m, the place where he had first come to himself must lie off to his
left; and so it proved after a long search, and he sank down so wearied
out, that as he chose by preference to lie down, he was before many
minutes had elapsed in a deep and dreamless sleep, forgetful of the
darkness and any peril that might be ready to assail him next.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

Whether it was night or day when Archy awoke he could not tell, but he
felt rested and refreshed, and ready to try and do something to make his
escape.

There was a way into his prison, and that way, he vowed, should by some
means or other be his way out.

The first thing to do was to find that lanthorn, of whose position he
seemed to have some vague idea; but, after a little search, he found
that all idea of locality had gone, and he had not the slightest idea of
the direction to go next.

"I must leave it to chance," he said. "I shall find it when I'm not
trying;" and, wearying of the search, he set himself now to try and make
his way to the place where his visitors had come into the old quarry.

Here, again, he was utterly at fault, for the cavern was so big and
irregular, and he was still so haunted by the thought that he might be
at any moment on the brink of some deep hole, half full of water, that
he dared not search so energetically as he would have liked.

He had many narrow escapes from falls and blows against projecting
masses of stone, and he found himself, after hours of wandering, so
tired and faint, that he would gladly have found the basket and the
resting-place; but the more he searched the more convinced he grew of
the ease with which he could lose himself entirely in the darkness, and
when he did come upon any spot again which he recognised by touch as one
that he had felt before, it seemed to him that he stumbled upon it quite
by accident, and the moment he left it he was as helpless as before.

Wearied out at length, he determined to go in a straight line from where
he was to the extremity of the vault; then to curve back, and from this
point strike out to the left in search of his resting-place and the
basket.

It took him just about an hour, and when he had done all this he could
find no traces of his food, but he heard a noise close behind him which
nailed him to the spot, and he stood motionless, listening.

According to his idea, he was at the end of the cave farthest from where
his gaolers approached, but unless there were