toward the well.

Nothing spurred his hurt memory to a recollection of past familiarity
with his surroundings. He blundered on through the darkness as
though he were traversing an open plain under the brilliance of a
noonday sun, and suddenly there happened that which had to happen
under the circumstances of his rash advance.

He reached the brink of the well, stepped outward into space, lunged
forward, and shot downward into the inky depths below. Still
clutching his spear, he struck the water, and sank beneath its
surface, plumbing the depths.

The fall had not injured him, and when he rose to the surface, he
shook the water from his eyes, and found that he could see. Daylight
was filtering into the well from the orifice far above his head.
It illumined the inner walls faintly. Tarzan gazed about him. On
the level with the surface of the water he saw a large opening in
the dark and slimy wall. He swam to it, and drew himself out upon
the wet floor of a tunnel.

Along this he passed; but now he went warily, for Tarzan of the
Apes was learning. The unexpected pit had taught him care in the
traversing of dark passageways--he needed no second lesson.

For a long distance the passage went straight as an arrow. The
floor was slippery, as though at times the rising waters of the
well overflowed and flooded it. This, in itself, retarded Tarzan's
pace, for it was with difficulty that he kept his footing.