and sore, but he was not
much hurt, for only the first few feet of his fall had been
perpendicular; and once more he stood thinking in the darkness, and
fighting with the fear and confusion which like mental gloom and mist
oppressed his brain.

Only one idea dominated all others, and that one was that he must not
stand still.

Starting once more, it was with ground still rapidly descending, and now
he went very slowly and cautiously, feeling his way step by step among
the loose scree, lest he should come upon another perpendicular descent,
though even here the place was so steep that the stones he dislodged
slid rattling down over one another for some distance before all was
again still.

He must have gone on like this for nearly an hour before he felt that he
was upon more level ground, but it was terribly broken up and encumbered
with great masses of stone, among which he had painfully to thread his
way.

Once again he found himself walking into a patch of moss, and he felt
the soft growth giving way, till he was knee-deep, and it was only by a
sudden scramble backwards that he was able to get free.

Then he went on and on again amidst the profound darkness, feeling his
way among stones and scrubby growth more and more wearily each minute,
till he was brought sharp up by a curious, croaking cry.

The lately learned knowledge, however, came that this must be a
moor-hen; but the fact of such a bird being near did not suggest that he
must be close to water, and in consequence he had not gone much farther
before he found himself splashing along the edge of some mountain loch
or pool, whose bottom where he stood seemed to be smooth pebbles.

He stooped down in a dull, despairing way, plunged his hand beneath the
surface, and drew out one of the biggest stones he could find, to hurl
straight before him, and, as he listened, it fell into water which gave
forth a dull, echoing splash, suggestive of depth and overhanging rocks.

He tried again and again, after backing cautiously, as he thought, out
of the deep direction, but only to find the water grow deeper, till, to
his horror, he found it nearly to his middle. The despairing plunge,
however, that he took, led him into shallows once more; but every stone
he threw fell into deep water, till he jerked one to his left, and this
fell on stones.

Taking that direction, he pursued his level way over a shingly beach,
with the impression upon him that he must be journe