Notwithstanding that it was all a dream, and that no crab could possibly
have crept up my arm--notwithstanding that I was now awake, and knew I
had been only dreaming about it--I could not help fancying that a crab
_actually had been crawling over me_--a crab or some other creature. I
felt that peculiar tingling sensation along my arm and upon my breast,
which was quite open and bare, that might be produced by the claws of
some small animal creeping over one, and I could not help thinking that
there had been _something_!
So convinced was I of this, that on awaking I flung out my arms
mechanically, and groped all over the spread broadcloth, and around the
edges of my lurking-place, expecting to lay them upon some _living
creature_!
Half asleep, I still believed it _was_ a crab; but as my senses became
clearer, I reasoned upon the improbability of there being one in such a
place. And yet, why not? A crab might very well find lodgment in the
hold of a ship: it might have been brought aboard in some strange way--
among the ballast--or possibly carried aboard by some of the sailors,
out of curiosity; it may have been abandoned to its fate, and left to
hide itself among the numerous corners and crevices which are found
among the timbers of a vessel's hold? It might procure sustenance in
the bilge-water, or in the ballast rubbish, or perhaps, like the
chameleon, crabs could exist on air?
I had such thoughts, but only for a few moments after awaking; and as I
reasoned further on the matter, I abandoned them. It could only be my
dream that had made me think of crabs at all. But for that, the thought
of such a creature would not have entered my mind. There could have
been no crab, else I should have laid my hands upon it; for I had lost
no time in groping over the surface of my cloth carpeting--every inch of
it--and I found nothing there. There were but two crevices leading out
of my cell, by which a crab of any considerable size could have entered
or escaped; and I had felt these places at the very first moment. So
slow a traveller could not have passed through either of them in so
short a time! No, there could have been no crab; and yet there _was
something_, certainly--something had crawled over me. I could not be
convinced of the contrary.
I lay for a long time pondering over the subject of my dream. The
unpleasant feeling which it had occasioned me soon passed away. It was
very natural I should have dreamt what I did, since it was almost the
same thing I had been thinking of during the continuance of the storm.
On examining my watch, I found that I had considerably overslept myself,
having been unconscious for nearly sixteen hours! This prolonged
slumber was the result of my having been kept so long awake by the
storm, and the sickness that it had occasioned me.
I now felt more hungry than I had done for days, and at once set about
satisfying that appetite. Strive as I would, I could not resist the
temptation of eating more than my allotted ration, and I did not leave
off till I had eaten four of my precious biscuits. I had been told that
nothing creates so keen an appetite as a turn of sea-sickness, and I
found this to be truth. Indeed, I felt as if I could have consumed the
whole of my stock, and the four biscuits I ate scarcely took the edge
well off my hunger. Nothing but the dread of running short hindered me
from eating three times as many.
I was also in great thirst, and swallowed far more than my allowance of
water; but I was not so careful of this, as I believed it would be quite
sure to last me to the end of the voyage. One thing about the water
troubled me not a little. Each time that I went to take a drink, a
considerable waste took place, in consequence of my having no vessel to
draw it in; and, moreover, to drink from the hole I had made was
altogether an unsatisfactory way of quenching my thirst. As soon as the
peg was drawn out, a strong jet would shoot forth, to which I applied my
mouth. But I could not swallow it as fast as it came, and it was sure--
after taking away my breath, and half choking me--to squirt all over my
face, wetting my clothes and everything else about me, before I could
get the stopper back into its place.
If I only had had a vessel to draw it in--a cup or anything?
I thought of using one of my buskins, for I had no need for them
otherwise; but I felt some qualms about making this use of them.
I should not have hesitated to have drunk out of them, or any other
vessel, when pressed by thirst previous to my having tapped the butt;
but now that I had water in plenty, the case was different. Still, I
could get one of them sufficiently clean for the purpose. Better,
thought I, to waste a little water in washing one of them, than lose a
large quantity every time I went to drink.
I was about to put this design into execution, when a better idea came
into my head--that was to make a drinking-cup out of a piece of
broadcloth. This was altogether better. I had already observed that
the cloth was waterproof--at least, the water that was spilt from the
butt appeared to lie upon it without passing through--for I had been
obliged to shake it off on each occasion. A piece of the cloth,
therefore, formed into a cup shape, would be likely enough to serve my
purpose; and accordingly I resolved to make me such a vessel.
It needed only to cut a broad strip with my knife, roll it up, as if I
was intending it for a funnel--taking care to fold it of several
thicknesses of the cloth. When rolled, I bound it in its place with a
fragment of the thong from my buskins, and I thus succeeded in making me
a drinking-vessel, which would, and _did_, serve me as well as if it had
been of best china or glass. I was henceforth enabled to take a drink
more to my satisfaction, and without wasting the precious fluid upon
which my life depended.