g. He knew, now, which way to turn, and he passed
down it in what he thought was rapid flight.

But here was the fall again. What was to be done now? His last attempt
to get around it had been disastrous. He would not try that plan
again. He would work his way through it this time and keep to the
heading.

He climbed slowly up over the fallen rock and coal and let himself
down upon the other side. But it took his breath away, this climbing,
and he had to wait there a little while to recover it. There was a
clear space before him, though, and he made good progress through it
till he came again to the fall.

In this place the rock was piled higher and it was more difficult of
ascent. But he clambered bravely up, dragging his oil-can with him;
then he moved out along the smooth, sloping surfaces of fallen slate,
keeping as close as possible to the wall of the heading, climbing
higher and higher, very slowly now, and with much labor, stopping
often to rest.

He came, at last, to a place where the space between the fallen rock
and the roof above it was so narrow that he could scarcely squeeze his
slender body through it. When he had done so he found himself on the
edge of a precipice, a place where a solid mass had fallen like a
wall, and had made a shelf so high that the feeble rays of Ralph's
lamp would not reach to the bottom of it. The boy crawled, trembling,
along the edge of this cliff, trying to find some place for descent.

The oil-can that he carried made his movements cumbersome; the surface
of the rock was smooth and hard to cling to; his limbs were weak and
his fingers nerveless.

He slipped, the can fell from his hand, he tried to recover it,
slipped further, made a desperate effort to save himself, failed, and
went toppling over into the darkness.

The height was not very great, and he was not seriously injured by
the fall; but it stunned him, and he lay for some time in a state of
unconsciousness.

When he came to himself, he knew what had happened and where he was.
He tried to rise, but the effort pained him and he lay back again. He
was in total darkness. His lamp had fallen from his cap and become
extinguished. He reached out to try and find it and his hand came in
contact with a little stream of water. The very touch of it refreshed
him. He rolled over, put his mouth to it and drank. It was running
water, cool and delicious, and he was very, very thankful for it.

In the stream he found his lam