As he drew his lantern after him into the cavity that he had made, he
perceived that, unless it was heightened immediately over him, he could
proceed no further, even in a creeping position. Irritated at this
unexpected necessity for more violent exertion, desperate in his
determination to get through the wall at all hazards on that very night,
he recklessly struck his bar upwards with all his strength, instead of
gradually and softly loosening the material of the surface that opposed
him, as he had done before.
A few moments of this labour had scarcely elapsed, when a considerable
portion of the brick-work, consolidated into one firm mass, fell with
lightning suddenness from above. It hurled him under it, prostrate on
the foundation arch which had been his support; crushed and dislocated
his right shoulder; and shivered his lantern into fragments. A groan of
irrepressible anguish burst from his lips. He was left in impenetrable
darkness.
The mass of brick-work, after it had struck him, rolled a little to one
side.
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