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The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3 by Edgar Allan Poe
page 51 of 322 (15%)
were several pairs on board), and his feet lashed tightly together.
He was then taken into the steerage, and thrown into a lower berth
next to the forecastle bulkheads, with the assurance that he should
never put his foot on deck again "until the brig was no longer a
brig." This was the expression of the cook, who threw him into the
berth- it is hardly possible to say what precise meaning intended by
the phrase. The whole affair, however, proved the ultimate means of
my relief, as will presently appear.

~~~ End of Text of Chapter 4 ~~~

CHAPTER 5



FOR some minutes after the cook had left the forecastle, Augustus
abandoned himself to despair, never hoping to leave the berth alive.
He now came to the resolution of acquainting the first of the men who
should come down with my situation, thinking it better to let me take
my chance with the mutineers than perish of thirst in the hold,- for
it had been ten days since I was first imprisoned, and my jug of
water was not a plentiful supply even for four. As he was thinking on
this subject, the idea came all at once into his head that it might
be possible to communicate with me by the way of the main hold. In
any other circumstances, the difficulty and hazard of the undertaking
would have prevented him from attempting it; but now he had, at all
events, little prospect of life, and consequently little to lose, he
bent his whole mind, therefore, upon the task.

His handcuffs were the first consideration. At first he saw no
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