It was not encouraging.

Evidently he was upon the third floor, at the rear of the building, looking down into a cluttered up back yard.

His eyes could scarcely distinguish what was below, as the only glimmer of light came from a far distant street lamp at the end of an alley, the faint rays creeping in through holes in the fence.

Yet one black shadow seemed to promise the sloping roof of a shed directly below; but even with that to break his fall, it was a desperate leap.
He stared into those uncertain depths, endeavouring to measure the distance, deceived by the shifting shadows, afraid of what lay hidden below.

For the moment he forgot all that was behind him, his whole mind concentrated on the perils of so mad a leap into the dark.