But going back meant literally going backwards, crawling out toes
foremost; for his elbows scraped the walls and his head the roof, and
turning was out of the question. The men who had made and used that
narrow way had undoubtedly gone with a purpose, and not for pleasure.
And he was bound to learn what that purpose was.
So he set his teeth, and wormed himself slowly along, with pinched face
and tight-shut mouth, and nostrils opened wide to take in all the air
they could and let out as little as possible. And, even at that, he had
to lie still at times, pressed flat against the floor, to let some
fresher air trickle in above him.
But at last he came to what he sought, though no whit of it could he see
when he got there. By the sudden cessation of the pressure on his sides
and head, he was aware of entrance into a larger space, and, with
forethought quickened by the exigences of his passage, he lay for a
moment to pant more freely and to think.
His body was in the passage. He knew where the passage led out to. What
lay ahead he could not tell.
If it was a chamber, as he expected, there might quite possibly be other
passages leading out of it.
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