Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1859-12-29

rest over it. What with my failure
procuring light, and the pain of m
bruises, added 10 my terror and bewildel
ment of mind, / suffered intensely. Throug
all, it became clear to me that instead q
| falling ocer, had fallen through the clil
strange as it was that hollow groun
should occur so near the edge without tn
external wall of the cliff Gazing in toward
it. The space through which had fallei
must have been narrow, for my body wa
bruised and the skin torn from my side:
with strips of my clothing; that coul,
feel. Oh! for light to examine better in
to my miserable position; but after all,
did not feel without hope. 1 could no
loose the idea that was to hit upon som
means or way Of escape, if l only coult
get the matches to ignite, and show mt
! the size and form of the cave.
| Worn out with pain and thought, / mus
have slept. awoke with a raging thirst
and, almost at the same time, becam,
sure that / heard the dropping of water
dragged myself towards the sound stretch
ed out my hand, and drops from above fel
upon il; eagerly swallowed few which
buried my throat; hey uere distilled 6rint
salt as any impregnation of water could
possibly be!
This disappointment crushed me terri.
bly,. l should die of thirst ere / found a
mode of exit. l thought of the matches,
and tried them again, in vain; this time
however, they gave forth light smoke
In time the heat of my breast would dry
tbem-that was hope. / had no idea oi
time, save that my watch had run down
while l slept. 1 wound it up again, know
ing that when it again stopped eight-and-
twenty hours would have gone by. Again,
on my hands and knees, l crept around,
feeling by the damp walls, and as l contin-
ually approached and receeded from the
spot where the salt water dropped from a
projecting rock, l discovered that the cave
must be nearly round, and not many yards
square. Having discovered this, became
more collected and resolute, and forced my
self to calm review of my position. /
had to acknowledge to myself, that my
only chance of escape seemed the hole or
crack through which had fallen, but no
ray of light betrayed that spot-earth and
stones must have fallen in and checked il
up. Parching with thirst, and faint from
bodily injuries, was almost at the point
of despair, when distant sound fell upon
my ear. Listened with intense attention.
Soon. more and more distinctly, recog-
nized the noise of machinery, the rumbling
Of carts, and the voice of men; then bell
rung, aud, with throb ofjoy, I recognized
it as the morning summons to the laborers
in the works. A night only could have
passed since my leaving the outer world.
Had they missed meg Alas! there was
nothing to lead them to suspect the spot of
my captivity. I thought of the strange
disappearance of my young brolhcr-this
double bereavement would kill my poor
mother; but still l was comforted by the
knowledge that only partition of rock
separated me from my fellow men. Now
l could almost distinguish their voices
l felt that it was vain to hope that my calls
and shouts could be heard by them, yet l
could not forbear shouting till was quite
exhausted.
Then l reflected upon the means I could
find of digging away the barrier of rock
1t could not be thick-I knew that by my
facility in hearing sound, and concluded
that, as had fallen close to the edge of
the cliff, | had sunk straight down to the
level of the valley at its foot and possibly
the wall of my prison was not more than
two or three feet in thickness. But l had
no impliments, save my knife, and that was
a slender one, quite inadequate to cutting
passage through even the soft and damp
sali-rt ok which formed the PARTITION
Suddenly remembered having picked up
heavy iron OK shoe, on the wagon road,
during my Sunday walk. 1t was still in
my pocket. With what JOY I pulled it out,
and commenced eagerly my work.
l will not detail the agonies of those
days and nights, when worked on in the
darkness, sometimes encouraged, some
times nearly hopeless. I could not find
that I made any visible progress; the
sounds were nearer than a first, and was
growing hourly more exhausted from fa-
tigue and burning thirst. The salt air of
the cave iufamed my eyes, parched my
skin, and excoriated my throat, and often
| had horrible idea that should go mad
but I worked on. 1 had wound up my
watch five times, therefore it must have
been the sixth day-deliveranee as far off
as ever. had been trying to loosen a
fragment of rock which seemed somewhat
detached from the strata, (this ] could only
judge Of by feeling.) If l succeeded, l
should much reduce the thickness of the
barrier at that point, but had to stop and
rest before the final trial. l again tried
my matches. / had constantly done SO
hitherto, but without success, and few
remained; but now the third one that I
tried gave forth light smoke, than blue
fame, and finally clear red light. l held
it carefully, and belleld the cavern in which
/ was immured. It was a small one, and
sparkling from the saline crystals, as if
studded with gems. Opposite to me was
q dark object, on projection of the shelv
ing rock, and bearing a similarity to the
outline of q human figure. l lifted high
the expiring match, and, by its last ray, l
saw human face.
Tn frsc1u of ;,pnat;anca tried the faw