Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/110

 for a considerable cavity appeared, which, on a former day, had been concealed from my distant view by the rock.

It was obvious to conclude that this was his present habitation, or that an avenue conducting hither and terminating in the unexplored sides of this pit, was that by which he had come hither, and by which he had retired. I could not hesitate to slide into the pit: I found an entrance, through which I fearlessly penetrated. I was prepared to encounter obstacles and perils similar to those which I have already described; but was rescued from them by ascending, in a few minutes, into a kind of passage open above, but walled by a continued rock on both side. The sides of this passage conformed with the utmost exactness to each other: Nature, at some former period, had occasioned the solid mass to dispart at this place; and had thus afforded access to the summit of the hill. Loose stones and ragged points formed the flowing of this passage, which rapidly and circuitously ascended.

I was now within a few yards of the surface of the rock. The passage opened into a kind of chamber or pit, the sides of which were not difficult to climb: I rejoiced at the prospect of this termination of my journey. Here I paused, and throwing my weary limbs on the ground, began to examine the objects around me, and to meditate on the steps that were next to be taken.

My first glance lighted on the very being of whom I was in search. Stretched upon a bed of moss, at the distance of a few feet from my station, I beheld Clithero. He had not been roused by my approach, though my footsteps were perpetually stumbling and sliding: this reflection gave birth to the fear that he was dead. A nearer inspection dispelled my apprehensions, and showed me that he was merely buried in profound slumber. Those vigils must, indeed, have been long, which were at last succeeded by a sleep so oblivious.

This meeting was in the highest degree propitious; it not only assured me of his existence, but proved that his miseries were capable of being suspended. His slumber enabled me to pause, to ruminate on the manner by which his understanding might be most successfully addressed, to