I loaded both barrels of the rifle, keeping my pistol for another purpose, and then fired one of them.

There was a tremendous report, that rang in my ears like a hundred thunder-volleys, and rolled and reverberated far along, and died away in endless echoes.

The flash lighted up the scene for an instant, and for an instant only; like the sudden lightning, it revealed all around.

I saw a wide expanse of water, black as ink--a Stygian pool; but no rocks were visible, and it seemed as though I had been carried into a subterranean sea.
I loaded the empty barrel and waited.

The flash of light had revealed nothing, yet it had distracted my thoughts, and the work of reloading was an additional distraction.