grope along the floor from one side to the
other. One point I considered was to my advantage. My captors would
suppose that I was shut up in the chest, and would therefore not have
taken much trouble to secure the outlet to the vault. Probably, indeed,
they had gone away, as they would certainly avoid being seen in the
neighbourhood of the old mill during daylight. I didn't suppose that
they intended to murder me, and I therefore expected that they would
come back again at night to bring me some food, or perhaps to carry me
off and ship me on board some vessel, for such I was convinced was their
intention. I must therefore effect my escape before nightfall. The
necessity of obtaining food would alone induce me to do this, though as
yet I did not feel very hungry.

Serious as the situation was, I did not give way to despair. I could
not believe that I was doomed to die, but how my deliverance was to be
effected was more than I could tell. Again starting from the chest in
which I had been shut up, and which I could distinguish by the short
fragments of the top, I continued groping my way round and round the
vault. My first object was to try and find the door, which I was
persuaded existed, as I thought I had previously missed it. Any one who
has played at blind man's buff may have a faint idea of my situation.
Only the objects round me remained stationary, whereas in the game
people run away from the blinded person, and he has to try and catch
them as they run round him. I had the advantage over the blinded man in
the game. I was sure that in time I should gain a knowledge of my
locality. Time, however, was precious, and it would not do for me to
delay my search.

I would have given anything for a tinder-box and flint and steel, so
that I might light up the vault even for a few seconds; but as that was
not to be had, I tried to make use of my other senses. Stretching out
my arms and feet as I went along, touching one place with my left hand,
while I felt about my head as far as I could reach straight out with my
right; I then brought my left up to the spot my right had last touched,
and so I went on. Occasionally my right foot struck against a bale or
chest which extended beyond the others above it. Had there been an
opening in the pile of goods I was sure that I could not have missed it.
For the supposed door I searched in vain, and at length came to the
conclusion that the only entrance to the vault was