A horrible suspicion flashed across his mind.
"The wretches can't mean to starve me, can they?" he asked himself. Despite his constitutional courage he could not help shuddering at the idea.
He was unexpectedly answered by the opening of the door, and the appearance of the old man.
"Are you getting hungry, my dear sir?" he inquired, with a disagreeable smile upon his features.
"Why am I confined here?" demanded Jack, angrily.
"Why are you confined? Really, one would think you didn't find your quarters comfortable."
"I am so far from finding them agreeable, that I insist upon leaving them immediately," returned Jack.
"Then all you have got to do is to walk through that door."
"You have locked it."
"Why, so I have," said the old man, with a leer.