This was fortunate for us, as O'Brien, by degrees, purchased all the twine belonging to the other prisoners; and, as we were more than three hundred in number, it amounted to sufficient to enable him, by stealth, to lay it up into very strong cord, or rather, into a sort of square plait, known only to sailors.

"Now, Peter," said he one day, "I want nothing more than an umbrella for you." "Why an umbrella for me ?" "To keep you from being drowned with too much water, that's all." "Rain won't drown me." "No, no, Peter; but buy a new one as soon as you can." I did so.

O'Brien boiled up a quantity of bees' wax and oil, and gave it several coats of this preparation.

He then put it carefully away in the ticking of his bed.

I asked him whether he intended to make known his plan to any of the other prisoners; he replied in the negative, saying, that there were so many of them who could not be trusted, that he would trust no one.