It was the one remembrance which kept me sane.

It was not the dead, but the living, I had to fear, and it was not in my nature to shrink back from any man.

I could feel the courage returning, the leap of hot blood through my veins as I straightened up.
I risked one more match to make certain of the opening through the wall, dimly glimpsed beyond the berths.

My eyes were not deceived; here was a second wood-supported passage, unblocked so far as I could perceive, but black as pitch.

I held the flaming splinter aloft, anxiously scanning the few feet thus revealed, but as it sputtered out, the red ash dropping to the floor, I felt renewed confidence that I was alone, unobserved.