The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1867-03-28
LANCASTER, OHIO, MARCH 2sth, 1857.

'eVuIIlnB lhCerNalb, until my VOICE
grew hoarse, my lips parched, and
ny mouth dry. l felt o burning
sensation in my eyes. Ny head |
grew dizzy, and / crouched in the
corner of the rock again, for fear I |
should fall off. At length my feel
ngs found vent in q flood of tears.
| am not ashamed to say that l wept
like child. III
Suddenly l heard a faint cry, in
The far distance. looked up ca.
gerly. On o. shell of rock, on the
opposite side of the chasm, about
three hundred yards off, / saw the
figures of my three companions
shouted in reply, and pointed to
the break in the ledge. One Of
them answered. / could hear the
tones family, but could not dis
tinguish the words. My sight,
whether from hunger or through
the exigencies Of the case, was pre-.
ternaturally sharpened. l saw, or
thought l saw, Gardens lips move.
Flo was evidently giving some di.
rections to mo. / had often heard
of men reading the words Of 9TH
ers by the motion of the lips; but
of that kind of learning l was no
master. l could not deciphcr the
words he used.
II saw Bruce's hand in the air.
He was evidently using the mutes'
alphabet TO communicate with me
But the shapes into which he placed
his fingers were not recognizable.
Presently he stopped, and began
to describe signs on the steep rock
behind. What could he mean2 l
watched him. closely. He drew a
line horizontally on the rock, and
then another perpendicularly from
the centre of the first. 1t was a
mystery; but all at once, tho solu.
tion flashed on me. lie was max.
ing letters. The perpendicular
dropped from the cross line, rep.
resented T. lrose and clapped my
hands, to let him know that l un-
dorstood him.
"He next made an Fl. answer.
cd him. He then described an +, to
which I replied. lie went on, IN.
til | spelled out the words-THE
LEDGE BELOW, when the signs stop
ped,
"The mystery was as dark as ev-
er. I sat down and pondered,
while the two stood waiting. Bruce
began again. In the same way,
though two of tie letters were diff.
ficult to mako ont, he spelled out
the words-DRoP DOWN. .if f
81 saw their meaning at once
The hill was q succession of lodges
at greater or less intervals. l was
to let myself down to the one i'm.
mediately below. 1 peered eau
tiously over the edge. There wal
a ledge sure enough; but to my dis
may, it was not more than foo
beyond a perpendicular line from
the edge of the one on which / lay
and was at least ten feet beneath
To drop down safely was impossi
BILE. Nor could l, by forming
rope of my clothing let mysel
down. I had nothing to which
might fasten tho cord. l pointed
out the difficulty. They understoo,
it, and left the place.
"Two hours passed by when
heard the voice of Garden above
telling me they were about to low
er a lariat, or rope of raw hide
which they had used to tether th
horses. Presently it came, with
slip knot attached, over the edge c
the rock above; but it swung som
eight feet out, and did not rcac
downwards within six feet of m
height. I called them to lowe
still farther. The answer was thi
they had let it out to its extrem
length.
ga consultation ensucd. .Carde
proposed to lower down some met
and drink, and 10 go at once i
search of assistance, and a longC
rope. But I had grown ncrvou
anxious, and desperate. turnc
and faced the solid wall Of rock
Collecting all my strength, l doy
directly through the mountain, an
| came out on tho other side, crusl
ing my hat to pieces, and carryir
! away tho skirts Of my coat. The
Z | quietly walked down to cam
{. where l was soon Joined by II
. companions"
}, The story teller having fnishe
}. left tho bar-room, and the stage a
| irving at this moment, l did Il
u pnmn. lr.f|TF. s.Ir .".".