"And when you are through with the torture, what then?" asked Chares.
"Why, then you will die by the boat," the jailer replied.
"Do you mean we shall be drowned?" Chares inquired.
The jailer laughed harshly. "That would be too easy," he said. "Death by the boat has nothing to do with the water, as you will find. They will place you in the shallop with your head, arms, and feet outside. Then they will cover you with honey and place another boat upside down over you. This will leave your head and hands free through the holes. The ants and the flies are fond of honey. I have known men to live a week in their snug wooden jackets; but they usually go crazy after a few days, when the ants begin to eat them."
"That is very interesting," Chares remarked. "When will they begin the torture?"
"To-morrow morning," the man replied, "and I advise you to get a sound sleep; you will be able to stand the pain better."
He passed on down the corridor, humming to himself as though his mind were filled with pleasant thoughts.
"That is a nice prospect," Chares said, turning away from the grating. "I wonder what Nathan intends to do?"
"We can only wait," Clearchus replied. "I think we had better pretend that we are asleep, so that your friend the sentinel will at least let us alone."
They stretched themselves upon the stone floor and waited, talking in whispers. With nightfall, the prison grew utterly dark, excepting in the corridor, where the surly guard lighted oil lamps, set at intervals in niches in the wall. These made brief spaces of light in the gloomy passageway, through which the man went and came with monotonous tread. There was silence in that part of the prison where they were, indicating that the other condemned cells were vacant. For a time the sound of voices reached them faintly through the slit in the wall, but these gradually ceased as the night advanced.