Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-02-13
FIERCE STRUGGLE IN A CAVE ALONG
RCcKCASTIE RIVER.
Awful ExperieA.e of . Hunter Bent ON
Subterranean Exploration-How Man
Drove Away a Horde of Hungry YAM.
pire Shaped Creatures.


steep and craggy walls on either side and
with roof that rapidly assembled to a con
siderable height. About twenty-five feet
from the entrance was an object which ar
rested his attention. II was a gigantic
bowldcr, oblong in shape and weighing
hundreds of tons, lying in an oblique po-
sition on a high jutting ledge, with its
huge c est upreared awfully into a gap in
the cayern's roof.
1t looked as though slight shock or the
touch Of meddlesome hand might displace
il and cause it to come crashing down. In.
deed it was one of those frightful death
traps Of nature, grim and sinister, some
times found in subterranean passages oil
upon j. gged precipices.
DR.. kiteis of an adventurous disposition,
also he is naturalist and geologist of nc
small repute. The novelty and excitement
felt in penetrating the uneXplored, so
fascina ling to daring spirits, allured and
emboldened him. Believing that he should
make some interesting discoveries he adj
vanced resolutely into the cavern As he
did so lis faithful dog suddenly curled it,
tail bet Teen its legs and made a speedy
exit. At the same time the doctor saw two
fiery eyes glaring from a dark corner.
ATTACKED By BATS.
Hastily raising his gun, he took deliber
ate aim and let 20 both barrels simulta.
neously He never knew what the animal
was or what had become of it, for the in
fernal din that beloved and rebellowed
through the cavern was followed by an aw-
full crash, suffocating columns of dust and
dense darkness, and he was thrown violent
ly forward and almost buried beneath
masses Of falling sand.
He scrambled to his feet again, bleeding
and gasping for breath. Terror struck and
appalled,, he realized that the huge bowldeI
above had been precipitated into the pas
sage, completely blocking the corridor and
shutting him, like the doors of ponderous
tomb, forever from the light. He saw ne
way of escape. \ Plutonian darkness en-.
veloped him. Moreover. a vast tribe OF
bats, disturbed by the detonation of his
gun AMI the shifting sound, began t.
swarm along the passage, numbers of them
aliShtinE on his person. They were of re-
markable size and ferceneSs and seemed
disposed to attack him. So vicious did
! they bee ONE that he was forced to fight
| them Oft by swift movements of his hands
| They swept forward in enormous flocks,
| as if to escape, and that quarter of the cav
| ern was quickly alive with them.
Stunned and only partly aroused from
| their stupor, thousands precipitated them.
| selves against the jutting rocks and fell
| upon the floor dead or tapping awkwardly
about III their wounded agony. They
swarIned ON the DOCTORS back and neck
ike huge bees. They dashed against his
| face and chung to his clothes, his hair and
his bearl, and their whirling wings. bel
| lowslike, whirled the dry dust of centuries
| about in clouds, grievously irritating the
1 hunters already exhausted lungs
SET FIRE TO HIS COAT
Threat med with suffocation he increased
| the activity of his movements. He struck
| savagely and hurled hundreds of the
| squeaking harpies upon the earth and
trampled them under his feet. The cav
! ern's rocky bottom became so slippery
with the blood and scattered entrails OF
mangled bats that he could scarcely keep
| his footing. That he should preserve his
| equanimiuy under such torture is wonder
| full, but that he did is manifest from what
| now transpired
Shaking off his fierce tormentors for a
moment he pulled off his coat and pouring
over it the combustible contents of a whisky
bottle which he carried in his hip pocket,
| he ignited it with match, and as it blazed
| up he began to whirl it, circle of kissing
| flame and pungent smoke, about his head
The effect was magical The bats, unable
to bear the light and the fumes, spread
! their wings and began precipitate flight
| to other parts of the cave.
| Surrounded by panic stricken birds, even
under the spectral light of the torch, Kite
presented the appearance of something in
human, Ehoulish, demoniacal. Issuing
| from the pockets of his burning coat could
be heard the sound of bursting shells.
| which mingled strangely with his unearth-
ly cries Yelling and rushing from side to
| do If hai
his forehead in tangled masses and his face
distorted with fury and despair, he whisked
the fiery brand about, soaring. scorchine
| and burning many alive, until the vast
| army of hOrrid creatures had been driven
| back into further recesSes of the under
| ground chamber.
HAED WORK FOR LIBERTY
Nearly exhausted, his clothes and body
wet with sweat and blood, he began to con
! slider the possibility of escape from his
prison house. If any avenue of escape
over the stupendous bowlder still existed,
which was uncertain, it would have been
madness to attempt to scale it in the deep,
| reigning darkness. He therefore aban-
| doned hopeless idea, and sought to find
some vulnerable point at the side of the
seemingly impossible stone barrier
By the light of sickly blaze which
still burning vestment, he picked up his
| gun and thrust the barrels into the crum-
bling earth and stone at one side Of the
huge rock. The mass yielded by piece
meal to his exertions, and with the energy
| of man ell tombed alive and desperate for
liberty, he worked heroically, digging up
the earth and prying away great frag-
| ments of rocks.
Hope never forsook him, and after seven
hours of inCessant labor, during which the
work of Titan was performed, he sue
ceeded in making an opening large enough
for his booy, and through this hole he
squeezed himself. In his bleeding and
blistered hands he held the twisted and
battered remains of gun, and just as the
cold but friendly moon arose behind the
| tall pines OF the opposite cliff he passed
ont, pale, haggard and grimy, into the
| chilly night. Cincinnati Commercial
| Gazette.
/ Keroseua Will Clam a