If he had been free to make a companionable noise, to whistle or to hum, or to listen to the friendly sound of his own movements he would have felt less frightened.

But the need of absolute silence in that dark prison agitated him, and in the ghostly stillness every creak made the place seem haunted.
If he could only have seen where he was! He knew now something of the insane terrors of dark and solitary confinement.

So strongly did this terror hold him that for a minute or two he dared not stir upon the seat for fear of causing the least sound which the darkness and strangeness of the place might conjure into spectral voices.
There is but one way to dispel these horrors and that is by throwing them off with quick movement and practical resolve.
He jumped down out of the car, and groping his way through the darkness stumbled against a wall.

Moving his hand along this he found it to be of rough boards.

Indeed, he had a more conclusive proof of this by the fact that a large splinter of the dried wood pierced his finger, paining acutely.