The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-06-04

me on the ground they began prying at
boulder which gradually yielded to their
hand sticks, rolled over on its side, ex-
posing a hole in the cliff Into this
they dragged me for some twenty feet,
and tossed me on a bed of leaves.
Then one of the men brought in some
food, and another water, and another
wood. / turned to the outlaw leader
and asked how long he intended to
keep me prisoner. He laughed at the
question, but made no reply. Going to
the caves mouth he peered steadily
out, listened awhile, and came back
to me. There was an Ominous glitter
in his eyes. 1t looked like murder. My
God! Was he going to bury me aliveP
l begged him to shoot me, cut my
throat, hang me-any thing but leave
me there to starve. But he paid no at
tentiOn TO my appeals.
Eff ye air live when I get back, Kur-
nel-ef l git back" he said, ''why, me
an the boys mOught put leetle lead
in your carcass. Ye may hev camp'ny
fore night, enyhows. The Revies air
arter us hotter'n demnition blazes.
They air done cross the dead line.
Hyar the moOsic, Kurnel?''
81 hope they'll give you all you de-
serve, you cOld-blOoded murderer" l
said, wishing that 1 could throttle the
villain.
''Now, Kurnel, don't get out O. sorts.
1t air mighty conf table in hyer-
board an login' free. BOYS, air We
readyP Them hounds air pickin' us
up. Light the fire, CObe. Kurnel,
hyer air a knife ter cut yer loose arter
we leave We. Don't git skeered o. the
CrhnCfc nj 1g,1oVln hnTs VIZ DIR T0IOrnfyy
conf table, mighty conf table-board
down on the big poplar. Goodbye,
Kurnel.'
The outlaws were already placing
the bowlder in position, and when Cap
Hawkins had squeezed his way out the
rock was rolled into the opening.
With crunching sound it settled into
place, and l was a prisoner in Smoky
Hole. 1 listened for the baying of the
hounds, hoping that they had tracked
me to the cave, but not a sound pene-
trated the door of my prison. The fire
burned briskly, and Smoky Hole
glowed in the light of the blazing pine
knots. 1t was the work of a few min
utes to cut my bonds with the knife
the outlaw had given me, and then I
took an inventory of the contents of
the cavern. The place had evidently
been fitted up for the illicit manufac-
ture of mountain dew and ''tangle-
foot" and cred rye," for there were
the WORKOUT copper still, the worm,
the mash-tub, jugs and TASKS and other
apparatus of the moOdshiner. The
cave was about the size of a railroad
box car, except that the roof was
higher and more arched. jabbed my
knife into every square foot of the
walls. They were of solid rock. In a
vain, mad effort to roll the bowlder
from the entrance I drew the blood
from my shoulder. 1t was all of no
use. Unless help came to me from
without my doom was sealed. A dull,
heavy feeling came over me and 1 sat
down near the fire. The confined air
was getting close. Suddenly, on look
ing up, l was appalled, at the discovery
of a new danger. The roof of the cav
ern was no longer visible. The dense,
black smoke of the pitch pine, unable
to escape, was banked above me like
an Ominous cloud, ever growing denser
and blacker and descending steadily,
remOrselessly upon me like a veritable
shadow of death.
Suddenly there was loud explosion,
followed by a falling of loose earth
anu IOCh anu a lush VI dill II ldlLl
ray of light appeared in the corner of
the cavern over the still, growing
broader and stronger as the smoke
cleared away. With life and strength
renewed, I made my way to the open
ing, where l drank in the fresh air
with a swelling heart and a lighter
conscience than 1 had ever hoped to
possess. The explosion had torn away
some rough masonry with which the
moOnshiners had stopped up a assure
in the rock. 1t never occurred to me
in my investigation of the cave that
there ought to be some way of exit for
the smoke of the still. But every
thing was plain enough now. l had
found the chimney, and it was my de-
termination to use it to advantage. In
moment, fOrgetful of pains and
bruises, was climbing for freedom.
1t was a tight squeeze now and then,
but l made rapid progress, and felt so
good over my prospects of escape that
/ wanted to shout. But prudence re-
strained me.
Soon the rocky sides of the chimney
gave place too wood, and the opening
changed from flat to round. Still l
climbed on, my spirits rising with my
ascent. My progress was made COM
para6vely easy by the imitation of
Brer Rabbits methods of climbing a
stump hollow-that is, by bracing my
back against one side of the chimney
and my feet and hands against the
other. But the opening grew tighter
and tighter, like an inverted funnel,
and still the top seemed a long way
off. l must have climbed some thirty
feet in all, when I stopped to rest,
propping my foot against a knOt-like
projection, which, suddenly breaking
off, left hole through which the day
light streamed. Then, for the first
time, it flashed upon me that / was in
hollow tree. A glance through the
knDt-hOle proved this to be the case,
for there was the ground ten feet be-
low me-the bench of earth l had no
ticed when the outlaws were making
ready for my incarceration.
Escape now seemed certain. The
wall of my prison was only two inches
thick, and though the wood was dry
and hard from age and exposure to
smoke and heat, my knife was soon at
work charging the knot-hOle. As this
faced the Cove, could keep lookout
for the mOonshiners and stop cutting at
the first suspicious noise. Night soon
set in, and with the darkness there
came peculiar sounds from cliff and
woodland. But paused not to think
of ghoul or goblin. 1t would have
taken something far more terrible than
ghostly warning to check the steady
going of my knife in the weary hours
that followed the sunset, for I hoped 10
turn my back on Sleepy Cove ere the
dawn of another day. But when the
sun rose my task seemed not nearly
done. The knife was dulled and nv
L L = - IL
The baying of a hound reached me.
II was renaated and in q moment the