How fast one's thoughts burn in such times of stress! I was weighing chances of escape.

Would the column be swayed a few inches away from the wall, or would it come yet closer?
The fall was in flood and not so lightly would its ponderous mass be swayed.

My fate seemed to depend on a breath of the "idle wind." It was moved gently forward, the pounding ceased, and I was once more visited by glimpses of the moon.

But fearing I might be caught at a disadvantage in making too hasty a retreat, I moved only a few feet along the bench to where a block of ice lay.

I wedged myself between the ice and the wall and lay face downwards, until the steadiness of the light gave encouragement to rise and get away.