We have dwindled to four white men among a host of dark.

Relief is not even within a remote distance of us, and we are already bordering upon starvation.
We may hold out for three days more.

And then"-- his breath came suddenly short, but he forced himself to continue--"I have to think of my child.

She will be in your hands.

I know you will all defend her to the last ounce of your strength; but which of you"-- a terrible gasping checked his utterance for many labouring seconds; he put his hand over his eyes--"which of you," he whispered at last, his words barely audible, "will have the strength to--shoot her before your own last moment comes ?" The question quivered through the quiet room as if wrung from the twitching lips by sheer torture.