“I am choking!” I exclaimed, listening to the water as it filtered through the teeth of my mule.

“Do as I do, Captain,” said Raoul, speaking as if from the bottom of a well.

“How?” I asked.

“Bend down, and let the water run into your mouth.”

This accounted for Raoul’s voice sounding so strangely.

“They may not give us a drop,” continued he. “It is our only chance.”

“I have not even that,” I replied, after having vainly endeavoured to reach the surface with my face.

“Why?” asked my comrade.

“I cannot reach it.”

“How deep are you?”