The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-09-23
CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER I'LL
Il must explain why it is that the coas
guardmen, of whom have spoken, risk theil
lives, according 10 the ideas of landsmen in
ascending the C ifs in the reckless manner
have described; Tor it is not TO be supposed
that even these hardy gallant men attempt
these feats of agility without a motive Know,
then, that the caverns have alluded TO- worn
into the rock by the action Of the weather dur
ing. many successive ages, and probably, III
many instances, enlarged and deepened by ar
tificial means occasionally serve as temporary
storerooms for struggled goods, until oppor-
tunlty arrives to remove them to a more COM
modious place OF storage
In that part of the seacoast almost every
body, who Is not connected with the existing
coast-guard, Is smuggler. Most of the men
of property have acquired it by the success
full pursuit of smuggling in early life };
aud it was well known that the then
Mayor of the neighboring town, though
too respectable to countenanc, contraband
dealing, now that he had secured fortune,
had, for many years, been captain and
owner of a smuggling lugger. From the sum
NIT of the cliffs they let themselves down by
the aid Of ropes, held by their comrades, to
the level of the cavern, and, sufficient force
assembling, ropes are again let down from the
cavern to the beach beneath. TO which bales
and barrels are attached, and dragged up into
the primitive places of storage.
This desperate method of running con-
traband goods, as il Is technically termed, is
rarely resorted to, except the smugglers are
hardly pressed by the revenue cutters outside,
and they usually succeed, by this hazardous
method, i'll safey securing their hard earned
booty. Sometimes, however, the place of
concealment Is discovered by the no less
hardy and daring coast guard, who as soon as
the smugglers have retired, assemble in suffi-
cient force to render any attempt at resistance
vain, and, climbing mp as / have described,
hDotV
Il had no doubt that the ledge on which /
now had safe footing would conduct me to one
of these caverns, and as L perceived that the
cliff overhead, near the summit, jutted over so
far out of the perpendicular as to render any
attempt 10 scale IL in this place out of the
question, / thought 1t would be the wiser plan
to make the cavern, if cavern l could fluid, my
abiding place until daylight would enable me
to reconnolter
ITO spend a cold, stormy night in a dark,
damp hole in the side of a rock was by no
means pleasing prospect; but / was young
and strong, and having often heard of but
never having seen one of these natural cav
erns, the spice of romance in my disposition
caused me To regard ii rather as pleasant
adventure than otherwise / thought how my
friends would wonder what had become of me-
and how / would surprise them In the morn
ing when made my appearance, and told my
story, and what capital story it would be to
relate in after years.
AS L had anticipated, after scrambling,
sometimes on my hands and knees, and nearly
losing my foothold, and winding, and ascend
ing, and descending for nearly quarter Of an
hour, | at length stumbled upon a cavern In
TO which / crept with az much delight and
thankfulness as if | had been entering my
bedroom at the house of my friend, for the
storm had increased W tin fearful rapidity
since | had commenced the perilous ascent
The wind howled, the sea roared beneath me,
the rain fell in torrents, while thunderstorm
that had long been brewing now burst over
me in awful subllmity, each heavy peal OF
thunder reverberating among the cliffs, and
seeming to shake them 70 their foundation,
while the flashes of lightning in rapid success
can Int up rock and sky ana sea with lurid
glare of light which rendered the darkness be-
tween whiles perfectly awful in its contrast
During the last five minutes L had been in
constant apprehension that should be carried
by the sheer force of the wind over INTO the
foaming sea beneath; and the cavern, rude,
cold. damp, dark, and desolate as 1t was,
/ hailed with the delight with which the
storm tossed mariner halls a haven of security
after having felt for hours that his life hung
upon a thread, and expecting every moment
that his ship would Ike the rocks and be-
come q wreck
@The hole into which had crept evidently
increased in size as il penetrated INTO the rock,
though / could only perceive that this was the
case when flash of lghtn ne lit up the side
OF the precipice. The momentary glare of
light did me no further service, for, after en-
tering few feet the cavern ran downward
and turned sharply to the right of the aper-
ture.
@wct, hungry weary, and cold as I was L
would have given all possessed at that mo-
ment for the means of lighting o fire, or even
of procuring a stationary light, and yet GER
tain sensation of delight was mingled W tn
my weary wretchedness. A sort of Dirk
Hatterick' feeling came over me. Countless
stories flashed through my mind Of
deadly midnight boat-fights, of smugglers,
p stol in hand, keeping watch over
stores of spirits and tobacco, and rich silks
and laces of inestlmable value, ready, at the
first flash of danger of capture, to blow them
selves and their foes, and the place of their re-
treat TO shvers; and, as II in consonance
with my thoughts, every moment the scene
grew wilder and more terrible.
Each flash of lightning "a / stood in COM
parative security at the mouth Of the cavern,
disclosed black powders and huge masses of
rock, amid which the livid glare played fan
tastically for an instant, and then left me and
them in Zimmerman gloom, as IL an extngu sher
had suddenly been placed over all The wind,
| which had increased to a hurricane roared
INTO the mouth of the cave more loudly than
| il II had swept through tho branches OF a
thousand forest trees and the waves beneath
me dashed their white names furiously amidst
| the dark masses OF rock and seaweed L had
| never, / thought, seen such lightning nor such
| thunder before, though the sound was nc
doubt increased tenfold in volume by the re-
verberatn6 echoes. The solid sdamant above
successive shock; the sky, the rocks the sea,