By doing this with care and coolness,I must reach the point where Ihad turned away from the rippling stream.I must find the fatal bifurcation or fork.Once at this spot,once the river at my feet,Icould,at all events,regain the awful crater of Mount Sneffels.Why had I not thought of this before?This,at last,was a reasonable hope of safety.The most important thing,then,to be done was to discover the bed of the Hansbach.
After a slight meal and a draught of water,I rose like a giant refreshed.Leaning heavily on my pole,I began the ascent of the gallery.The slope was very rapid and rather difficult.But I advanced hopefully and carefully,like a man who at last is making his way out of a forest,and knows there is only one road to follow.
During one whole hour nothing happened to check my progress.As Iadvanced,I tried to recollect the shape of the tunnel-to recall to my memory certain projections of rocks-to persuade myself that Ihad followed certain winding routes before.But no one particular sign could I bring to mind,and I was soon forced to allow that this gallery would never take me back to the point at which I had separated myself from my companions.It was absolutely without issue-a mere blind alley in the earth.
The moment at length came when,facing the solid rock,I knew my fate,and fell inanimate on the arid floor!
To describe the horrible state of despair and fear into which I then fell would now be vain and impossible.My last hope,the courage which had sustained me,drooped before the sight of this pitiless granite rock!
Lost in a vast labyrinth,the sinuosities of which spread in every direction,without guide,clue or compass,I knew it was a vain and useless task to attempt flight.All that remained to me was to lie down and die.To lie down and die the most cruel and horrible of deaths!
In my state of mind,the idea came into my head that one day perhaps,when my fossil bones were found,their discovery so far below the level of the earth might give rise to solemn and interesting scientific discussions.
I tried to cry aloud,but hoarse,hollow,and inarticulate sounds alone could make themselves heard through my parched lips.I literally panted for breath.
In the midst of all these horrible sources of anguish and despair,a new horror took possession of my soul.My lamp,by falling down,had got out of order.I had no means of repairing it.Its light was already becoming paler and paler,and soon would expire.
With a strange sense of resignation and despair,I watched the luminous current in the coil getting less and less.A procession of shadows moved flashing along the granite wall.I scarcely dared to lower my eyelids,fearing to lose the last spark of this fugitive light.Every instant it seemed to me that it was about to vanish and to leave me forever-in utter darkness!
At last,one final trembling flame remained in the lamp;Ifollowed it with all my power of vision;I gasped for breath;Iconcentrated upon it all the power of my soul,as upon the last scintillation of light I was ever destined to see:and then I was to be lost forever in Cimmerian and tenebrous shades.
A wild and plaintive cry escaped my lips.On earth during the most profound and comparatively complete darkness,light never allows a complete destruction and extinction of its power.Light is so diffuse,so subtle,that it permeates everywhere,and whatever little may remain,the retina of the eye will succeed in finding it.In this place nothing-the absolute obscurity made me blind in every sense.
My head was now wholly lost.I raised my arms,trying the effects of the feeling in getting against the cold stone wall.It was painful in the extreme.Madness must have taken possession of me.I knew not what I did.I began to run,to fly,rushing at haphazard in this inextricable labyrinth,always going downwards,running wildly underneath the terrestrial crust,like an inhabitant of the subterranean furnaces,screaming,roaring,howling,until bruised by the pointed rocks,falling and picking myself up all covered with blood,seeking madly to drink the blood which dripped from my torn features,mad because this blood only trickled over my face,and watching always for this horrid wall which ever presented to me the fearful obstacle against which I could not dash my head.
Where was I going?It was impossible to say.I was perfectly ignorant of the matter.
Several hours passed in this way.After a long time,having utterly exhausted my strength,I fell a heavy inert mass along the side of the tunnel,and lost consciousness.