I had reached the end of the passage before I comprehended the truth.

It opened in the side of a gulley, coming out between the roots of a great tree, and could only have been discovered through sheerest accident.

Years of exposure had plastered the small opening with clay, and I was compelled to break this away before I could creep through out into the open air.
I was a wreck in body and mind, my face streaked with earth, my hair filled with dirt, my clothing torn and disreputable.

Laboring for breath, my fingers raw and bleeding, I lay there, with scarcely enough strength remaining to keep from rolling to the bottom of the ravine.

For some moments I was incapable of either thought or action, every ounce of energy having been expended in that last desperate struggle.