he had half-
finished the contents he discovered that he was famished with hunger.
He therefore struck another match and, by its light, possessed himself
of the food, which he proceeded to devour ravenously, and finished off
the entire supply before his hunger was satisfied. Having made a good
meal, he felt very much better, and then by the light of a tiny fire,
made of match-stalks, scraps of straw, and similar odds and ends, he
managed, with some difficulty, to strip off his coat and shirt, and to
attend, in some small degree, to the wound in his shoulder.

It presented a somewhat inflamed appearance, so he improvised a pad and
bandage by tearing strips off his shirt. These he soaked in the
precious remainder of his drinking water and wrapped them round the
injured part, binding the whole tightly in place with a strip of linen
wound right round his body. This having been done, he felt so much more
comfortable that he began to think a little natural sleep would do him
no harm, and he accordingly composed himself to slumber upon the heap of
straw which had been thrown down in one corner of the cell.

How long, he wondered, had he been in this miserable hole? It must
certainly have been a good many hours, or he would not have felt so
intensely hungry and thirsty; and he also wondered in what ship, if any,
he was, and how the Peruvians would treat the man who had blown up three
of their finest ships, leaving them only the bare skeleton of a navy.

He did not think very long, however; for he was fatigued to the point of
exhaustion, and soon sank into a state of complete oblivion. How long
he had slept he could not tell, but he was awakened by the noise of a
door opening, and the shining of a bright light full upon his face.
Before he could fully collect his faculties the bearer of the lamp, a
burly Peruvian seaman with the name _Union_ on the front of his cap,
bade him in a rough tone of voice stand up, at the same time producing a
key from among a number which hung at his belt and unlocking the young
Englishman's irons. As they fell away from his limbs Jim heaved a sigh
of relief, which the seaman heard; and hearing, remarked: "You need not
be so glad to get them off, you young whipper-snapper; you will be free
for only a few minutes, while the captain sees you, and after he has
done with you, you will probably be shot--or worse! So you need not
look so pleased."

Needless to say, after the communication of this