Page:Wonderful account of Mr. George Spearing.pdf/4

( 4 ) the road to the mill was still nearer: so that I could frequently hear the horses going on the road to and from the mill. Frequently I heard human voices; and I could distinctly hear the ducks and hens about the mill. I made the best use of my voice on every occasion; but it was to no manner of purpose; for the wind, which was constantly high, blew in a line from the mill to the pit, which easily accounts for what I heard; and, at the same time, my voice was carried the contrary way.

I cannot say I suffered much from hunger; after two or three days my appetite ceased, but my thirst was intolerable: and, though it almost constantly rained, yet I could not, till the third or fourth day preserve a drop of it, as the earth at the bottom of the pit sucked it up as fast as it ran down. In this distress I sucked my cloaths; but from them I could extract but little moisture. The shock I received in the fall, together with the dislocation of one of one of my ribs, kept me, I imagine, in a continual fever; I cannot otherwise account for my suffering so much more from thirst than I did from hunger. At last I discovered the thigh bone of a bull almost covered with earth, which, I was afterwards informed, fell into the pit about 18 years before me. I dug it up, and the large end of it left a cavity that, I suppose, might contain a quart. This the water gradually drained into, but so very slowly, that it was a considerable time before I could dip a nut-shell full at a time; which I emptied into the palm of my hand, and so