The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-08-24

ing d SOft OI cualI dt INC Cuo u q Soous
rawhide rope, / swung myself over the
cliff, and two men lowered me slowly
down, while the third lay on his face
and peered over into the abyss, watch
ing me. When got about twenty feet
below the hole in the cliff, / signalled
them TO stop. The hole found was as
big around at the entrance as barn.
door; but the top of the cliff projected
so that hung fully twenty feet away
from the face of the rock. Nothing
daunted, began to swing myself, SLOW
~ at first, and with gradually increas-
ing force, till my body at last swung in
against the face of the cliff and finally
into the hole itself Catching pro-
jecting corner of rock, gained my feet,
and was nearly knocked off them again
by the horrible stencil which greeted
me.
THE floor of the hole was strewed
with decayed flesh and fish and feathers
and bones and in the middle of it all
lay the nest, of long grass and as dirty
as any pig-sty, and in it two young
vultures and one unmatched egg. The
egg was grateful sight, but the young
sters were an unpleasant surprise, for
they at once threw themselves on their
backs and began to scream like mad
l secured the egg, but not without get
ting couple of bad scratches from the
sharp claws Of the young birds which
were about as big as hens l was wrap
ping the egg in nay coat and the young
birds were filing the air with their
glamor, when suddenly there was
whir of wings, the entrance was dark
ened, and l got blow on the head that
knocked me down in the unspeakable
filth and filed my eyes with blood
''The old birds were upon me- / re-
cognized that fact in an instant, and
having nothing to defend myself with,
l expected TO be knocked down the cliff
or at least to have nay eyes pecked out
was always pretty ready of resource,
and in this bad plight the thought
flashed through my mind that these
timid birds were only fierce because
they thought I wanted to harm their
young Quickly unrolling the egg from
my coat, threw the garment over the
squalling brats, and their sharp claws
striking into the cloth at once tangled
them inextrica bly, in it. Guarding my
ewes from the old birds with one arm,
I dragged the coat with the two young
birds attached to it to the mouth of the
hole, only a step or two, and hurled
them far out and down into the lake.
''As / expected the old vultures fol-
lowed their young at once and their
efforts to lift them out of the water
were so ludicreus that 1 laughed loud.
My laugh was quickly shut off, how
ever, for in the next moment, as
thrust the egg into my bosom and gave
the rope tug as a signal to my men to
pull me up, the rawhide came down
from the top of the cliff with run.
Great Scott! How was to get back?
What had those stupid fools at the top
done? l did not know that they had
watched me disappear into the hole,
had seen the old vultures follow me and
had then seen what they thought must
be me, as they distinctly recognized my
coat, come flying out again and fall into
the lake, pursued by the two vultures,
whom they could see pecking at me in
the waves.
''They let go the rope and hurried
away around and down to the lakes
edge to rescue my mangled body from
being entirely eaten up by the birds.
After some tedious hours of climbing
they found out their mistake and pro-
ceeded to climb back again. By this
time it was growing dark and as l sat,
hour after hour, in that foul hole, be-
tween heaven and earth, not knowing
what had happened, you can imagine
my feelings. Just as / was in absolute
despair l saw a stone tied to thin cord
swing down in front OF me. l elutched
at it with ecstacy and nearly fell over
the edge in my eagerness. Tying the
end of my rope to the cord, gave a
pull and away it went up the cliff
again. After due time gave pull on
the rope and finding it taut, swung
myself out of that Internal hole and
was drawn up to the top rejoicing, with
ny precious egg still in my bosom" -
n Y Tribune