noon
An active mind , which has once been forced into any particular train , can scarcely be persuaded to desert it as hopeless . I had studied my chains , during the extreme anguish that I endured from the pressure of the fetter upon the ankle which had been sprained ; and though , from the swelling and acute sensibility of the part , I had found all attempts at relief , in that instance , impracticable , I obtained , from the coolness of my investigation , another and apparently superior advantage . During the night , my dungeon was in a complete state of darkness ; but , when the door was open , the case was somewhat different . The passage indeed into which it opened , was so narrow , and the opposite dead wall so near , that it was but a glimmering and melancholy light that entered my apartment , even at full noon , and when the door was at its widest extent . But my eyes , after a practice of two or three weeks , accommodated themselves to this circumstance , and I learned to distinguish the minutest object . One day , as I was alternately meditating and examining the objects around me , I chanced to observe a nail trodden into the mud-floor at no great distance from me . I immediately conceived the desire of possessing myself of this implement ; but , for fear of surprise , people passing perpetually to and fro , I contented myself , for the present , with remarking its situation so accurately , that I might easily find it again in the dark .