The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-03

] s
/ short, however, and the creek was muddy
and brackish Our metal tanks, which
had been 4lled the week before. were
| nearly empty. These zinc tanks were
made TO st in the bow and stern. and
served as air tanks when not used for
water.
A SEARCH FOR A sPRING.
Il picked up one Of the tanks and
started of through the pine woods, for
we seemed to be on the main land, 10 find
a spring. Dickinson, my chum, was busy
/ in camp. The short twilight was nearly
! over, but full moon IN o Cl0udless SKY
made a food of light After walking
! about mile ] headed for q heavy growth
/ of cypress trees, which looked TO promise
! promise water, ana presently heard a
murmuring and smashing as Of good
sized stream.
"A small river glimmered through the
! trees, and when I reached the bank, /
could look up its winding course for some
distance, but few hundred yards below
/ the silver stream abruptly ended This
was more than puzzling-there was some
| thing Of the mysterious about the phan-
| tom river. until reached down the bank
| to find that / had stumbled across one of
/ Floridas natural wonders. of which had
! often read. The stream flowed for half a
/ mile that / could see. between low banks,
1 and then poured into the earth ana was
| lost in some subterrauean chasm. The
| descent was steep enough TO make a small
cataract, and the channel seemed to trend
obliquely instead of vertically, plunging
beneath the oyer-hanging roof Of lime
stone.
'In the shadows where the moonlight
| only struggle through the effect was
weird enough for my prosaie taste, But
was after the water, and getting down to
/ the edge safe distance above the cata-
| ract, found it clear and cold. unslung
my tank, which had carried over my
shoulder by strap, and tried to unscrew
the metal stopper. But the obstreperOu US
disk was stuck fast, and as 1 lost patience
and gave a mighty wrench the cruLs bly,
clay bank gave way beneath my war
| dance and l slipped into the water with
startling quickness.
THE HORRIBLE HOLE IN TIE GROUND.
"Iclung to the water tank which buoyed
me up with ease, and slipping my arm
through the strap, kicked out for shore
l could touch the bank, but there was
nothing but treacherous crumbly clay to
| grasp, and there was no bottom under me-
| The current was sweeping me along faster
than I realized, and l had forgotten the
| horrible hole in the earth that was now
so close. There were only 20 or 30 yards
| to drift when the boiling and splash
| above ground, aud the muf1ied roar that
seemed to echo back from the cavern be
| low brought me to a realizing sense of my
| position. l could only clasp my life pre-
server and give one more despairing kick
before | swung round in O whirling eddy
two or three times aud felt myself going
| down.
| II remember last glimpse Of the
starlit sky and a deer owl sitting on a
dead oak, and then a flash Of wonder as
to how far / would drop. There was no
time for my life's doings to pass In review
| My breath left me in the agonizing plunge
| down-it seemed hundreds of feet, al
| though it could not have been within a
good deal OF that Then my head shot
out into the air for a moment, and | felt
that the stream was running horizontally
| through the black rayless cavern, against
whose walls the spray was splashing.
shot along with my head out of water for
a few seconds, and then crashed against
the roof, and was borne violently under
lost consciousness in the mighty pres
sure Of water
RETURNING TO DAYLIGHT.
'When sensation returned was float
| ing quietly on a tranquil lake-like sur
| face, my arm still caught by the strap of
/ my old water tank, which had indeed
proved life preserver, as it had held me
+ up while afloat dead to the world. 1t
( seemed hours before I managed to feebly
! paddle and float to the nearest shore, and
/ crawl out to fall on the wire grass half
dead from bruises and exhaustion. In
/ the moonlight l saw that the pool | had
/ just left was circular and not more than
$50 yards in diameter. 1t looked black
and deep, without ripple. This was ev-
4 identity a sink hole, fed by the subterran-
! can river, and probably with an under
ground outlet, from which / had been
/ providentially switched of. How long l
/ tloated in the pool I do not know, so that
l have no means Of telling the time Of my
/ journey through the underground pas
sage. 1t could not have been many min
utes, or hardly more than seconds. The
! rosy flush in the western sky was just
/ Pickering out, and the moon had not
/ climbed many degrees higher.
"The quantity of water l had swallow
! ed, and the terrible bodily punishment,
made me weak and sick, and l fell
asleep where l had fallen. 1t was early
morning, when l awoke, and, picking up
my empty tank, limped off in the diree-
tion l thought l had come After an
hours tramping. without finding the
/ river, gun was fired ahead of me, and,
steering by the sound, found my chum,
+ Dickinson, nearly frantic over my mys-
FERROUS disappearance. I gave him my
hair-raising yarn, but he was skeptical
/ until ! showed him the battered tank,
bruises on my head and body. Before we
left the camp at Mysterious Bluff we
/ located the river and the pool, and placed
the distance as carefully as we could
1t was not far from half a mile"