p. The lid had flown open, the oil was
spilled out, and the water had entered. The can was not within reach
of him as he lay. He raised himself to his hands and knees and groped
around for it. He began to despair of ever finding it. It would be
terrible, he thought, to lose it now, and be left alone in the dark.

But at last he came upon it and picked it up. It was very light; he
felt for the plug, it was gone; he turned the can upside down, it was
empty.

For the moment his heart stopped beating; he could almost feel the
pallor in his face, he could almost see the look of horror in his own
eyes. From this time forth he would be in darkness. It was not enough
that he was weak, sick, lost and alone in the mysterious depths of
this old mine, but now darkness had come, thick darkness to crown his
suffering and bar his path to freedom. His self-imposed courage had
almost given way. It required matchless bravery to face a peril such
as this without a murmur, and still find room for hope.

But he did his best. He fought valiantly against despair.

It occurred to him that he still had matches. He drew them from his
pocket and counted them. There were seven.

He poured the water from the chamber of his lamp and pulled out the
wick and pressed it. He thought that possibly he might make it burn a
little longer without oil. He selected one of the matches and struck
it against the rock at his side. It did not light. The rock was wet
and the match was spoiled.

The next one he lighted by drawing it swiftly across the sleeve of his
jacket. But the light was wasted; the cotton wick was still too wet to
ignite.

There was nothing left to him, then, save the matches, and they would
not light him far. But it was better to go even a little way than to
remain here.

He rose to his feet and struck a match on his sleeve, but it broke
short off at the head, and the sputtering sulphur dropped into the
stream and was quenched. He struck another, this time with success.
He saw the heading; the way was clear; and he started on, holding one
hand out before him, touching at frequent intervals the lower wall of
the passage with the other.

But his side pained him when he tried to walk: he had struck it
heavily in his last fall; and he had to stop in order to relieve it.
After a time he arose again, but in the intense darkness and with that
strange confusion in his brain, he could not tell in which direction
to go.

He lighted another m