The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-02-08
EVENING, FEBRUARY 8. 1872.


Reasoning thus and smilingstO nv
self, frightened the shoulder-straps Of
my knapsaek, took a pull at my wine
flask, and set of toward the tunnel.
And now, with every step that
took, the mouth of the tunnel grew
larger, and the depth Of shade within
it blacker and more mysterious. was
I by this time near enough to see that
it was faced with brick work, that
] spanned the full width of the road, and
that it was more than lofty enough fOr
an Old-fashiOned, tOp-heavy diligence
! to pass under iC. The next moment,
being within half a dozen yards of it,
I distinctly heard the cool murmur OF
the more distant waterfall, now hid
den by the great mountain spur
through which the gallery was car
Tied, } and the next moment after that
1 had plunged into the tunnel.
1t was like the transition from an
Orchid-hOuse to an ice-hOuse-frOm
midday to midnight. The darkness
was profound, and so intense the sud-
den chill, that for the first second il
almost took my breath away.
| The roof and sides of the gallery,
and the road beneath my feet, were all
hewn in the solid rock. 4 sharp,
arrOwy gleam of light, shooting
athwart the gloom about fifty yards
ahead. marked the position of the first
I lOOphOle. 4 second, n third, a fourth,
as many perhaps as eight OF ten,
cleaned family in the distance. The
tiny blue speck which showed where
the gallery opened out again upon the
day, looked at least a mile away. The
path under the foot was wet and slip
perry; and as l went on, and my ewes
became accustomed to the darkness, I
saw that every part of the tunnel was
streaming with moisture.
pushed on rapidly. The first and
second lOOp-hOles were soon left be-
hind, but at the third I paused for a
moment to breathe the outer air.
Then, for the first time. 1 observed
that every rut in the beneath my feet
was file with running water.
hurried on faster and faster. 1
shivered. I felt the cold seizing me.
The arched entrance through which I
had Just passed had dwindled already
to shining patch no bigger than my
hand, while the tiny blue speck on
ahead seemed far off as ever. Mean
while the tunnel was dripping like
shOwer-bath.
All at once my attention was
arrested by a sOund-a strange, in
describable sOund-heavy muffled, as
of mighty forces at work in the heart
of the mountain. / stood still-I held
my breath-I fancied / felt the solid
rock vibrate beneath my feet! Then
it flashed upon me that I must now be
approaching that part of the gallery
behind which the waterfall was con-
Quoted, and that what heard was the
muffied roar of its descent At the
same moment, CHANGING to look down
at my feet, saw that the road was an
inch deep in running water from wall
to wall.
Now, lawyer as am, and ignorant
of the first principle of civil engineer
ing, felt sure that this much praised
Herr Becker should at least have
made his tunnel watertight. That it
leaked somewhere was plain, and that
it should be suffered to 90 on leaking
to the discomfort of travellers was
simply intOlerable. An inch of water,
for instance, was more than-an
inch, did say? Gracious heavens !
since the moment / looked it had ris-
en- to three-it was closing over my
boOts-it was becoming a rushing tor
rent!
In that instant a great horror fell
upon me-the horror of darkness and
sudden death. 1 turned, flung away
my AlpenstOck, and fled fer my life.
Fled blindly, breathlessly, wildly,
with the horrible grinding sound ofthe
imprisoned waterfall in my ears and
the gathering torrent at my heels!
Never while I live shall [ forget the
agony of those next few seconds-the
icy numbness seizing on my limbs
the sudden, frightfuI sense ofimpeded
respiration-the water rising, eddy
ing, clamOring, pursuing me, passing
me-the swirl of it, as it flashed past
each lOOp-hOle in succession-ther rush
with which las / strained on to the
mouth of the gallery, now not a dozen
yards distant) it leaped out into the
sunlight like living thing, and DASH
ed to the edge of the precipicel
At that supreme instant, just as I
had darted out through the echoing
arch and staggered a few PAGES up the
road, aideafening report, cracking,
hurried, tremendous, like the explO-
sion of a mine, rent the air and ava
kened a numbered echoes. 1t was fol-
lowed by a moment of strange and
terrible suspense. Then, with a deep
and sullen roar, audible above all the
rolling thunders of the mountains
around, a mighty wave-smOoth, SOL
id, CLASSY, like an Atlantic wave on
an English western cOast-came
cleaning up the mouth of the tunnel,
passed as it were upon the threshold,
reared its majestic crest, curved, trem-
bled, burst in a cataract of foam,
flooded the road for yards beyond the
spot where L was clinging to the rock
like limpet, and rushing back again,
as the wave rushes down the beach,
hurled itself over the cliff, and van
ished in a cloud of mist.
After this the imprisoned flood
came pouring out tumultuously for
several minutes, bringing with it
fragments Of rock and masonry, and
filling the road with debris; but even
this disturbance presently subsided,
and almost as soon as the last echoes
of the explosion had died away the
liberated waters We're rippling pleas
antly along their new bed, sparkling
out into the sunshine as they emerg-
ed from the gallery, and gliding in a
smooth continuous stream over the
brink of the precipice, thence to fall,
in multitudinOus Wavy folds and
wFeaths of prismatie mist, into the
valley two thousand feet below.
For myself, drenched to the skin as
/ was, could do nothing but turn
back and follow meekly in the track
Of EgertOn Wolfe and Peter Kauff-
man. How I did so, dripping and
weary, and minus my AlpepenstOck
how I arrived at the chalet about sun
set, shivering and hungry, just in
time to claim my share of a capital
omOlette and dish of mountain trout;
how the Swiss Press rang with my es-
cape for at least nine days after the
event; how the Herr Becker was lib
orally censured for his defective en-
gineering and how Egerton Wolfe
believes to this day that his brother
Lawrence came back from the dead
to save US from utter destruction; are
matters ubOn which it were needless
to dwell in these pages. Enough that
7 narrowly escaped with my life, and
had we gone on, as we doubtless
should have gone on but for the de-
lay consequent upon my illusion, we
should most probably have been in
the heart of the tunnel at the time of
the explosion, and not one left to tell
the tale.
Nevertheless, my dear friends, I do
not believe, and have made up my
mind never to believe-in CHESTS
Amelia B. EdUdrds.
Every mans task is his Iife-pre-
server.-EmersOn
What is birth 10 a man, if it shall
ha a efafn IN his daad anaaafora 70