As soon as the thing was ware of me, it
fled from me into the inward of the cavern, and lo! it was a wild
beast. However, I followed it to the further end, till I saw afar
off a point of light not bigger than a star, now appearing and then
disappearing. So I made for it, and as I drew near, it grew larger and
brighter, till I was certified that it was a crevice in the rock,
leading to the open country, and I said to myself: "There must be some
reason for this opening. Either it is the mouth of a second pit such
as that by which they let me down, or else it is a natural fissure
in the stonery." So I bethought me awhile, and nearing the light,
found that it came from a breach in the back side of the mountain,
which the wild beasts had enlarged by burrowing, that they might enter
and devour the dead and freely go to and from. When I saw this, my
spirits revived and hope came back to me and I made sure of life,
after having died a death. So I went on, as in a dream, and making
shift to scramble through the breach, found myself on the slope of a
high mountain overlooking the salt sea and cutting off all access
thereto from the island, so that none could come at that part of the
beach from the city.
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