Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-03-07


preached, I was too miserable TO sleep.
1 chewed and even swallowed some to-
bacco, but the succeeding nausea pre-
vented me from doing so again. About
midnight, l fancy, drank water once
more and fell into disturbed slumber,
filled with abominable apparitions.
When awoke, it was twilight and most
still, serene and beautiful about the
family illuminated edges of the caves
mouth. 1 expected this day to be my
last, composed my thoughts to death as
we'll as 1 could and said my last pray
ers Nevertheless the strong spirit of
life seemed to flicker up within me
again, and after l had taken deep
draft of water 1 sat up on my seaweed
couch and searched all my pockets care
fully for any stray crumb which might
yet linger there. conveying anything
that felt like such to my mouth. l was
aware of certain hitterish taste which
| detected at once as that of gunpowder.
The old canvas jacket which | We're ON
this occasion was that in which | used
to shoot when at home last for the
Chums' holidays, and some powder had
escaped from my powder horn, l fancy.
However the powder got there, there it
was, and Immediately the thought of
procuring for myself light and fire arose
in my mind OF timber l had plenty
While handling the seaweed | was con-
scious of perpetually finding my fingers
in contact with bits of wood swept in
thither on the same crests Of storm bill
lows which had brought the seaweed.
+ 4 rlr I o1
industriously, and ere long had collect
ed considerable quantity of driftwood,
large and small, all exceedingly dry and
brittle, and some sheer touchwood, which
cIumbled in my fingers. Choosing a
fiat stone, l determined to make it my
hearth and crumbled there a little heap
Of the touchwood, making it as fine as
dust. and gathered to the same spot some
of the timber which | had collected.
Then l cut from my trousers a scrap of
the wooden cloth and after wetting it
rubbed the gunpowder well into its tex
ture. AS soon as | thought it was suf-
fciently saturated. l let it dry, but so
eager was l for the experiment that to
facilitate the drying process, fastened it
to the point of my rod and held it up
lON u1u tIS OpCIllLS5 VI lllC CAV { tllctl II
might receive the sun s rays. When it
seemed to be perfectly dry, l took it to
my hearth. and unfolding my strong
claspknife held the rag in my left hand,
and with the right using The knife /
struck sparks from the edge of a rock,
making them fly onto the powder steep
ed rag. Finding it did not catch fire. l
put little dry powder on the surface
of the rag and renewed my efforts. l
felt certain of success. because at one
time | used TO shoot with an old flint
pistol which | had accidentally discov-
cred i'll my fathers bureau, and there
fore knew how instantaneously such Il
flying spark will ignite powder. AT the
second or third stroke the powder blaZed
up with puff and an ascending cloud
of smoke, and the rag began to burn and
crackle gayly. l laid it ON the stone and
sprinkled lightly over it pinches of the
crumbled touchwood. and as this caught
fire sprinlkcd more i'll larger quantities,
but still gradually, knowing that too
much fuel would quench the fire. Then
l poured on touchwOOd less finely bro
ken. and as soon as the glowing mass
seemed large enough breathed upon it
gently and soon had the satisfaction of
seeing it burst into Il bright flame. My
delight can be imagined. | had now
the means of exploring the whole cave
and of utilizing all its resources. such as
they might be, for the purposes of es-
cape or for food, if happy anything i'll
the nature of food might be procured
there anywhere. Food indeed had now
become an absolute necessity, if 1 was
not to die. l removed bundle Of my
collected driftwOod to a distant point
in the interior and made another fire
there, and taking good care not to lose
sight of this proceeded to search all
around for stone such as | could remove,
but found none anywhere save large
powders, and in one place the hard,
bare bed of the cave. which here began
to slope downward, not sheer or at a
dangerous angle. but very decidedly
downward. l also found sort of peck
ct in the side of the cave-a cave with
in a cave-which was filled with old
timber all very dry and brittle. Here
the cavern seemed to wind and curve
leftward. l made another fire at the
\u1 We anu t'SAScS' u oAI w ava 111iNNAoA
ward there was nothing but the hard
rock bed of the cave. Indeed it was
too steep for any howlders to rest here.
Lighting one moro fire. | discovered a
thin rivulet of water falling from the
roof or side of the Cavc--a slender,
straight pencil of water. returned
easily along my line Of fires to the en-
trance, feeding them as | went The
driftwood burned so rapidly that l now
determined to partially wet the fresh
timber which I laid on that it might
burn more slowly. Again went back
along my line of fire, examining care
fully the wall formation of the cavern.
so that even if any of the fires went out
should be able to find my way back
to the entrance and the daylight. And
yet Curry's Window, as l could not as
cend to it, was as cherries as any other
part of the cave. My last interior fire
was at the point where the floor of the
cavern sloped SO rapidly downward. l
fastened forward now, with 10 thought
but that of food, no matter what.
BY this downward way / descended so
low that suspected I must be on lev
ell with the sea. Finding that the light
of my last fire seemed faint and dim,
lit another in dry spot, which was not
easy to find, for the ground here was
very damp and slippery, owing to drop
pings from the roof. l then listened,
hoping that l might hear the noise of
the sea, for l thought that by some
cleft the water might penetrate here.
If that were so, might get shellfish,
mussels or impits or edible seaweed,
myvane or dilik or sloucan-all edible
~ m,