It was little enough I could distinguish, straining my eyes to the utmost; and finally, despairing of learning more, I advanced my hands, silently groping for something to grasp, when I was instantly frozen into a recumbent statue by a slight movement of something directly in front.

This was so faint that, had not my every nerve been tense, I should scarcely have noted it at all.
Yet there could be no doubt--some one had given a slight shiver, as though from the chill of the night air; whoever it might be, the person was not three paces from my out-stretched hands, and, as near as I could judge, must be sitting on the very threshold of the entrance.
I was in an awkward position.

How I had succeeded in arriving there without attracting attention was little short of miraculous.

I durst not venture on any retrograde movement; I even pressed my mouth against the hard earth, the better to deaden the sound of breathing.

I know not how long I remained thus; it was until my strained muscles appeared to cord themselves, and I could scarcely keep back a moan of pain.