into the open sea.
Then with a violent start he was awake again, drawing himself up and
fighting hard against terrible odds, for Nature said that he was
completely exhausted, and must rest.

And as he set his teeth and stared hard at the faintly glittering wall
opposite, where the great vein of milk-white quartz was spangled with
grains of tin, his head bowed down and dropped forward till his chin
touched his chest.

Again he sprang up, to prop his head back against the rock, but it had
been hacked away so that it curved over and seemed to join Nature in her
efforts to master him and force him to sleep, bending down his head and
sending it in the old direction, so that his brow seemed heavier than
lead, and he bent it lower and lower, while once more he was out on the
glittering waters of the sea, the boat bounding rapidly along and all
trouble at an end. For the darkness of the cavernous mine was gone,
with all its weary horrors--there was nothing to mind, nothing to do,
but sink lower and lower in the boat, and rest.

Hard--angular--stony? The granite chipped by hammer and pick felt like
the softest down, as Gwyn swayed slowly over to his left, his shoulders
rubbing against the wall and his half-braced muscles involuntarily
acting in obedience to his will to keep him upright, so that he did not
fall, but gently subsided till he was lying prone close to the lanthorn,
which shed its faint yellowish light and cast dim shadows which, there
in that gloomy spot, looked like a couple of graves newly banked up to
mark the spots where the two lads had lain down to die or to be found
and live, whichever fate ordained.

Joe must have slept for what was guessed to be a couple of hours; but
they had passed, and he still slept on, with his rest growing more and
more sweet and restful, while for Gwyn there was nothing but profound
silence and vacancy. He did not dream--only plunged deeper and deeper
into the stupor till six hours had passed away, and then the dream came.

A terrible wild dream of being somewhere in great danger--a place from
which there was no escape from a dangerous wolf-like beast, which had
followed him for hours, and was slowly hunting him down.

And every moment the vision grew more real, and the fierce beast came
closer and closer in spite of his efforts to escape--mad, frantic
efforts--while every limb was like lead, and held him back so that he
might be the monster's prey.

He felt that it was a