Chapter III.


The ensuing day was spent partly in sleep, and partly in languor and
disquietude. I incessantly ruminated on the incidents of the last night.
The scheme that I had formed was defeated. Was it likely that this
unknown person would repeat his midnight visits to the elm? If he did,
and could again be discovered, should I resolve to undertake a new
pursuit, which might terminate abortively, or in some signal disaster?
But what proof had I that the same route would be taken, and that he
would again inter himself alive in the same spot? Or, if he did, since
his reappearance would sufficiently prove that the cavern was not
dangerous, and that he who should adventure in might hope to come out
again in safety, why not enter it after him? What could be the
inducements of this person to betake himself to subterranean retreats?
The basis of all this region is _limestone_; a substance that
eminently abounds in rifts and cavities. These, by the gradual decay of
their cementing parts, frequently make their appearance in spots where
they might have been least expected. My attention has often been excited
by the hollow sound which was produced by my casual footsteps, and which
showed me that I trod upon the roof of caverns. A mountain-cave and the
rumbling of an unseen torrent are appendages of this scene, dear to my
youthful imagination. Many of romantic structure were found within the
precincts of Norwalk.

These I had industriously sought out; but this had hitherto escaped my