He grew so faint that he felt he could not maintain his hold upon the top of the mound, and quickly descended, half sliding, to the bottom.

There he sat down, his lantern by his side.

When his strength came back to him,--and he could not have told any one how long it was before this happened,--the first thing he did was to feel for his box of matches, and finding them safe in his waistcoat pocket, he extinguished the lantern.

He must not be discovered, if there should be any one to discover him.
Now the captain began to think as fiercely and rapidly as a man's mind could be made to work.

Some one had been there.