Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-01-05
CLOISTERED IN A CLIFF.
A Defaulting Bank Onlcer Dies In South
American Cave.

Some two or three weeks ago Capt
NJ. M. Robbins, in the employ of the
Pacific Coast Steamship company, gave
an interviewer remarkable story about
ar adventure in Chill. The captain,
whose boyhood was passed in Pitts
field, Mass, left the bark w. Robinson
at Iqui9ue, Peru, on the occasion men
toned, and. with four other men Of the
same vessel, made his way overland to
Valparaiso. 1t was during the long
tramp that the adventure occurred.
The captain, now master of tho steam
er Santa Cruz, is quoted:
"At about 4 in the afternoon one day,
when we were getting pretty we'll down
into Chill, we found ourselves with
empty stomachs and stranded at the
base Of a promontory that jutted well
put into the sea. We hadn't come
across house or man for several days
past, and there wasn't crumb left in
the provision bag, the last scrap having
been divided that morning. While
climbing along the rocks We found q
spring Of water to which a path ran
down. We secuted carefully up the
path, and finally came in sight Of the
lueerest-looking man ever saw.
He was a haggard, dried-up old
body, whose age might have been any
where from 80 to 100, and he sat on the
plateau little back from the edge Of
the cliff nursing his knees and staring
out to sea in vacant sort Of way. He
tad nothing on his head, and his hair
and beard, which evidently hadn't been
cut for many years, had changed from
white to a moldy sort Of yellow, and
made him look like hermit in pict-
1re-book. His only clothing was .
ragged sheepskin. loosely hung on his
shoulders, and bits Of sheepskin loose
ly bound around his legs and feet. I
cant describe to you how ghastly and
miserable the poor old man looked with
his withered flesh, dull eyes, and tooth
less gums, as he sat there muttering to
himself and ignorant of the fact that
We stood within few feet Of him.
guess we all felt creepy sensation, for
several minutes must have passed be-
lore one plucked up courage enough to
touch the old boy on the boulder. He
slowly glanced up at us, took one in
different sort of look, and then turned
to sea-gazing again. Then some one
made q remark in English, which SEEM
ed to give the old fellow a galvanic
shock, for he reused himself all of .
sudden, struggled on his feet and ap-
peared as though on the point of try
ing to run. Then he shook his head In
a weary fashion and collapsed to his
original position.
.sOur Spanish talker now asked him
some things in that language. He
didn't say q word, but fumbled around
under his sheepskin until he got hold
Of AN old razor and motioned us to
sharpen it for him. 1t was of English
make and had the dullest blade you
ever saw, with nicks all over it. Ono
of tho boys had small oilstone in his
kit, and we all sat down there while he
ground away at the razor. After an
other failure to get a word from the old
man, we began chatting in English.
growing over our bad luck in tho
grub line, and wondering If our neigh
Dor couldn't put US in the way Of get
ting q square meal. Whom tolerable
edge had been put on the razor, the old
man stood up and motioned us to fol-
low him. He hobbled along the beaten
path, which led him inland until it sud-
denly ended where a large sheepskin
hung on the face of a low cliff. Lift
ing the skin he showed us hole in the
soft rock behind it and signed for us to
crawl in. We hung back triie, but
felt ashamed of showing any supersti-
tious fear, and did crawl into what was
an artificial cave.
ut was, perhaps, some twelve feet
square, and so low that we couldn't
stand up. At the far end another
sheepskin divided this cave from an in
ner one, and when one Of us was about
to lift this the old man stopped him,
and muttered angrily something We
couldn't understand. Then he pointed
out to one chap where some brushwood
could be got, and handed another one
a rough crockery pot to get water with.
There wasn't the least trace of furni-
ture in the cave, where We sat on the
ground, and nothing, in fact, but two
or three pots of crockery and iron and
a few rude wooden platters. While a
fire was building in the outer cave the
old man went into the inner cave, and
returned with a small supply of jerked
meat and dried fish. There wasn't a
scrap of bread, and not enough of the
other stuff to 60 decently around, but
we made as much as we could of it, and
filled in the chinks with cold water.
The poor old boy wouldn't eat any
thing. but After amman he seemed to