,
and as for Brace, he could have gone to sleep with only the
flying-jib-boom between his legs, so that it was not the discomfort we
cared about. There was something more serious than this to reflect
upon, and that was the prospect of being afflicted by hunger and thirst.
I need not say the prospect. As for hunger, we were not yet suffering
for want of food; but already the sister appetite had begun to be felt,
and keenly too. We had not tasted water since leaving the river, and
any one who has ever made a march under the tropical sun of Africa knows
that at every half-mile you feel the desire to drink. Both of us had
been thirsty almost since the moment we parted with the boat, and I had
been looking out for water ever since. We blamed ourselves for not
having brought with us a canteen, or water-bottle, and we already paid
for our negligence, or rather our ignorance--for it never entered into
our minds that such a provision would be necessary, any more than if we
had gone out for a day's fowling into the fields about home.

We had already been suffering from thirst, but now that we sat upon
those bare branches, with not a bit of shade to screen us from the
fierce rays of a noon-day's sun--and a hot tropical sun at that--we
began to feel the pangs of thirst in right earnest, and in a way I had
never felt them before. Indeed, it was a most painful sensation, and I
thought if it was to increase, or even continue much longer, it would
kill me. My companion suffered also, though not so badly as I. He was
more used to such extremities, and could better bear them.

Perhaps had we been actually engaged in some work we should not have
felt this misery so keenly; but we had nothing to do but balance our
bodies upon the branches and calmly reflect. So much the worse. We
were able to comprehend our situation, and fully understand its perilous
nature.

The prospect was far from cheering. Out of the tree we dared not go,
else we should be eaten up by the lion. If we remained in the tree, we
should become the victims either of thirst or hunger, or both.

How were we to be relieved from this terrible alternative? Would the
lion grow wearied with watching us, and wander away? There was not the
least likelihood he would do so. All his movements indicated an
opposite intention; and for our consolation, I now remembered having
read of the implacable nature of this fierce brute when wounded or
provoked--so far different