ful at the time, although afterwards in the early hours of the morning they sat drenched and shivering with cold, almost wishing for the torturing sun to rise and warm them before it began to scorch and blister. Yet the dews did them little good, for they only chilled their skins but did not slake their thirst, while it made their torment the next day all the more acute.
As yet they had been sparing on the spirits, for none of them had the vice of drunkenness added to their other vices; they had enough and to spare without this degradation. They knew also from past experience that the rum would not alleviate their sufferings, although it might terminate them the more rapidly when they had given up hope. As yet that stimulant of the soul had not quite left them, desperate as their present fortunes were.
They had for the past five nights varied their watching the movements of the shark by looking at the growing moon. It had come first a golden crescent upon the green space, now it would give them light enough for the fell work before them.
Slowly the sun went down in the west, while from the eastern horizon the incomplete moon rose and looked upon them as if with a backward glance, gradually gaining lustre as the daylight died out of the sky until they lay within the silver track of its reflection. The hour had come for the sacrifice of the woman.
"You know better than I do where to cut so as to get the most blood without any waste, doctor?" said Dennis, in a hoarse whisper.
"Yes," answered the doctor. "Where the weasel attacks is the best for that purpose, the jugular; one
