ThesecircumstancesprovedfortunatebothformyselfandAugustus；
for，hadmattersbeenotherwise，hewouldhavefounditimpossibletoreachme。Asitwas，heproceededwithconfidenceinhisdesign。Itwasneardaybreak，however，beforehecompletedtheseconddivisionoftheboardwhichwasaboutafootabovethefirstcut，thusmakinganaperturequitelargeenoughtoadmithispassagethroughwithfacilitytothemainorlopdeck。Havinggothere，hemadehiswaywithbutlittletroubletothelowermainhatch，althoughinsodoinghehadtoscrambleovertiersofoil-caskspilednearlyashighastheupperdeck，therebeingbarelyroomenoughleftforhisbody。
UponreachingthehatchhefoundthatTigerhadfollowedhimbelow，squeezingbetweentworowsofthecasks。Itwasnowtoolate，however，toattemptgettingtomebeforedawn，asthechiefdifficultylayinpassingthroughtheclosestowageinthelowerhold。Hethereforeresolvedtoreturn，andwaittillthenextnight。
Withthisdesign，heproceededtoloosenthehatch，sothathemighthaveaslittledetentionaspossiblewhenheshouldcomeagain。NosoonerhadhelooseneditthanTigersprangeagerlytothesmallopeningproduced，snuffedforamoment，andthenutteredalongwhine，scratchingatthesametime，asifanxioustoremovethecoveringwithhispaws。Therecouldbenodoubt，fromhisbehaviour，thathewasawareofmybeinginthehold，andAugustusthoughtitpossiblethathewouldbeabletogettomeifheputhimdown。Henowhitupontheexpedientofsendingthenote，asitwasespeciallydesirablethatIshouldmakenoattemptatforcingmywayoutatleastunderexistingcircumstances，andtherecouldbenocertaintyofhisgettingtomehimselfonthemorrowasheintended。
After-eventsprovedhowfortunateitwasthattheideaoccurredtohimasitdid；for，haditnotbeenforthereceiptofthenote，I