The third one drops. See my descriptions in the other Rarebit postings for more details. 1905. For me as a shift worker, I can certainly sympathize with our unfortunate victim of the notorious rarebit. I think this is a standout example with some pretty surreal dream scenes and some really trippy art.
Now for a bit more of an in depth description. Keeping this art in context...this is over 110 years old, the language and vocabulary of sequential/comic art had not been developed yet. McCay was was one of the pioneers and his unique sense of panel design and layouts helped shape everything that came after him. His importance to what we take for granted now can not be overstated. In Rarebit Fiends, the reoccurring story was that some eats some rarebit (a simple welsh dish made up cheese and sauce poured over toast) and then falls asleep and has a bizarre dream only to wake and then swear off eating rarebits again. The dreams are often darker and not meant to be humerus but often reveals the darker side of a person's psyche or reveals their insecurities. The people who were depicted were often upper class or in positions of authority.
The first panel is already in a dream sequence but much more like a waking dream. Our narrator gets out of bed and goes out and we start from this reality based setting and quickly plunge into a surreal dream where he searching both for something to drink and a place to sleep. In the second panel we have a castaway themed vignette which was a very popular literary theme at the time. The third panel is interesting for several reasons. The themes of the Russian revolution would predate the larger revolution in 1917 but would tie in with smaller 1905 Russian revolution. Politics might be covered subversively in his strip but often not so obviously. That was reserved for his editorial cartoons. We have an early example of someone running out of a panel which may not be a big deal today but early on this was pure innovation. The frosty fourth panel certainly provides a quiet place to rest but a bit too frigid for our tired host and so he ends up in an opposite although equally as quiet and desolate arid desert. The North Pole was a big topic around this time. The first person to claim to reach the pole was in 1909 which this foreshadows by 4 years. The two penultimate panels take us in into the darkness of a subway (which opened in NYC in October 1904) and where we encounter the 3rd rail. A shocking end to this dream sequence and our narrator awakes with his hair being the same as in the last dream panel. Fun and innovative stuff.
