had been the briefest
sort of a glimpse, for he had stepped over the edge and, without a
second's warning, had plunged downward into twilight darkness. He
remembered clutching at a branch which came away in his hand, and he
remembered crashing through a bush which had broken but not stopped his
fall. Of what happened after that he could remember nothing.

Now he stepped cautiously forward, feeling in front of him with hands
and feet. The ground was loose and uneven. Three short steps brought his
hands in contact with a smooth expanse of stone. His fingers could find
no place to clutch, even though he managed to fit the toe of one shoe
into a niche a foot or so above the ground. He moved to the right
through the darkness. But the wall of stone continued. Now and then it
became uneven and his hands scraped over rough edges, but it offered no
chance of escape. On and on he went. He knew that he must be describing
something of a circle, since he was in a pit of some sort, but it seemed
that he was edging straight away from where he had fallen. At last he
found bushes and for a moment he had hope. But, although he wormed his
way upward through them for the space of a few feet, at last he brought
up against a perpendicular wall of rock and he was forced to retreat. He
became conscious of a dim feeling of fright and strove to fight it down.
His hands were moist and the perspiration stood on his forehead in
little cold drops. He stopped and leaned against the wall behind him. As
he did so he became aware of hundreds of little noises about him and a
cold shiver travelled down his back. Then,

"Pshaw!" he muttered. "There's nothing here but birds and such things.
Even snakes don't come out after dark. I guess I'm settled for the night
and I might as well make the best of it. I dare say I've already been
around this old hole half a dozen times. No, I haven't, though, for I've
only found those bushes back there once. I'll go on, I guess; maybe
there's a regular macadamized road out of here."

He moved on, whistling softly to keep from feeling discouraged. But his
left wrist and hand pained frightfully, and presently he stopped and
tried to find a position for it that would ease the ache. Finally he
found his handkerchief, tied it about his neck and placed the injured
arm through the improvised sling. It helped a little. After that he
continued his search, but rather half-heartedly. He longed for light and
fell to wondering what