er sat down then with his brains swimming in his skull, and for
a bit he was too horrified to do ought but shiver and sweat; and then his
wits steadied down and he saw that what was so awful in itself yet carried
in its horror just that ray of hope he wanted now to push him on.

His instinct was always terrible strong for self-preservation, and his
thoughts leapt forward; and he saw that if a fox had bit poor dead Joe,
the creature must have come from somewheres. Of course a fox can go where
a man cannot, yet that foxes homed here meant hope for Amos; and there
also was the blessed torch he'd took from his dead brother's breast.

He nerved himself and felt all over the poor corpse and found Joe's purse
and his tobacco pouch and the two pipes he was reported to have bought at
Exeter; and doubtless he'd bought the electric torch also, for Amos knew
that his brother possessed no such thing afore. But there it was: he'd
been tempted to buy the toy, and though it couldn't bring him back to
life, there was just a dog's chance it might save his brother's. Amos knew
the thing wouldn't last very long alight, so he husbanded it careful and
only turned it on when his hands couldn't tell him what he wanted to know.

At first it seemed as though there weren't no way out; but with the help
of the light, he found at last a little, low tunnel that opened out of the
hole; and then he found another opposite to it. And the one he reckoned
must run up under Vitifer into the thickness of the hill; while t'other
pointed south. Then, thinking upon the lay of the land, Amos reckoned the
second might be most like to lead to the air. And yet his heart sank a
minute later, for he guessed--rightly as it proved--that the south tunnel
was that which opened into a cave at Smallcumbe Goyle, near half a mile
down under. A place it was where he'd often played his games as a child;
but that ancient mine adit was well known to be choked by a heavy fall of
rock fifty yards from the mouth, so it didn't look very hopeful he'd win
through. However his instinct told him the sole chance lay there; for
t'other channel, if pursued, could only lead to the heart of the hill. He
set out according and after travelling twenty yards with bent head found
the roof of the tunnel lift and went on pretty steady without adventures
for a few hundred yards. 'Twas very evil air and he doubted if he'd keep
his head much longer; but with the torch light to guide his feet, he
stag