er.

It seemed, however, as if the partial relief from hunger only aggravated
the kindred appetite from which the occupants of the raft had already
begun to suffer. Perhaps the salt-water, mingled with the saline juices
of the fish, aided in producing this effect. In any case, it was not
long after they had eaten the _Exocetus_ before both felt thirst in its
very keenest agony.

Extreme thirst, under any circumstances, is painful to endure; but under
no conditions is it so excruciating as in the midst of the ocean. The
sight of water which you may not drink,--the very proximity of that
element,--so near that you may touch it, and yet as useless to the
assuaging of thirst as if it was the parched dust of the desert,--
increases rather than alleviates the appetite. It is to no purpose,
that you dip your fingers into the briny flood, and endeavour to cool
your lips and tongue by taking it into the mouth. To swallow it is
still worse. You might as well think to allay thirst by drinking liquid
fire. The momentary moistening of the mouth and tongue is succeeded by
an almost instantaneous parching of the salivary glands, which only glow
with redoubled ardour.

Ben Brace knew this well enough; and once or twice that little William
lifted the sea-water on his palm and applied it to his lips, the sailor
cautioned him to desist, saying that it would do him more harm than
good.

In one of his pockets Ben chanced to have a leaden bullet, which he gave
the boy, telling him to keep it in his mouth and occasionally to chew
it. By this means the secretion of the saliva was promoted; and
although it was but slight, the sufferer obtained a little relief.

Ben himself held the axe to his lips, and partly by pressing his tongue
against the iron, and partly by gnawing the angle of the blade,
endeavoured to produce the same effect.

It was but a poor means of assuaging that fearful thirst that was now
the sole object of their thoughts,--it might be said their only
sensation,--for all other feelings, both of pleasure or pain, had become
overpowered by this one. On food they no longer reflected, though still
hungry; but the appetite of hunger, even when keenest, is far less
painful than that of thirst. The former weakens the frame, so that the
nervous system becomes dulled, and less sensible of the affliction it is
enduring; whereas the latter may exist to its extremest degree, while
the body is in full strength and vigour, and