;
and therefore, if I could only get beyond--even though there should not
be a package containing food--still it might be something which I could
remove into the inside of the cask, and thus make way for further
operations.

This was certainly a fresh phase which my situation had assumed; but a
still better idea succeeded, that lent a new and joyous aspect to my
thoughts. It was this: if I could so easily cut my way from box to box,
as I had already proved, _why might I not tunnel upwards, and reach the
deck_?

The thought startled me. It was quite new. It had not occurred to me
before--strangely enough it had not--and I can only explain its tardy
conception by the fact of the confused state of mind in which I had all
along been, and which might have led me to deem such an enterprise an
impossibility.

No doubt there were numberless packages heaped over me, one upon
another. No doubt the hold was quite full of them, and I knew that I
was near the bottom of all. I remembered, too--what had _puzzled_ me at
the time--that the stowage had continued for a long time after I came
aboard; that for two days and nights the work seemed to be going on, and
therefore the whole cargo must have been placed above me. Still,
withal, a dozen large boxes would reach to the top, or, maybe, not half
so many would fill up to the deck. Allowing a day to the cutting
through each one, I might be able to reach the top in about a week or
ten days!

Though a joyful thought, it would have been far more welcome at an
earlier period, but it now came accompanied by the wildest regrets.
Perhaps it had come too late to save me? Had I begun aright, when I had
my full box of biscuits, I might easily have carried the plan into
execution; but now, alas! scarce a morsel remained; and it seemed
hopeless to attempt what I had conceived.

Still, I could not surrender up this alluring prospect of life and
freedom; and, stifling all idle regrets, I gave my mind to its further
consideration.

Time, of course, was now the important matter, and that which caused me
the greatest anxiety. I feared that even before I could accomplish an
opening on the farther side of the empty barrel, my food would be all
consumed, and my strength quite exhausted. Perhaps I should die in the
middle of my work--literally "in the breach."

While pondering thus, another new thought came uppermost in my mind. It
was also a good idea, however horrid it may seem to those