San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-12-16

cave is named after In these parts. wen,
Geek he is, or was, the child of Capt. Kidd
and-andn-and the old fellow paused
His bronze cheek bones lost their color, the
only spots on his bearded face that cou Id
pale with emotion. 1t took another dolla'
from my friends prodigal hand to open the
old fellows lips again.
After an interval of deep meditation he
arose feebly tottered into his hut, brought
out an ancient Dutch Bible and said
Gentlemen, swear on this that you will
never reveal what I'm bout to show you.
I'm getting very old. Pm 81 in August. |
can't last much longer. may as well tell
it afore die"
| We declined to swear, but gave the pa
triarch another dollar Avarice is the sin
of age. We argued long on the point that
he was nearly through with this world
any way, and he would makea powerful
friend of my wealthy friend for his last
sickness by wholly revealing to us the
mysteries of the cavern.
Especially do wish to know about the
woman in the case" exclaimed my friend.
WHO was Matt Tromp's mother? Who
was the fair prisoner whom Capt. Kidd left
here in charge of his wealth and his baby
heir?"
Old Pete stared hard at us. =
who said anything about any bride?''
he asked.
''Why, you left us to infer that-that
there was wife, presumably a bride, for
Kidd was not long in one place And
presume her spirit haunts the place yet,
guarding those pots of gold"
As | volunteered this you could have
knocked Pete down with feather. |
feared had destroyed the days fun, for
during the next ten minutes the patriarch
scarcely moved so much as to breathe.
We gave him yet another dollar.
Then he arose like mannikin, lighted a
lantern which he had probably stolen from
some freight train on Mr.. Vanderbilt's
road just below, and mumbled:
you fellcrs are prophets. You seem to
know Take your own risks If you dare.
Come on"
We followed him to the entrance of the
cavern. Every one has read of the phys.
ical tortures endured by adventurers while
penetrating cave. had, but no descrip
ton can do justice to the facts You are
prepared of course to ruin your clothing,
but you naturally resent the demands
made on your epidermis.
skin, you yet draw the line at your bones.
In fact, however, you must draw no lines;
be satisfied if you can draw your breath.
Not that the air was so foul, but | have al
ways found it difficult to breathe the dark.
ness. | must have light in my air, even
the gas burning at night while sleep. If
you were to turn off the light in my cham
Der should Immediately awaken from the
q, hor hoh
with our first baby in the home / can
also sleep better with little noise going
on, for the same reason. Silence is to me
terrible.
The cave was the profouudest silence, the
most awful darkness. The dust of 1000
years lay like a carpet on the stones. The
valley winds had strewn the cavern's
throat with sand leaves till we sink into
it three inches 1t was a perfectly dry
cavern.
''DO Won see them shoe tracks," asked
Pete, pointing down, with his lantern held
low. How grateful | was for the voice,
though it was taken up and echoed in dis
NAL cadences. In fact the sepulchral
echoes of our voices were so frightful that
from the first had dreaded to use this
means of SCATTERING the silence.
"Them tracks are by Capt. kidd's own
shoe, giants foot. And right here along
side is the pretty little shoe of the woman.
That's the time she went in for the last.
He was carrying some of the gold and she
was carrying the baby boy. When she
goes in and out now she don't leave any
tracks"
Surely there were the footprints. ex
plain it who may.
"She goes in and out nowadays, does
she?" asked my friend. For my part l
was too dumb with fright to speak, peer
ing forward with the dread Of seeing the
ghostly lady start out of the gloom.
every Christmas she comes out with her
bag or pot of the treasure" solemnly ex-
claimed Pete, emphasizing each word with
a peculiar jerk of his lantern.
"Whither does she go9" asked my friend.
Look out or you'll extinguish our Ian
ternp' yelled, and so adjourned the old
mans answer.
That darknessl Shall | ever chase its
shadows from my nindl Our feeble taper
became but revealer of the black gullet
which we were penetrating. Hay bars
darted like spears into the gloom From
rocky shelves the masses Of blackness
seemed to break off and tumble as snow in
alpine avalanches. One listened to hear
them crash upon the floor Of some chamber
deeper down Then again the strangely
beautiful daTtiDg of our lanterns rays, as
You have seen the MONDAY sunbeams dart
down and branch in trembling movement