After laboring several hours more, he discovered, to his great joy, the
bottom of the foundation. Again he plied the spade, and, by almost
superhuman exertions, he succeeded in excavating a hole under the
stones, which, below the surface of the ground, were not laid in mortar.
After loosening all the small stones around a larger one, he found that
he could pry it out, which, with much labor, he accomplished. The
removal of the other stones was comparatively an easy task, and a little
time sufficed to clear a space up to the solid masonry.
But here a new difficulty presented itself. The hole he had dug was
already half filled with the stones he had tumbled from their positions.
His strength was not sufficient to remove them, and he was compelled to
dig again, in order to prosecute his labors.
The wall removed, he commenced digging outside of the foundation wall.
Patiently he dug down to obtain sufficient room for the deposit of earth
from the outside. Slowly and laboriously he undermined the ground, till
the surface above him caved in, and--joy to his panting soul!--the air,
the pure air of heaven, rushed in through the aperture! Hastily
enlarging the cavity, and removing the earth to the inside, he ascended
to the surface of the ground.
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