Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1890-03-29

feet below the entrance of the cave, when
we began to hear the sound of roaring
waters. The sound increased until we
stood by an underground river. of whose
width and depth we could form no idea,
The light of our torches did not even re-
veal the height of the roof overhead.
My guide told me that this was the
mother of all the rivers of the world.
No other person except himself knew Of
its existence 1t flowed from the end Of
| the North to the extreme South. 1t
| grew ever warmer and warmer. There
was time when the people lived along
its channel, and there were houses and
cities of the dead there and many strange
things 1t was full of fish without eyes,
and they were good to eat If / could
help him build raft he would float with
me down this river. The old, old stories
said that one could go upon it for many
miles. 1t ran down a hollow under the
| mountains
We built and equipped our raft and
| launched it on the most foolhardy ad-
venture, do believe, that ever occupied
| the attention of men. We lit torches
| and set them in sockets on the raft, and
| we were well armed. For two weeks
we moved down the high archway at
5teady rate Of only about three miles an
hour. The average width of the stream
was about five hundred feet, but at
times it widened out to almost twice
that 1t swarmed with many kinds OF
fish, and they were very easy to secure.
| The rock walls and roof seemed to be of
solid granite. We were below the latter
formation.
AS nearly as can calculate we were
about thousand miles from where our
voyage began, and nothing had yet hap
pened to disturb its monotony, when we
began to find traces Of ancient work and
workers. An angle in the wall was hewn
into a Titantic figure another point
there seemed to be regular windows,
and dwelling was purched far up in
the gigantic dome
The Indian told me more of the ira
| 6itions of his race as we drifted past
these things. @They were very great
men who lived here. They had many
| things they knew more than the white
men. They all are dead now. !" And I
gathered from his chance remarks that
ings which would make him the biggest
Indian on the continent if he could dis
| cover them.
Suddenly we found that the river was
2owing much faster and we failed to
check our raft We went over a water
fall, perhaps seventy feet high, and were
| thrown on a shelf of rock at the side of
the river below. Twas unhurt, but my
companion was so badly injured that he
died in a few hours. l REPAIRED the raft
after fashion and continued the voy-
age, finding it impossible to contrive
any way to scale the sides of the water
| fall and attempt to return. All our
torches were lost and the attempt to pro-
coed further seemed but the last act Of
| despair. A few hours later saw light
| CLEAN over the river in a very remark
able way, shining clear across, as if from
| the headlight of a locomotive high up on
the wall. This aroused me somewhat
from my stupor and misery. l sat up
on the raft and steered it close to the
| edge of the river to see what wonderful
thing had happened
AS l came nearer saw that an irregu-
lar hole was in the wall a thousand feet
| above the water, and the light shone
| out through it. 1t was cheerful thing
to look at, and | hung to the granite and
shouted, but to no effect Then / saw
broken place in the wall little further
down, and let the raft drift along to the
base of broad though much worn and
broken fight of steps winding up the
cliff that brought me at last to the place
of light, domed hall overlooked the
river, hewn out of the rock and having
in its center O metal basin with jet of
natural gas l have had to cut off a
part of this metal basin since, but have
not harmed the inscriptions. There are
many gas jets, but in the other cham
bers have had to light them
have lived here for mon tbs and /
have explored all the chambers of the
place. There is no escape SO far as can
see. The river, twenty miles below,
plunges down vaster descents and the
water gets so hot that l should be boiled
alive if l tried the voyage. / have dis
covered log of tropic wood like palm
and a geode in which l can send mes
sage to the world of sunlight Perhaps
this will get through the fires and float
to tie surface somewhere. I am con-
WINGED that the river which brought me
here flows on into the Gulf of Mexico
and that sooner or later my log will be
picked up. Perhaps this river is really
the source of of the Gulf Stream.
will now write down my discoveries,
not in order, but as a whole. My story
must be brief, or this scant means of
record will fail me.
This place seems to have been ap-
preached only by the river. Itconsists Of
six large, domed halls, connected with
seventh, in which the light burns. There
are bronze swords, spearheads and other
weapons stored in one chamber. There
have been costly fabrics, also. but they
have persisted and only few fragments
are left In another hall arc MANY traas