The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-08-28

sides, after they've been there awhile their
eyes will go away. and their little fishes will
be born blind"
Tommy saw that considered the subject
IRON 10 ty point, both in morals and in sci
ence, and he was much impressed.
what want.' said he, after musing a
fe " minutes on these weighty questions, sis
few skulls, so it'll look like the catacombs.
And tharll scare the boys, and make 'em not
try 10 get in when we amt there"
There's horses skull on the common"
suggested.
81 suppose we can't get human skulls"
said he.
"Then may be, if we put the horses skull
pretty high up, and stick the long nose part
deep into the wall, it'll look like human
skull, and we can make 'em think it's"
"May be So"
''But then," said he, ''the teeth ought to
show. The teeth are the scarest part OF q
skull"
THAT'S so,' said l emphatically; and ]
Immediately gave my whole mind to the solu-
ton OF the problem of how to make a horses
skull look like human skull, and vet taye
the teeth show solved it at last II have
1t! have it! provided VIC can get two horses
skulls" and stopped in doubt on that ques-
ton.
20 yes" said Tommy, eve can get Two
easy enough"
well, then, We'll fix one as you say, with
The long nose part in the wall, and close to it
We'll fix the other so that it will be all buried
up III the wall except the mouth, which will
stick out and show it's teeth. The first one
other will scare 'em-a little I'VE don't want to
scare 'em too much" Thus we agreed to ar
range it.
Tommy put the finishing touches to the
last plan we had drawn, and made quite con-
spicuous the table at the entrance with the
money-box on it.
Then went home, and we both went to
bed-not so much to sleep as to lie awake and
think about the cave and its profits.
Early next morning, with shovel and a
light crowbar. we went to work. With an
old nail key to stand on while working at the
upper part of the arch, we got along very
well. Before school-time we had dug more
than a foot into the bank, and thrown the
dirt shovelful at time iuto the brook. We
were tired enough to be perfectly willing to
leave off in good season for school. But our
enthusiasm was growing, and we longed for
vacation to come, that we longed for vaca-
ton to come, that we might give our whole
time to the task.
"How much shall we charger said I, as
we took a last look at the hollow arch, before
going home to our well-earned rest. go
81 never heard of a cave .hat Won conid Ve
into and all through. for less than twentv-fi
cents" said TOMMY.
uThat oupht IN he chean enouob corto;n.
ly.n said 7.
"Yesn said he. eve must charoa 4. onor-
Ter of a dollar: and mo half nrca for ch;,dra,,
and no free masses 10 anvhodv y
''NO," said /, emo free passes. But shall
we admit children at all? They'll NEEDLE
Thav'iA awfnl tronhesome ), .
admit 'em if thew nav, said hue;,oss.
like Tommy This seame3 70 sostio 49, 49,
ter and we walked awao in s;Iono .s'o 'no ""''
"Rnt ,'isaii 7 when wa had roaoh.d .h ,o
IF tho b.nL ..not ,,oa,no - ~ III, sne .op
know have cot twen1v.f;va cents Then @ ,o, W.
bave On ,nnch evcant an Eourtt of Tnyn n ),
..Tbon LOT 'on, salI .o ~ VI 1ay.
money he answered Lnou,sn 81" H. h h snd
the nonnonolu of ,ne o,n naU Uaas. 'na' no nau
0Rnt ), snonos.ed ..,,h Ia =; nj H. o.,
Tommy TOOK few minnie. - icy ocps M1n ~
ouestion t. 49, ~ 1855 w @ouSluel sne
H. heoan 70 aT .a1 a.. ~. ~ new ng6t.
~ oh,;rat;o, ond r,,;r r%t w uoys weIe unuei
IN nav fr;hnte to ,ha w. W q. Oh
tohia vhauo Nc " o,. .ne On tne itte
49, ~ tha unoo;n. CO .masineo ninseii si''
ssI ouess y ss9 he y. s sIow,r .so shou ho
suos' Saiu NC, Slowly, we snail nave
II think that will be the best way." an
swered: and then we parted for the nioht
The next day was SATURDAY.. and we gave
the whole time to the work. In order to lose
as little as possible, we brought our dinners !:
but long before noon we became fiercely hun.
gry and ate all our provisions. and two hours
later we went home for more.
By tea-time Saturday, we had penetrated
two Yards into the bank. rounding the arch
| Al. =
the dirt over into the brook, which was here
pretty swift and swept it away. We saw that
our progress would be slower and slower as
we had farther and farther to carry the dirt
But we thought we had done well SO far. and
were very mnch encouraged.
Thus we dug away, mornings, afternoons
and Saturdays, until we reached a point
about fifteen feet from the entrance. And
now 1t was very slow work, because every
shoveIful had to travel over those five wards.
We began to realize that we had taken a
pretty large contract. None of the winding
passages had been attempted yet. It was
just straight tunnel. We sat down and
discussed the situation.
eff we carry out the whole plan it will take
oil .s svmmer, saId tommy
Yes. SAD = and, when the fall rains
Ho1i'' ''i'' "on We PHEASANT place 10 stay
III.
mo-" said he; "a fellow might take an
awful cold-consumption, may be-sittipg
bere all day making change when the equi-
nocllal was going on"
Lets finish it right up here" said I.
Il think we'd BETTER" said Tommy. 1--WE
can dig some away at the sides here and make
one room, and thatll do. One rooms enough,
If they're only going to pay five chnts. We
can put all the skulls and things in here''
"And if it pays pretty WE'LL" said l, eve
can dig it farther next year, and put in more
things, and then the boys will want to come
in again."
1t is good idea," said Tommy. it will be
most profitable that way"
so we went to work with will, and dug
away few yards of earth on each side Of the
inner end OF the tunnel, until we had made q
small room. Then we scooped good deal
from the ceiling of this room until it was con
slderablY higher than the tunnel.
"Ihacll do first rate" said Tommy, "that's
plenty dark enough"
NOW for the things" said I. "How are
we going to made the staclactites ?'
Lets 60 and see what we can find," said
Tommy.
We went on voyage of discovery around
the house and barn. Behind the barn, lean.
ing up against it, was a section of an old
white picket-fence, that had been torn up tc
1,olr1