, with no sound ever reaching my ear save the almost ceaseless
creaking of the ship's timbers, and the monotonous surging of the ocean
wave--certainly six months of such an existence was not a pleasant
prospect to contemplate.

Withal I regarded it not. I was still too happy at my deliverance from
death, to be nice about the kind of life that was before me, though, as
time passed, most probably I should grow tired enough of such a dreary
existence.

Now I was all joy and confidence. Not so confident, however, as to rely
upon conjecture--upon a mere guess as to the amount of my means of
existence. Upon this point I was determined to be fully assured, and
that without further loss of time. My stores, both of food and drink, I
resolved to submit to actual measurement, in order to be satisfied as to
whether they would be sufficient to last me till the end of the voyage.

Hitherto I had felt no apprehension upon this head. Such a large box of
biscuit, and such an inexhaustible well of water, could never be
expended. This was my first idea; but, after a little reflection, I
began to have doubts. The constant drop will wear a hole in the hardest
stone, and will also empty the largest cistern, if time be allowed it;
and six months was a long time--nearly two hundred days--a very long
time.

As I reflected thus, I grew a little uneasy as to the quantity both of
my food and drink; and to put an end to all doubt upon the subject, I
came to the above determination of measuring them. I recognised the
prudence of such a course. If it turned out that there were plenty of
both, and to spare, I sh