was a whole lot
better and he was nearly able to close his mouth. I poured a lot more
water into him. Then I tried to give him a bite from the bread I had
left, but he couldn't swallow. So I gave it to Anton, who was moaning
a good bit.

"Me, I was getting less and less hungry. The gnawing pain that I'd
felt at the beginning, especially that first time that I was hunting
water, only came back at longer and longer intervals. In between, I
felt quite all right, rather jolly, in fact. I caught myself laughing,
once, the way I'd heard Jim, and I had hard work to stop it.
Hysterical, I reckon.

"I must have slept a lot, or fainted, I don't know which. I remember
having dreamed that I was rescued, oh, a score of times! Always, when
I was asleep, there seemed plenty of light, generally a bright violet.
It was only when I woke up that it was dark. The blackness was like a
rock lying on my chest. The air I breathed seemed to taste black.

"Jim got violent, more than once. To end up, I had to tie his feet
with my belt, so he couldn't get up on his feet. I wasn't going to
risk any more fights like we'd had with him at the start.

"When he wasn't struggling, he was talking. He talked nearly all the
time, and mostly about some gold mine that he'd found, that he knew
would make him a millionaire and that he wanted to go back to. He
described the place, over and over again. I believe I could go right
there, just from hearing him. The only thing that quieted him was when
I answered. Then he'd shut right up, only to begin again, after a
while.

"What worried me the most about Jim was that he couldn't keep the
bitter water on his stomach. He'd vomit it up, almost as soon as I'd
get it down. I kept pouring it into him, just the same.

"When I put the last bite of grub into Anton--he was dead
unconscious--it seemed like the end of everything. I lost all track of
time. I don't know what happened, after that. I got quite
light-headed, I think.

"Half the while, I didn't know whether the time I was dreaming was
real, or the time I was awake. I knew somehow that the air was getting
bad, and I remember thinking that this might be because a rescue party
was trying to get down the wall.

"But there was always plenty of light when I was asleep, and I liked
that, so, every time I was awake, I tried to go back to sleep."

"Didn't you hear any sounds of the rescue party coming nearer?" Owens
asked.

"I heard them all the time, even whe