San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-05-10

be a dense cloud OF the blacklist of
smoke, rising like an immense IN
yerted cone of ebony clean to the
zenithl ,
With a sense of wonder such as l
had not experienced for years, l fol-
lowed my friend out past the derrick
for a hundred yards or more, it may
be, the tremendous whirnng noise
getting louder each moment, till we
came to the brink of deep canon, or
chasm, in the limestone strata, four
or five hundred feet wide perhaps, and
of unknown depth. ,
Down into this chasm the vast,
black whizzing cloud was descending,
not rising, with maelstrom-like We
locity and force which was absolutely
terrific. The same fateful sense of
blind, overmastering force stole on
me as when, years ago, l first stood
at the foot of Niagara; only now there
was feeling of mystery combined
with it.
"What is this thing?" l shouted.
"Why, bats! Don't you see them?
Bats!" answered Coombs. "There's
a bat cave all down under here, acres
and acres of it. I've sunk q shaft
into it back there, and am getting out
the earth there, which is powerfully
charged with ammonia, and as a fer
tilizer commands a good price. That's
my mine. There no end of it in the
cave. In places it lies twenty feet
thick. All l have to do to it is to
haul it up, sift it and pack it in sacks
or barrels for shipping. It's better
than silver mine; no crushing OF
ores, no smelling, no expense ma
chinery.
Meantime the plunging torrent of
bats dived downward to the mouth of
the cave without the least intermis-
sion, or sign of cessation. AS it grew
a little lighter, I could begin to see
them better. The column seemed to
come down from the very zenith. 1t
was like looking upward into a thick
snowstorm. To the uproarious whiz
of their myriad wings was added a
strange squeaking sound, which had
a wonderfully mournful cadence.
The velocity with which each indi-
vidual bat seemed to fall from high in
the sky into the pit beneath us, was
the mostastonishing thing of all. How
they ever made the turn at the bot
tom of the chasm and entered the
mouth of the cave was, and is still to
me mystery. Their descent was like
the whizzing flight Of a rifle ball.
Hundreds, thousands, shot down each
second and were sucked IN, as it SEEM
ed, at the cavern mouth below; and
yet from four o'clock to six there was
no noticeable thinning of the black
pillar.
But as it drew toward sunrise their
numbers suddenly fell off. Struggling
clouds of them, however, continued
to come for half all hour longer, and
to whir fitfully down.
[ went back to breakfast with my
friend in his cabin, feeling that had
witnessed one of the strangest and
most impressive spectacles which the
great Southwest affords.
But Coombs had by DO means ex-
hausted his stock of wonders, which
he had in store. After breakfast he
invited me to take a look at the inside
of his mine. We put on old wa
ter-proof suits with heavy boots and
broad brimmed hats; and taking each
a lantern, went by a circuitous route
down into the canon and came along
to the mouth of the cave. 1t is an
irregular opening beneath the Jagged
sandstone strata, thirty or forty feet
wide, by nine or ten in height. A
rugged path, over and among fallen
rocks leads back into the cavern which
is very extensive and as yet of un-
known dimensions. A confused MUIR
muir and futtering of wings at once
breaks upon the ears on entering;
with the peculiar mousy odor of bats,
and there is also very strong smell
of ammonia, blending withal the very
hot air from the presence of so many
warm blooded creatures.
Back a hundred feet or so from the
entrance, the lantern-ight began to
reveal the bats, cinging in patches to
the roof overhead. Many others we're
futtering about, and their sharp
squeaking was incessant. Still fur,
Their in, the entire roof was covered
bv one continuous coat of bats, each
hanging head down, by his claws. If
thn lantern were thrust up close, they