St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1880-10-23
A Living Tomb.

w n.y." | SAID, laughing, you speak
as though you had been immured III
them"
"And so I was for an actual forty
eight hours, which seemed more like
forty-eight centuries to me. | don't
like to speak OF it even at this remote
PERIOD" said he, and he shuddered
visibly.
Its scarcely fair to go far and then
fail to satisfy my curiosity after all, y
| replied. eff you have been placed
in so novel a position as your hint wonld
imply, do manage to pocket your dis
taste of the subject. and give me the
benefit of your eXperience.'
"Well, he said, after a pause, " 1T was
in the year 1e5-. Twas much younger
man at the time, and adventure had not
lost it's charm for me. | was passing
through Paris, when friend asked me
to join their party to the Catacombs
AS it was difficult matter even then
to gain access to this part of the great
| city. | gladly accepted, thinking L
would manage to combine business
with pleasure by spending an hour in
the underground inspection, and still
| leave myself time to catch the London
train. | mention this fact as it illus
| trates upon what small hinges serious
events turn, for if had not said the
| following words to the cabman who
! took me to the entrance, ! should never
! have had to endure what am about to
| tell you. These words were, If | do
not return in an hour you are discharged.
SO saying, | paid the man in advance
| for waiting, and followed my party to
| the entrance door, which was Of heavy
wood. had fancied that an hours ex-
| plOration would satisfy me, and II had
a cab ready could catch the one O'Clock
train, whereas, should find the inspec-
ton sufficiently attractive to occupy
more time, | would then defer my de-
parture till evening.
| Everybody knows that the Cata-
combs of Paris were originally the stone
mines which supplied the city's building
material. so Paris, it has been aptly said,
is built of her own entrails.
"a dismal, grim place are these i'mls
CaSacOmbs-aibeit monotonOus. When
Napoleon, at the beginning of this
century, decreed extramural interment,
| the bones of centuries were moved into
the Catacombs, and millions of bones
of dead French were carried there and
Enthusiastically arranged, so the visitor
passes between two walls which seem
to stare at him with a CHASTITY blind stare.
The black gloom of the place the mys-
te1y of its countless and impenetrable
ramitications; its nnmberless skeletons,
grotesque and strange, that flank the
walls and seem to stare and watch and
follow you as you pass: the damp NAL
arial breath of the vaults, intensified by
the confined atmosphere the wet rock
below; the consciousness that you are
cut off, as it We're, from the rest OF the
world, if your guide takes a wrong
turn out Of the hundreds that present
themselves you are likely to be IRE
trieyably lost, as no sound You can utter
can reach the upper air, all these con
sideratiOns operate to make visit to
the Catacombs absolutely appalling
sesses q fascination of almost nnap-
peasable longing to penetrate furthul
and further into the unknown depths.
"However, half an hour was quite
enough to satisfy me, and | began tC
long restlessIy to be off. The rest OF
the party, however, were not so easily
satisfied, and urged me to proceed with
them, hOoting at the idea of my being
able to find my way back alone.
1--WE each carried little lamp. and
bv the light of mine | consulted my
watch, and finding | had still time tt
get back to my cab and catch the train
/ asked the guide if I could not find my
way back to the entrance.
%: Perhaps so, monsieur,' be replied
but I advise monsieur not to attempt
it,
$50 Jagged on in the rear of the
party, still undecided whether to taas
the guides advice or to act out my lm'
pulse and leave.
"We were passing through many
transverse passages, intersected at reg
ular intervals by smaller streets, courts
and alleys, when, as the lamps OF my
companions crossed one OF these inter
sectional cuttings, noticed, few step
ahead of me along the passage an !m
singularly perfect and cleaning with 6
dazzling white. I went nearer to in
spect the skull more narrowly, when, al
had my face close to it, horrible rat
frightened by my presence, leaped ful
against my chest. am almost ashamed
to say that was paralyzed for the mo
menG and felt as though l had beel
shot. We all have our antipathles, ant
my antipathy is rats. | abhor them
and the sudden appearance and toucl
of this rat so unexpected must hav
caused me to faint.
"At any rate, when my senses cam
to me again was utterly in the dark;
A blackness that could almost be fel
enveloped me on every side, while
dead silence pervaded everything. II
few moments, think, lost conscious
ness again. | am not sure on this point
however, for it may have been minutes
or hours, when slight mumbling over
head caused ne tQ grasp the tHil trut
, OF my position, as Recognized the roll
ing Of a passing carriage over my llvlnI
! tomb.
"That my friends were not near M
was certain.
"Had they discovered my loss even
If they had, they would naturally loo
for me near the spot where they las
saw me, and in that case, why had the
not not found me, for / was Still in I'll
, place where had tainted BY degree
, the horrible truth began to dawn upo
, me; they had thought after calling TO
me and receiving no answer that h0
tried to make my way to the entrance
and when they had reached it, the hon
, having expired, the driver being golt
,, they had believed him to have taken m
to the station, and so supposed me o
, my road to London.
, alt caused me no little effort to shak
; off the despair that this terrible know
,, edge forced upon me, and to try an
, make myself believe that the alar!
would be given before had time to di
, Of starvation in my living tomb: Br
, the prospect Of lingering death ur
: : derground without food or water in
!, darkness that was maddening quite III
nerved me, and felt above all things
could not remain inaetiFa. sOmethin
/ must do. What could | dog
, "Arguing first that inaction, woul
! kill me, and that in the second plac
the alarm once given. every inch of TIL