The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-04-20

sLlAt pEeCSASu us, sWSliiuS anu SuTAlng
between it's narrow banks. Now we
came to an unusually low point and
found the water about our necks as we
stopped 10 pass along. / was In the
lead, and though | set a telling pace
bud in his fright managed to keep up.
Those few hundred yards seemed in.
Vulnerable miles, with the floods swell.
ing behind us and the ominous roar
overhead gathering volume. Now and
then one of N candles would go out,
and we were forced to stop and relight
1T from the n that still burned, as our
matches We're all wet and useless. A;
last | stood in the chamber mex the
fatal barrier.
What a moment OF suspense, of dread,
suffered while waiting for bud &c
come up! hastily scanned the walls OF
this the highest ceiling available, and
my heart sank as I saw the unmistak
able signs of overflow on every side and
overhead. bud soon joined me, mud
begrimed and painting. He looked the
fend incarnate dragging himself foNh
from his home of ooze and filth. But ]
did not laugh a my terrified gaze rested
on his pale and troubled face, you may
be sure. | remember feeling a great
pity for him, however.
Tremblingly we advanced a few rods
and came upon the wall, but, 10, no exit
was visible! Now it was concealed by
a small pool with a swift maelstrom that
swallowed, with evident gusto, those bits
OF wood and leaf which came near it's
hungry gullet. Weak and overcome
with excitement, we sat down on a little
knoll, and with the protruding eyes of
doomed men watched the steady up
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 il to e~xtinguish our feeble lights.
Both of our heads Were hatless, and a
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-
rylng before him in review, as / 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 inching 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
1t seemed that / was being grad
ually swallowed by some foul mon
ster. The submerged portions of my
seemed severed from the trunk.
while sure death enveloped me. A SEN,
sation of insufferable ~closeness almost
choked me, while the very helplessness
of the situation added a thousand terrors.
Dudley sat as one in a profound stu
por, one hand grasping the two inches
tallow yet left, his other scraping pit
along the rough wall, as though
an exit for its petrifed owner.
For my part / became strangely quiet
after a time, while a sense of indiffer-
ence possessed me. A sort of resigna-
ton to the inevitable, I suppose, for the
foods continued to press upward. Our
shoulders were now just above the
waters, while my hand grew SO weary
Of holding the candle that it seemed as
II about to sink below the surface de-
spite my every effort.
Neither Of as had spoken for some
time, when Dudley suddenly turned to
me. Il can't stand it any longer" he
said simply. Tell them goodby at home
for Inc if you ever get out" and he rose
if to launch himself forward. saw
his object at once and reached out to
grasp him. Hold on, Dud," / said; 81
don't believe it is going to get any high
er." 1t doesn't make any difference"
he repeated. I'VE both can't live long
in this small space anyhow" and he
sank from view. | felt him touch me-
as he rolled over, and / clutched at his
body to lift him to the surface, but it
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
light. 1t was almost like life itself.
/ cannot describe to you my feelings
as / sat a 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. It seemed 8 If
this mental torture lasted for hours,
when, 10, agreat JOY seized me--the food
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 /
on-u~ - ~n% r~l~- A.