"Velly neally catchee catchee, and choppee off head," said Ching softly. "Begin to be velly solly for poor Mis' Hellick. Pilate say, `Heah good place, make hole s'eep in.' 'Nothee pilate say, `Big fool; allee wet damp; wildee beast live in hole, and allee 'tink. Come back, makee better place.'" It was a narrow escape, and it was long enough before my heart calmed down, left off throbbing, and I fell asleep. Utter exhaustion had done its work, and my sleep was deep and dreamless. Once my eyes had closed, they did not open again till long after sunrise the next morning, when I lay there puzzled, and wondering where I was and what was the meaning of the murmur of voices apparently from somewhere overhead. Ching's voice chased away the remaining mists. "You had velly good s'eep?" he whispered. "Feel muchee better?" I did not answer, only squeezed his hand, and turned to see how Tom Jecks was, but he did not seem to have stirred, and we then ate sparingly of our biscuits, and drank more sparingly of the water. "Must be velly careful," Ching said again; "no get more till pilate gone 'way." That day went by like a portion of some feverish dream. My head burned and throbbed; my thirst grew terrible in the hot, close place, and Ching owned to suffering terribly in the same way; but the faithful fellow never touched a drop of the water, save when the evening came, and we partook together of our rapidly-diminishing store of biscuits, the very touch of which on my lips increased the agony of my thirst. And all the while we were awake to the fact that the Chinamen had an ample supply of food and water, for they kept dragging up to the camp they had formed casks and chests which had been washed up from the wreck of their junk; and when I climbed up and looked out, I could see them apparently settled down and resigned to their fate, until some friendly junk came along or they could surprise another, feasting away, or playing some kind of game with stones. "Waitee lit' bit," Ching whispered. "Allee s'eep, and Ching get eat dlink." But I felt certain that he would be caught, and begged him not to go till we were absolutely driven by hunger and thirst; and so that day passed, with the rock growing hotter, and the air too stifling almost to breathe, while, to my horror, I found that Tom Jecks was growing more and more feverish. At times he began to mutter so loudly that we were obliged to throw my jacket over his face to prevent the sounds from drawing the attention of the enemy. I believe I was half-delirious all that day, and when the night came our little supply of water was running so low that Ching asked if he had not better climb over the wall and go and fetch some more. "No," I said; "it means discovery. We must wait."