Presently, however, in spite of my suffering I fell asleep, and when I awoke I felt better. My head ceased to ache, and although I felt very weak my tongue had become cool again.
"Thank God," I cried out in my joy. "O, great Lord, who didst suffer for the sins of the world, be pleased to help me in my dire distress."
But no answer came to my prayer: only silence, a great and terrible silence, filled the place. Nevertheless, my prayer gave me hope. If God lived, I reflected, I was in His keeping here in the bowels of the earth as truly as if I was aboveground. This feeling put new heart into me, and I determined to make another effort.
I had now no knowledge concerning the levels I had explored, but I kept on praying for guidance, and ere long I found myself in another tunnel, although whither it led I no more knew than a child but last night born.
I could not help reflecting, however, that the air grew purer, and presently I put my foot in a pool of water. Giving no time to reflection as to whence this water came, I knelt down and took a long deep draught, and immediately I felt a new man. A great confidence possessed me, the hideous time which I had been passing lost much of its terrors, and while I was still in black darkness, I felt sure I was moving towards the light.
I therefore pressed onward, feeling the air grow purer and purer at each step, and then I fancied that, instead of gazing into black darkness, I saw a darkness that was grey. I held my hand before me, and thought I could see my fingers move. This inspired me with still greater hope, and after a time my hope became a certainty. I could even see the sides of the tunnel in which I walked. A few minutes later a streak of light, very small but very distinct, reached me. I realized, moreover, that a little stream of water trickled along the bed of the tunnel in which I walked, and ere long I saw what appeared to me to be a small hole which let in the light.
At this time my heart filled with a great joy, and in spite of my weakness I shouted aloud for joy. I bethought me of the psalms which I had heard the Puritans sing: "Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; they fell down and there was none to help; then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distress."
Never surely did man thank God as I thanked Him then, and when, a little later, I crept out of the level through a hole scarce big enough for a man to drag his body through, I could scarce breathe for very joy. I heard the birds singing, and looking above me I saw the sunlight piercing the leaves of the trees. Then I think I fainted, for I remember falling down, while all became dark again.
When I awoke I found myself lying where I had fallen, and although I was terribly weak I had still strength enough to look around and take notice of my surroundings. I saw that the mouth of the level out of which I had come was closed by a great heap of fallen débris, save for the hole through which I had passed. It was much overgrown too, and a man might pass it a hundred times without seeing it. There was another thing which struck me also. Not a footmark of any sort was to be seen, not a suggestion that any one had visited the place. Huge heaps of stones and rocks were around, but they had become overgrown by bushes and trees. The place seemed far away from human habitation.
"Father Solomon knows nothing of this entrance," I reflected, "and he believes that he left me there to die. Well, all the better; the time may come when I can make use of my knowledge."