Before he could
recover himself, the rock, which had been loosely imbedded in the
soil and which his foot had struck so heavily, rolled after him
and on his leg and foot. In sudden and increasing dismay, he found
that he could not extricate himself. The stone would have been
beyond his ability to lift even if he had the full use of all his
powers; but he was held in a position that gave him very little
chance to exert his strength.
When he found that it was utterly impossible to push the stone
away, he tried to excavate the earth, by means of sticks and his
small pocket-knife, from under his leg, but soon found, with a sense
of mortal fear, that his limb was resting in a little depression
between two other large rocks deeply imbedded in the bottom of
the ravine. This depression, and the soft, dry leaves which had
covered it like a cushion, prevented the stone from crushing his
limb and foot, but also held him in a sort of natural sock.
As these appalling facts became clear, he saw that he was in imminent
danger of death by starvation. Then a worse fear than that chilled
his very soul. He might die in that lonely spot and never be
discovered. The prowling vermin of the night might tear away his
flesh, and drag his bones hither and thither, till the leaves that
now would soon fall covered them forever from sight and knowledge;
but Ida Mayhew, and the orphan girl to whom his honor bound him, would
think that he had broken his pledges, and was in truth a vagabond
on the earth--eating and drinking, rioting, perhaps in ignoble
obscurity.
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