e of the cliff," he said joyously; and if
he could enlarge that crack there would be a way out to the face of the
rocks, where it would go hard with him indeed if he could not climb up
to the grassy fields above, or down to the shore below.

"Why didn't I try this before?" he cried. "Oh, how foolish! Not get
out, eh? I'll soon show them that;" and he began to feel about
carefully all over the face of the stones before him, to satisfy himself
before long that there had been a large roughly square opening here,
which had been filled in with some pieces of stone, between which he
could feel that there was mortar.

"Now, then, what I want is a good marlinspike or an iron bar. Oh, if I
had my dirk here I could move them with that."

But he had neither bar, marlinspike, nor dirk, nothing but his hands and
a small pocket-knife, so a depressing feeling of vexation humbled him
for a time.

He soon cast that off though, for it was impossible to feel low spirited
in the face of such a discovery, and before commencing the task he had
in hand he knelt down with his face close to the chink to drink in the
delicious sea air.

"I wonder how long I shall be a prisoner," he said aloud; and he
laughed, for he could see no difficulties now. Still they began to
appear soon after, and the first one he mentally saw was the coming of
Ram with his food. He must know the place thoroughly, as he had shown
by the care with which he threaded his way among the loose stones and
pillars, and if he came with his lanthorn and missed him, he might walk
up there and find him at work.

"I'll be careful," he said to himself; and taking out his knife forcing
himself to believe that it was about twelve o'clock each day that the
lad came, and if so, as it was about six hours, as near as he could
guess, since the basket was brought, he had about a couple of hours more
daylight, then the long night and all the morning, before his gaoler
would come again.

He bitterly regretted now not having tried to time Ram's visits,
forgetting that it would have been impossible to do so without light,
and, unable to restrain his impatience to the extent of waiting till he
came again, and watching for night from then, he went to work to try and
loosen a stone by the side of the crevice, and toiled away till at the
end of what seemed to be two hours, the light through the crevice paled,
grew dull, then dark, and for the first time for many days he knew that
it wa