Every drop of water was gone long since, and they had eaten their last food at supper.

They could have neither food nor drink nor sleep.
Ned had escaped from many dangers, but it is truth that this time he felt despair.

His feeling about the hand of fate striking them down became an obsession.

What chance had men without an ounce of food or a drop of water to withstand a siege?
But he communicated his fears to no one.

Two or three hours before day, he became so sore and weary from work with the spade that he crawled into one of the half-wrecked wagons, and tried to go to sleep.