The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-12-09

did not laugh as my terrified gaze restec
on his pale and troubled face, you ma,
be sure. l remember feeling a grea
pity for him, however.
Tremblingly we advanced a few rod
and came upon the wall, but, 10, no ext
was visiblei Now it was concealed by
a small pool with swift maelstrom tina
swallowed, with evident gusto, those bit,
of wood and leaf which came near it
hungry gullet. Weak and overcome
with excitement, we sat down on little
knoll, and with the protruding eyes OF
doomed men watched the steady uI
crawling of the stream, so different from
the song whispering brook of an hour ago.
The awful silence was oppressive, while
the heavy darkness gathered on every
side as if to extinguish our feeble lights.
Both of our heads were hatless, and q
small stream of crimson trickled from
buds forehead-a wound that he had
received from a jutting rock or some
obstacle overhead.
The situation was terrifying.
was almost certain that death was
inevitable, but singularly enough my
whole attention was centered on my
miserable companion. gazed steadily
at him, wondering what his thoughts
must be, and if all his past life was hur-
rying before him in review, as l had
often heard it said mems lives would do
when death seemed inevitable. Silently
and steadily, like some great yellow SER
pent, the brook crawled into the mar
row chamber and coiled fold on fold.
We had already moved back to higher
ground once, and now it was inchinQ ND
about our feet again. Our heads were
against the highest part of the rock
roof, SO it would be better to keep our
places than to move back to a more
trying position which would be no safer
To my dying day shall never forget
the feelings that crept over me at the
water stole up along my body cold and
Shiny. 1t seemed that was being grad
ually swallowed by some foul mon
ster. The submerged portions of my
body seemed severed from the trunk
while sure death envOloped me. A sem
sation OF insufferable closeness almost
choked me, while the very helplessness
of the situation added thousand terrors.
Dudley sat as one in a profound stu
por, one hand grasping the two inches
of tallow yet left, his other scraping pit
eously along the rough wall, as though
seeking an exit for its petrifed owner.
For my part l became strangely quiet
after a time, while a sense of indiffer-
ence possessed me. A sort of resigna-
ton to the inevitable, 1 suppose, for the
floods continued to press upward. Our
shoulders were now just above the
of holding the candle that it seemed as
if about to sink below the surface de-
spite my every effort.
Neither Of US had spoken for some
time, when Dudley suddenly turned to
me. 81 can't stand it any longer" he
said simply. Tell them goodby at home
for me if you ever get out, and he rose
as if to launch himself forward. / saw
his object at once and reached out to
grasp him. "Hold on, bud" said; 81
don't believe it is going to get any high
err" sit doesn't make any difference"
he repeated. eve both can't live long
in this small space anyhow" and he
sank from view. felt him touch ME
as he rolled over, and l clutched at his
body to lift him to the surface, but il
escaped my grasp and a succession, of
bubbles told me that further effort was
useless-he was drowned. His candle
had of course gone with him, and /
questioned whether it would not be best
for me to extinguish my own, since it
was fast exhausting the oxygen that
was an absolute necessity to my life
But could not decide to snuff out that
feeble light. 1t was almost like life itself
| cannot describe to you my feelings
as l sat hundred feet underground,
with only breathing space of five or
six feet about my head, the water at my
chin and the cold form of my dead
companion at my feet. 1t seemed as if
this mental torture lasted for hours,
when, 10, great joy seized me-the flood
had ceased to rise. But its abatement
must be far swifter or / would perish mis-
erably from mere exhaustion. In half
an hour the water sank so low that l
managed to get under the rock, and
with loudly beating heart saw once
more the bright, sweet light of day. 1t
was about o'clock in the afternoon,
and found that a tremendous rain had
fallen, which accounted for the torrent
in the cave.
l hurried off to the village as fast as
my stiff limbs could carry me and told
my story. A score of men went back
with me aud recovered the body of my
cOmrade.
In that fearful race for life he had
saved mine at the cost of his own.-A.
B. D. in Short Stories.