I had this from Walter himself before his fever came on.

He advised and implored him not to attempt to clear the whole shaft, but to pick sideways into the mine twenty feet from the ground.

He told Walter that he never really slept at night, and in his dreams saw you in a part of the mine he calls the hall.

Now, Walter says that but for this advice they would have been two days more getting to you." "We should have been dead," said Grace, gravely.

Then she reflected.
"Colonel Clifford," said she, "I listened to that villain and Mr.Bartley planning my father's destruction.