The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1859-12-22

TO move further lay down and endeav
ored to think of my condition. It seem
ed helpelsss one. / was certainly in one
of those caves formed in the salt rocks
and sometimes found by miners, running
| far below the earth's surface. / had nc
idea how far had fallen it might be q
hundred feet; it might be many hundred
AS vet could find no trace of the pas.
sage through which had dropped, but
/ remembered that / had case of match.
es in my pocket, and it was not long be.
fore l succeeded in dragging them out,
though it was excruciating pain to my
bruised limbs to move them.
Having no taper, determined to be
very careful of the matches, and to i'm
prove the moment oflight, during which
one would last. rubbed it very care
fully against the sole of my boot. then
harder, then furiously-but it would not
ignite! Then / tried another, with no
better success. With a faint hope Of dry
ing them in time, l put the box into my
breast, and buttoned my vest over it
What with my failure in procuring a
light. and the pain of my bruises, added
to my terror and bewilderment of mind,
l suffered intensely. Through all, it be-
came clear to me that instead of falling
over, / had fallen through the cliff
strange as it was that hollow ground
should occur SO near to the edge without
the external wall of the cliff caving in
towards it. The space through which l
had fallen must have been narrow, for
my body was bruised, and the skin torn
from my sides, with strips of my cloth
ing that could feel. Oh for a light
to examine better into my miserable po-
sition but after all, did not live with
out hope, / could not lose the idea that
was to hit upon some means or way of
escape, if / could get the matches to
unite, and show me the size and form of
the cave
Worn out with pain, must have slept.
| awoke with raging thirst, and almost
at the same time, l became sure that /
heard the dropping of water. dragged
myself toward the sound, stretched out
my hand, and drops from above fell upon
it, Eagerly swallowed few, which
burned my throat; they were distilled
brine-salt as any impregnation of water
could possibly be
This disappointment crushed me terri
bly,. l should die of thirst ere / had
found mode Of exit. l thought of the
matches and tried them again, in vain
this time they gave forth some light,
however. In time the heat of my breast
would dry them-that was hope I had
no idea of time. save that my watch had
run down while slept. wound it up
again, knowing that when it again stop
ped, eight and twenty hours would have
gone by. Again on my hands and knees
| crept around, feeling by the damp walls,
and as continually approached and re-
ceded from the place where the salt wat
er dropped from projecting rock. l dis
covered that the cave was nearly round,
and not many yards square. Having dis
covered this, became more collected
and resolute, and forced myself to calm
review of my position. had to ackuow-
ledge to myself that my only chance of
escape seemed the hole or crack through
which ! had fallen; but no ray of light
betrayed the spot-earth and stones must
have fallen in and choked it up. Parch-
ing with thirst, and faint with bodily in
juries, / was almost at the point Of de-
spair, when distant sound met my ear.
l listened with intense attention. Soon,
more and more distinctly, / recognized
it as the morning summons to the labor
ers in the works, A night only could
have passed since my leaving the outer
world. Had they missed me would
they miss me? Alas there was moth
ing to lead them to suspect the spot of
my captivity. | thought Of the strange
disappearance Of my young brother-
this double bereavement would kill my
poor mother but still was comforted
by the knowledge that only partition of
rock separated me from my fellow men.
Now l could almost distinguish their
voices. / felt that it was vain to hope
that my call and shouts could be heard
by them. yet could not forbear shout
ing till was quite exhausted.
Then I reflected on the means could
find of digging away the barrier Of rock.
1t could not be thick / knew that by
my faculty of hearing sound, and con-
cluded that, as l had fallen close to the
edpe Of the cliff T had suoE stro;rbt