thing, but simply to keep myself warm by action. As long as I could
move about I believed that there was no immediate danger of succumbing
to the intense cold; for, when a young man, traveling in Switzerland, I
had been in the cave of a glacier, and it was not cold enough to prevent
some old women from sitting there to play the zither for the sake of
a few coppers from visitors. I could not expect to be able to continue
walking until I should be rescued, and if I sat down, or by chance slept
from exhaustion, I must perish.

The more I thought of it, the more sure I became that in any case I must
perish, A man in a block of ice could have no chance of life. And Agnes!
Oh, Heavens! what demon of the ice had leagued with old Havelot to shut
me up in this frozen prison? For a long time I continued to walk, beat
my body with my arms and stamp my feet. The instinct of life was strong
within me. I would live as long as I could, and think of Agnes. When I
should be frozen I could not think of her.

Sometimes I stopped and listened. I was sure I could hear noises, but I
could not tell whether they were above me or not. In the centre of the
ice-barrier, about four feet from the ground, was a vast block of the
frozen substance which was unusually clear and seemed to have nothing on
the other side of it; for through it I could see flickers of light, as
though people were going about with lanterns. It was quite certain that
the accident had been discovered; for, had not the thundering noise been
heard by persons outside, the workmen would have seen what had
happened as soon as they came into the tunnel to begin their afternoon
operations.

At first I wondered why they did not set to work with a will and cut
away this barrier and let me out. But there suddenly came to my mind
a reason for this lack of energy which was more chilling than the
glistening walls around me: Why should they suppose that I was in the
ice-chamber? I was not in the habit of coming here very often, but I was
in the habit of wandering off by myself at all hours of the day. This
thought made me feel that I might as well lie down on the floor of this
awful cave and die at once. The workmen might think it unsafe to mine
any further in this part of the glacier, and begin operations at some
other point. I did sit down for a moment, and then I rose involuntarily
and began my weary round. Suddenly I thought of looking at my watch.
It was nearly five o'clock. I had be