Thus he groped and wandered, until he became aware that the gloom
of the corridor had gradually deepened, and that the tiny opening
in the rock were now far less frequent than at the outset. Even
to his eyes, by this time accustomed to obscurity, the darkness
grew portentous, and at every step he stumbled against some unseen
projection, or bruised his hands in vain efforts to discover a
returning path. Too late he began to apprehend that he was nearly
lost in the heart of the mountain. Either the windings of the
labyrinth were hopelessly confusing, or some debris, dislodged by
the unaccustomed concussion of footsteps, had fallen from the roof
and choked the passage behind him. The account which the boy gave
of his adventure, and of his vain and long-continued efforts to
retrace his way, made the latter hypothesis appear to us the more
acceptable, the noise occasioned by such a fall having of course
passed unheeded by him. In the end, thoroughly baffled and exhausted,
the lad determined to work on through the Cimmerian darkness in
the hope of discovering a second terminus on the further side of
the mountain. This at length he did. A faint starlike outlet
finally presented itself to his delighted eyes; he groped painfully
towards it; gradually it widened and brightened, till at length
he emerged from the subterranean gulf which had so long imprisoned
him into the mountain cave wherein he bad ever since remained.
How long it had taken him to accomplish this passage he could not
guess, but from the sun's position it seemed to be about noon when
he again beheld day. He sat down, dazzled and fatigued, on the
mossy floor of the grotto, and watched the mountain torrent eddying
and sweeping furiously past in the gorge beneath his retreat.
After a while he slept, and awoke towards evening faint with hunger
and bitterly regretting the affliction which prevented him from
attracting help.