midday
When I had traversed some fifty yards of space , I came to another passage running at right angles , and here an awful thing happened to me : the sharp draught caught my lamp and extinguished it , leaving me in utter darkness in the bowels of that mysterious place . I took a couple of strides forward so as to clear the bisecting tunnel , being terribly afraid lest I should turn up it in the dark if once I got confused as to the direction , and then paused to think . What was I to do ? I had no match ; it seemed awful to attempt that long journey back through the utter gloom , and yet I could not stand there all night , and , if I did , probably it would not help me much , for in the bowels of the rock it would be as dark at midday as at midnight . I looked back over my shoulder -- not a sight or a sound . I peered forward into the darkness : surely , far away , I saw something like the faint glow of fire . Perhaps it was a cave where I could get a light -- at any rate , it was worth investigating .