ess. It was sometime before I could persuade
myself that what I had seen and heard had been only conjured up by my
imagination, though I had no doubt that real rats had been running about
in the neighbourhood, and had given rise to my dream.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

The hold of the "Emu"--Further attempts at escape--The storm ceases--A
rat hunt--Slippery customers--Oh, for a trap!--My ingenuity
exercised--Caught at last--My repugnance to rat's flesh--Hunger needs
no sauce--My subsequent impressions--Cannibal rats--My solitary life--
The rats grow cautious--The crate--I make a welcome discovery--A fresh
expedition--As black as a nigger--Things might be worse.

Day and night to me were the same. My dreams having been troubled--
which was very natural considering the circumstances--I did not feel
inclined to go to sleep, so I once more got up to try if I could find
some food.

I first took a draught of water. Indeed, had it not been for that, I
could not have existed so long. Carefully putting in the plug, for I
dreaded exhausting my store, I groped my way back to the opening I had
lately discovered. I knew my position by feeling for the holes I had
made in the cases.

As no light reached me, I knew it was either night or that the hatch had
been put on. I was puzzled to decide which was the case. I listened
for the sound of human voices. None reached my ear.

My hunger had become ravenous. Food I must have, or I should perish. I
felt conscious that I was much weaker. I again tried to make myself
heard, shouting and shrieking as loud as I could, but my voice was faint
though shrill, more like that of a puny infant than a stout boy. I was
becoming desperate. I first crept in one direction, then in another,
trying to force my way between the bales and other packages, but to no
avail. Everywhere I was stopped by some impediment I could not remove.

The storm, I concluded, had ceased, as the ship was comparatively quiet,
so that I was less afraid than before of being jammed up between the
heavy packages and turned into a pancake.

I felt about in every crevice for the possibility of finding something
to eat. I cared not what it was, provided I could get my teeth into it.
I remembered that rats often dragged away bits of food into their holes
to devour at leisure, and I would gladly have found such a store. The
idea that I might do so encouraged me to proceed.

If I could get out of my confined