d after a while that the end of the cave must be
very near to the seaward face of the crag, and that the cave ran right
through the rock, and was only kept from opening on the outer side by a
thin barrier of stone; so after several attempts, using all his
strength, he worked the stone loose; and then with a great effort, he
thrust the stone out; it fell with a great noise, leaping among the
crags, and at last plunging into the sea. The wind rushed in through the
gap; then he saw that he had, as it were, a small window looking out to
sea, so small that he could not pass through it, but large enough to let
a light shine forth, if there were a light set there; but though it
seemed again to him like the guiding hand of God, he could not devise
how he should shelter the light within from the wind. Indeed the hole
made the cave a far less habitable place for himself, for the wind
whistled very shrewdly through; he found it easy enough to stop the gap
with an old fisherman's coat--but then the light was hidden from view.
So he tried a further plan; he dug a hole in the earth at the top of the
cliff, and then made a bed of dry sand at the bottom of it; and he piled
up dry seaweed and wood within, thinking that if he lit his beacon
there, it might be sheltered from the wind, and would burn fiercely
enough to throw up the flame above the top of the pit. He saw that heavy
rain would extinguish his fire; but the nights were most dangerous when
it blew too strongly for rain to fall. So one night, when the wind blew
strongly from the sea, he laid wood in order, which he had gathered on
the land, and conveyed with many toilsome journeys over to the island.
Then he lighted the pile, but it was as he feared; the wind blew
fiercely over the top, and drove the flames downward, so that the pit
glowed with a fierce heat; and sometimes a lighted brand was caught up
and whirled over the cliffs; but he saw plainly enough that the light
would not show out at sea. He was very sad at this, and at last went
heavily down to his cave, not knowing what he should do; and pondering
long before he slept, he could see no way out.

In the morning he went up to the cliff-top again, and turned his steps
to the pit. The fire had burned itself out, but the sides were still
warm to the touch; all the ashes had been blown by the force of the wind
out of the hole; but he saw some bright things lie in the sand, which he
could not wholly understand, till he pulled