Then the light burned up clearly, and Shock held the splint above his
head, and we looked round.
"There ain't no jacket here," said Shock dolefully. "What did yer say
bread and meat for?" he continued, as the match burned out and he threw
it down. "It's made me feel so hungry. I could eat a bit o' you."
"I can't understand it, Shock," I said.
"I wish I'd got some snails or some frogs," he muttered. "I could eat
'em raw."
"Don't," I said with a shudder.
"I knowed a chap once who eat two live frogs. Put 'em on his tongue--
little uns, you know--and swallowed 'em down. He said he could feel 'em
hopping about inside him after. Wasn't he a brute?"
"Don't talk to me," I cried, as I went feeling about the wall, with my
head in a state of confusion. "I know I had the jacket in here."
"Have you got it on?" he said.
"No--no--no! I hung it on a bit of sharp stone that stuck out of the
wall somewhere, and I can't feel the place. It's so puzzling being in
the dark. I don't know which is front and which is back now."
"Front's where the soft sand is," said Shock.
"Of course," I cried, feeling half stupefied all the time. "Then this
is the front here. I hung it on the stone and it was just above my
head."
I walked about on the soft sand, feeling about above my head, and all
over the face of the cave side for a long time in vain; and then with my
head swimming I sank down in despair, and leaned heavily back, to utter
a cry of pain.
"What's matter?" cried Shock, coming to me.
"I've struck the back of my head against a sharp stone," I cried,
turning round to feel for the projecting piece.
"Why, it's here, Shock. This is the piece I hung my jacket on, but it
has sunk down. No, no," I cried; "I forgot; it is the bottom of the
hole that has filled up. The sand has come up all this way. Keep
back."
I had turned on my hands and knees and was tearing out the sand just
below the projecting piece of sand-rock.
"What yer doing?" cried Shock. "You'll make more come down and cover us
up."
"My jacket is buried down here," I cried, and I worked away feeling
certain that I should find it, and at last, in spite of the sand coming
down almost as fast as I tore it out, I scratched and scraped away till,
to my great delight, I got hold of a part of the jacket and dragged it
out.
"Hurrah!" I cried. "I've got it."