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coma lasted but a few moments, and when he raised his head again, save that the persecutors had left him, everything was as  before. The Indians had returned to their former occupations about the camp; a few  taking food, others playing at their gambling  games, still more lolling with pipes beside  the rude wigwams. David, in spite of the dizzy, ringing feeling of his head and the  weakness of his body, took heart. That they did not mean to torture him at once was evident, and while there was life there was hope. He found that by straightening his body he could secure relief from the painful straining  of his arms, although he well knew that ere  long that relief would fail him. The sun was climbing above the tops of the few trees that  thrust their straggling branches from the  swamp and the day promised to be close and  hot. Already thirst was parching his threat. Food he had no wish for now. As the sunlight warmed the stagnant water of the partly dried morass around the island, a