It was about eight
inches in diameter and a considerable stream of fresh air entered there.
But the pipe or other channel through which it came must turn to one
side, as the sea was directly over his head. He could not reach the
hole, and even could he have reached it, he was too large to pass
through it. He had merely looked at it in a kind of vague curiosity.
Feeling that every attempt to solve anything would be hopeless, he fell
asleep again, and when he awoke a man with a lantern was standing beside
him. It was a soldier with his food, the ordinary Mexican fare, and
water. Another soldier with a musket stood at the door. There was no
possible chance of a dash for liberty. Ned ate and drank hungrily, and
asked the soldier questions, but the man replied only in monosyllables
or not at all. The boy desisted and finished in silence the meal which
might be either breakfast, dinner or supper for all he knew. Then the
soldier took the tin dishes, withdrew with his comrade, and the door
was locked again.
Ned was left to silence and solitude. But he felt that he must now move
about, have action of some kind. He threw himself against the door in an
effort to shake it, but it did not move a jot. Then he remembered that
he had seen cell doors in a row, and that other prisoners might be on
either side of him.
Pages:
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134