ut after having penetrated a short
distance into the winze.

"I don't know why I should care, though," said Peveril, bitterly,
"for, even if I should get stuck in there, it would only be exchanging
a tomb for a grave. At the same time, one does like to have room even
to die in, and I don't believe the risk is worth taking. There isn't
the slightest chance of a hole like that leading anywhere, and, so
long as I can draw a breath at all, I am going to draw it in the
open."

So, with the last spark of hope extinguished, and with a heart like
lead, the poor fellow turned to retrace his steps to the place in
which he proposed to spend his few remaining hours of life, and then
to yield it up as bravely as might be. As he did so a little gusty
draught of air blew the flame from his candle and plunged him into
absolute darkness.

[Illustration: PEVERIL SAT BESIDE THE FIRE IN FORLORN MEDITATION]

Peveril was so startled by this occurrence that for some time he
plunged blindly with outstretched hands back over the way he had come,
forgetting in his bewilderment that he still had matches with which to
relight his candle. Ere this was suggested to him he had retraced
about half the distance, guided solely by the sense of feeling, though
not without innumerable bruises and abrasions.

When he at length reached the end of the gallery and stood once more
beside the black pool into which he had been flung, what little of
daylight found its way into those dim depths was rapidly fading. It
only served while he gathered every stick of drift that some former
high stage of water had deposited on the rocky platform, and then
another night of almost arctic length was begun.

To escape the awful gloom, Peveril lighted a fire and sat beside it in
forlorn meditation, carefully feeding it one stick at a time, and
longing for some sound to break the oppressive silence. Finally, faint
with hunger, he recalled the bit of game that he had stored away ready
for cooking. Fetching this, he quickly had it spitted on a sliver of
wood and broiling with appetizing odor over a tiny bed of coals. It
smelled so good as it sizzled and browned that all his repugnance
vanished, and he was only impatient for it to be cooked. The moment it
was so he began to devour it ravenously, regretting at the same time
that he had not half a dozen rats to eat instead of one.

He felt better after his meal, and a new courage crept into his heavy
heart as he again sat i