The whole mighty bulk of L'Etat seemed above and about him, malignantly intent on crushing him out of existence.
He knew that was only fancy.

He had experienced it many times before.
But the nightmare feeling was there, and it needed all his will at times to keep him from a panic attempt at retreat, when the insensate rock-walls seemed absolutely settling down on him, and breathing was none too easy.
But going back meant literally going backwards, crawling out toes foremost; for his elbows scraped the walls and his head the roof, and turning was out of the question.

The men who had made and used that narrow way had undoubtedly gone with a purpose, and not for pleasure.
And he was bound to learn what that purpose was.
So he set his teeth, and wormed himself slowly along, with pinched face and tight-shut mouth, and nostrils opened wide to take in all the air they could and let out as little as possible.

And, even at that, he had to lie still at times, pressed flat against the floor, to let some fresher air trickle in above him.
But at last he came to what he sought, though no whit of it could he see when he got there.

By the sudden cessation of the pressure on his sides and head, he was aware of entrance into a larger space, and, with forethought quickened by the exigences of his passage, he lay for a moment to pant more freely and to think.
His body was in the passage.