Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1893-05-18


see the sky and the light from i
filtered down to where he W as un
til 10 was as soft rs that in an oil
cathedral. 1t was most rest ia
and refreshing and Allen congrat.
ulated himself on his good iudg
ment that made him conclude Il
take the rest. He lighted His pip,
and stretched himself out comfort
ably, watching the wreaths of pal,
blue smoke curl upward and nass
out the top. of the shaft into thr
heat and dusk.
lie know 4 was hot ont fhSfc
and a vision of the glaring deser,
fitted across his mind; then b,
wondered how his horse was getting
along, and concluded he didn't
care, because he was so comfortable
himself. Still he thought about
the horse and seemed to see him
standing under the cactus with tn.
burning sun shining all around him,
and then he saw several hundreds
of horses that kept getting more in
distinct every moment. Before he
knew it he was sound asleep, and the
bats that he had disturbed went
back to their rocky crevices and
hung themselves to the roof upside
down.
Allen did not open his eyes for a
long time, and when he did he did
not know where he was. He was
conscious that he was in vault of
inky blackness, the sides of which
were made of cold stone. He
thought that he might have been
buried alive. 1t was dark on every
side and there was nothing to in
dicate the right direction. He felt
along tn c walls, but could find
nothing to guide him. He had
about made up his mind that he
would have to wait until daylight,
when his hand struck something
that. felt peculiar. He took hold
of it and found that it was a piece
of candle that some person who
came into the mine out of curiosity
must have left behind. Then he
remembered that he had plenty of
matches and wondered why he did
not think of it before. Perhaps
the fear of the ghost was affecting
his brain. But no, that could not
be, for he did not believe in ghosts
and was not afraid of them anyhow.
Allen was about to strike match
when he became conscious of a
purring sound close beside him.
lie looked, and his blood almost
froze at the sight of a pair of green
eyes looking at him. lie reeled
and fell backward and the black
ness around him turned red, while
he could distinctly hear several loud
detonations. Still the eyes glared,
and soon he could see fragments of
a human body forming underneath
them. 1t was the ghost, and he
felt that he would soon be insane.
But as nothing else happened his
mind slowly recovered its equili-
brium and he gradually came to
himself again. The eyes glared,
but did nothing else, and soon a
feeling of nervousness began to
come over him.
While quaking in every limb he
managed to strike a match. The
ghost, that had been the result of
his imagination and fear, vanished
and in its place stood an enormous
mountain lion looking very fero-
cious and hungry. At the sight Of
something tangible Aliens presence
OF mind returned and he lighted the
candle and took out a small pocket
knife, determined to make as much
of a fight as possible and not to die
without letting the beast know
who mhe was killing. Allen set bis
candle down and looked at the lion
and the lion locked at him. The
beast was just at the bottom of the
inclined shaft and blocked the way
to the outside world. The lion did
not seem in any hurry to make the
attack, so Allen took up his candle
and retreated into the tunnel in the
hope that he could find one of the
vertical shafts with enough ladder
left for him to get out of the beasts
way. He found plenty of shafts,
but the ladders had all disappeared
years ago. He was on the first
level, about 40 feet from the sur
face, and the vertical shafts from
the surface all went straight down