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 lamp.  The lid had flown open, the oil was spilled out, and the water had entered.  The can was not within reach of him as he lay.  He raised himself to his hands and knees and groped around for it.  He began to despair of ever finding it.  It would be terrible, he thought, to lose it now, and be left alone in the dark.

But at last he came upon it and picked it up.  It was very light; he felt for the plug, it was gone; he turned the can upside down, it was empty.

For the moment his heart stopped beating; he could almost feel the pallor in his face, he could almost see the look of horror in his own eyes.  From this time forth he would be in darkness.  It was not enough that he was weak, sick, lost and alone in the mysterious depths of this old mine, but now darkness had come, thick darkness to crown his suffering and bar his path to freedom.  His self-imposed courage had almost given way.  It required matchless bravery to face a peril such as this without a murmur, and still find room for hope.

But he did his best.  He fought valiantly against despair.

It occurred to him that he still had matches.  He drew them from his pocket and counted them.  There were seven.

He poured the water from the chamber of his lamp and pulled out the wick and pressed it.  He thought that possibly he might make it burn a little longer without oil.  He selected one of the matches and struck it against the rock at his side.  It did not light.  The rock was wet and the match was spoiled.

The next one he lighted by drawing it swiftly across the sleeve of his jacket.  But the light was wasted; the cotton wick was still too wet to ignite.

There was nothing left to him, then, save the matches, and they would not light him far.  But it was better to go even a little way than to remain here.

He rose to his feet and struck a match on his sleeve, but it broke short off at the head, and the sputtering sulphur dropped into the stream and was quenched.  He struck another, this time with success.  He saw the heading; the way was clear; and he started on, holding one hand out before him, touching at frequent intervals the lower wall of the passage with the other.

But his side pained him when he tried to walk:  he had struck it heavily in his last fall; and he had to stop in order to relieve it.  After a time he arose again, but in the intense darkness and with that strange confusion in his brain, he could not tell in which direction to go.