hud they made as they jumped off and on
the kelson. I lay perfectly quiet. Now I felt a fellow running up my
leg--now scrambling over my body. But the rogues did not venture near
my hands, their instinct telling them that they would have their necks
wrung if they did so. My object was to catch one or two of them, and,
disgusting as the idea would have been at any other time, I determined
if I could to get hold of one forthwith to eat him.

I had often grumbled at home of having on a Monday morning to consume
the dry bread which had remained over from the previous week. This
system had commenced on the arrival of Aunt Deb, who would not allow a
scrap of food to be lost, and she therefore persuaded my mother to give
up the hot rolls which we previously had for breakfast on that day. It
was the first of the many reforms introduced by our respected aunt which
didn't endear her to us.

The rats continued their gambols. Now I felt a fellow perched on my
leg--now he would run along my arm, and before I could lift up my hand
he was off again. I kept my feet covered up in the canvas, for I had no
wish to have them nibbling at my toes. Somehow or other none of them
came near my face, or I should certainly have caught one.

At length I jumped up determined to make chase, but the moment I moved
they were off in all directions. Perhaps they thought they had a hungry
enemy to deal with. I felt about everywhere, thinking I might find one
of them stowed away under a cask, or in some hole or corner, but they
had gone off, like imps of darkness as they were, at sunrise.

I wished more than ever for light. I thought that I could then
infinitely better have endured my confinement.

Fortunately for me, the ship must have been well cleaned out before the
cargo was taken on board; and as she was as tight as a bottle, there was
no bilge-water in her. Had there been, I could not have existed so long
far down in the depths of her hold.

The chase after the rats had aroused me, and I felt less inclination
than before to sleep, so I got up, resolved to have another search for
food of some sort. I was not very particular. A pound of tallow
candles would have been welcome as a meal. I did not stop to consider
whether I could have digested them. They would at all events have
allayed the gnawing of hunger. I remembered reading of people suffering
from hunger when navigating the ocean in open boats, and how much a
flying-fish, o