Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1893-06-22
But high up upon one

4
side there was dark opening lik,
the mouth of cave, which nigh
be reached by careful climbing
The opening ! Immediately OWNED
to be an ancient fireplace, and if
was correct in that supposition.
there was doubtless chimney lead.
ing from it inside the wall, direct
to the cornice.
/ Throwing or my coat, l began
the ascent, finding between the
crumbling stones such places fol
my feet as / could, and at last,
after considerable exertion, succeed
ed in reacfing the opening. As
expected, found it to be . fireplace,
blackened with the smoke of old
time fires, and from it there led a
narrow passage, so dark and crooked
that | could not see where it went,
except that its course was upward.
However, chimney, | argued,
must have its top in open air, and
without hesitation | entered it and
began to work my way through il.
found it a rather more difficult
matter than | expected, and more
than once was on the point of aban-
doning the undertaking and des-
cending. But my face and hands
were covered with dirt, and my
clothes, if not torn, were at least
ruined. TO present myself at my
hosts in such plight, with moth
ing to show for it, would never do,
so | renewed my exertions and
struggled on.
Though the chimney was wide
at the bottom and not difficult to
climb, it soon became extremely
narrow, and after squeezing myself
upward for few yards | became
tightly wedged in a most uncomfor-
table position, and unable to pro-
ceed farther. There was nothing
to be done, apparently, but to
descend, and this ! endeavored to
do, but to my horror found it
impossible.
had become fast! | kicked and
squirmed, and tried to reduce my
self to the smallest possible proper
tions, but in vain. The more
struggled, the more tightly / be-
came wedged, until at last, exhaust
ed, | abandoned my struggles and
gave myself up to despair.
The terror with which | now
realized my situation no words can
describe. was far out OF sound
and hearing Of any human habita-
tion If ! were missed at the Gen.
erals, and sought for, who would
think of searching for me here:
The probability was that | would
not be sought for in the neighbor-
hood at all. 1t was my wedding
eve, and / had mysteriously disap-
peared. Such cases were not infre-
quent. Gretel knew with what
feelings | had received her confes-
sion, and recollecting my moody
and abstracted manner since then,
would she not at once concluded
that / had abandoned her?
Great heavens? The thought
drove me to frenzy. Again / strug-
gled and shrieked for help, until
my strength failed me. All in vain.
No response reached my ears, and
only the tones of my own voice came
back to me, smothered and choked
in that horrible chimney.
Even should my coat be found
below, what would be the conclu-
sion? Either that / had been rob-
bed and murdered. or that | had
purposely left it there to battle de-
lection. And should chance visitors
happen to enter the tower, and
there might be none for weeks,-it
was extremely doubtful if my shouts
would be heard, confined as / was
high up between the walls, where
no one would dream of finding a
human being.
Time passed. / knew not how
long / had been in the chimney,
and the flue was SO crooked that all
daylight war shut out; bat remem-
bering the duration of my struggles
and the alternate periods of des-
pairing inaction, / knew that hours
must have flown since | entered.
thought of Gretel, waiting and won
dering; of the assembled guests; OF
the wedding-feast that was getting
cold; of the wrath of Won Wieland:
Of the terrible death by starvation
that / was doomed to die; of the