When I awoke it was late in
the afternoon, and then, as I persuaded myself, too late to make a bad
day's work good. I invited a neighbor, who, like myself, was a man of
intemperate habits, to spend the evening with me. He came, and we sat
down to our rum, and drank foully together until late that night, when
he staggered home; and so intoxicated was I that, in moving to go to
bed, I fell over the table, broke a lamp, and lay on the floor for some
time, unable to rise. At last I managed to get to bed, but, oh, I did
not sleep, only dozed at intervals, for the drunkard never knows the
blessings of undisturbed repose. I awoke in the night with a raging
thirst. No sooner was one draught taken than the horrible dry feeling
returned; and so I went on, swallowing repeated glassfuls of the spirit
until at last I had drained the very last drop which the jug contained.
My appetite grew by what it fed on; and, having a little money by me, I
with difficulty got up, made myself look as tidy as possible, and then
went out to buy more rum, with which I returned to the house.
The fact will, perhaps, seem incredible, but so it was that I drank
spirits continually without tasting a morsel of food for the next three
days.
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