At last he slept soundly, and awoke refreshed, but hungry. The loaf
lay beside him, and with his knife he cut a slice from it, munching
the coarse bread with more of relish than he had thought possible when
he first saw it. Then he took out another cigarette, struck a match,
looked at his watch, and lit the cigarette. It was ten minutes past
two. He wondered if a night had intervened, but thought it unlikely.
He had landed very early in the morning, and now it was afternoon. He
was fearfully thirsty, but could not bring himself to drink from that
stream of death. Once more he heard the bolts shot back.
"They are going to throw the poor wretches into the sea," he muttered,
but the yellow gleam of a lantern showed him it was his own door that
had been unlocked.
"You are to see the Governor," said the gaoler gruffly. "Come with
me."
Jack sprang to the floor of his cell, repressing a cry of delight.
Nothing the grim Governor could do to him would make his situation any
worse, and perhaps his persuasive powers upon that official might
result in some amelioration of his position. In any case there was the
brief respite of the interview, and he would gladly have chummed with
the devil himself to be free a few moments from this black pit.
Although the outside door of the Governor's room stood open, the room
was not as well illumined as it had been before, for the sun had now
gone round to the other side of the island, but to the prisoner's
aching eyes it seemed a chamber of refulgence.
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