"Mr Thompson, Sir," replied he; "don't you recollect?" "What?" "Why, Sir, he was bitten in two by a shark." "Shark!" this was the key-note required, and my memory returned. "Yes, yes, I recollect now all, all. I recollect the panther and the cane-brakes. How was I preserved?" "The bloodhounds killed the panther, and you were brought on board insensible, and have been in a raging fever ever since." "It must be so," replied I, collecting my senses after a few moments of thought. "It must be so. How long have I been ill?" "This is the twenty-first day." "The twenty-first day!" cried I. "Is it possible? Are none of the men ill?" "No, Sir, they are all well." "But I hear the water against the bends. Are we not still at anchor?" "No, Sir, the second mate got the schooner under weigh as he found you were so ill." "And I have been ill twenty-one days! Why we must be near home?" "We expect to make the land in a few days, Sir," replied Ingram. "Thank Heaven for all its mercies," said I. "I never expected to see old England again. But what a bad smell there is. What can it be?" "I suppose it is the bilge-water, Sir," replied Ingram. "People who are ill and weak always are annoyed by it; but I think, Sir, if you would take a little gruel, and then go to sleep again, it would be better." "Well, I fear I am not very strong, and talking so much has done me no good. I think I could take a little gruel." "Then, Sir, I'll go and get some made, and be back very soon." "Do, Ingram, and tell Mr Olivarez, the second mate, that I would speak to him." "Yes, I will," replied the man, and he left the state-room. I waited some time listening for the arrival of the second mate, and then I thought that I heard odd noises in the hold before the bulk-head of the state-room in which I was lying, but I was still very weak, and my head swam. After a time Ingram came down with the gruel, into which he put some sugar and a spoonful of rum, to flavour it, as he said. He offered it to me, and I drank it all, for I had an appetite; but whether it was that I was very weak, or the rum he put in was more than he said, it is certain that I had hardly given him back the basin than I felt so drowsy that I turned away from him, and was soon again in forgetfulness.