He crawled upon it and finally succeeded in straightening up in the opening left when it fell. This opening was plenty large enough for his body; he could move his arms freely; and with his outstretched elbows he was able to touch either side.
Standing there, he tipped back his head and looked upward.
His heart gave a fearful throb as if bursting, and through it shot a sharp pain.
It was no fancy, no hallucination of his deranged brain; away up there he could see light!
"If I could climb up there I might escape!" he whispered. "But how can I do it—how?"
With his hands he felt of the rocky sides of the place where he stood. The walls were rough, with many niches and protrusions.
He resolved at once to make the attempt, well knowing it might cause another fall of earth and rocks, which would crush him to death.
He found a niche on one side for one foot and a protruding bit of ledge on the other side for the other foot. He fastened his fingers in a cleft and slowly succeeded in dragging himself up into the crack, which was now quite wide enough for him to accomplish this.
He felt about and found other cracks and protrusions. Little by little he climbed higher.
Once his foothold gave way and he came near falling. By bracing across the cleft he succeeded in preventing such a calamity.