Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-03-07
Lost on Dhu -COTTig.
By sTAEDIsH 0'GRADY
ICopy right. I,9i. L.. .irlvr!caa Press Associa-
toni
JOIN IEErNAN,s NARRATIvE.

give verbatim as he wrote it:
1t WIS $50 when reached Dhu-Cor-
/ rig. l tishod for good while without
even bite. y boat which was locally
| known rs the Old Rake ruwed past
ne. The men in it were going to
/ noted dream rough" some miles far
Their up the coast. l hailed them as they
| passed. | continued fishing for about
| half an hour after this without success.
! Then | weali, Il Of the task and began
to cast about for suncthing to do till
! sunset, ut which time the pollock would
| begin To takc-a fish that gives good
| sport. thought of exploring the cliffs
I which lay eastward from Dhu-Corrig.
I When last | had clamhercd along these
| cliffs. | WAS stopped by IA gap across
! which fcaltd To spring lest l should
/ not be allie to return. That was two
! summers since. l wished to see whether
| it looked as formidable to me now as it
| did them The only IT al object of inter
! st in these cliffs was small square
| aperture at great height from the wa
ter. | had often noticed this aperture,
which from below looked only little
square black spot. No one in the neigh
burhuud knew anything about ii. But
once while out with ali ancient fisher
man from one of the adjoining islands
was told ly him that it was the mouth
of a haunted cave ard that it was I'M
lucky II have anything to do with it.
Indeed il WAS difficult TO see how per
son could come at it at all, for it was
quite unattainahle from the sea or from
any other side, 50 sheer and smooth
seemed the cliff in which it was stu
at,d. This old fisherman called it Cur
Tvs Window and spoke Cf Curry as a
y, ut suu--l"r. Curry, he said, was SO
active that he would take a barrel of
rum under enc arm and Il barrel under
thn Other. and. though weighted SC.
Sl,i1s-. from the deck Of his schooner
and lily Cl' an through the aperture into
The cave. Whom | made some chatting
r.!.laif about the old smuSglCr's cx-
IT,, It.Tu@Iy activity. he only said Curry
W. h,..N.n L. lr'"a clever man. and no
mare would he say | asked about Cur
~ on another occasion. Int he not only
Il fused IL add anything. Int rather an
.,rily denied that he had spoken to me
a,sut Curry ut all. All this naturally
excited my curiosity. Knowing that l
ltl tA 10 4tl anu IMAM I1ttU
/ ls.~t made the attempt. / resolved to
Try again. I easily reached the gap to
which l refer. Here there was split
il IT," cliff r,.trhing down to the sea.
lar hollow in the darkness the sullen
vvaI, l. VIZ rlulmuring. At the other
-id,. III, u. WIS good fouthold, but IT
vs. d,,il. dly lower than the point from
which u:r would have to spring in or
,!vr L. reach il. Consequently the return
leap would I've far more difficult, and it
WIS this - well a~ the horrible depths
below and thu gullriug and gurgling of
the dan Wait, r. which had dauntcd me
ltt.fur.. ] perceived HOW that it was
really uu such wonderful leap. after all,
ami surprised at my pultrUonery ON the
former occasion | sprang over and then
spraug lack again with comparative
ease. After this proof of my proves
resolved to torego the rest of the explo-
ration till next day. intending TO bring
my brother Ned with me. Though two
wears Younger. he was a better leaper
than myself. being Slight and long leg
g,d. whereas | was made rather for
strength than activity. My evil genius,
however. led me ON. as did the thought
Of the two hours Vet wanting till sunset
and tn" time when pollock would begin
To rise. The exploration did not indeed
promise much, for the cliff as seen from
Dhu- Currig as we'll as from the sea
seemed one sheer unhruken wall of rock
apparently offering M fOUthold TO any
creature less prchenSile than 4 fly. Yet
Immediately before me there was a very
narrow tIavcrsable ledge. In travorsing
this l saw it would be an advantage 10
have my rod with me in order to ST. ady
my footsteps. | returned for it to Dhu-
COrrig and a third time cleared the
Cha>m and presently encountered
piece of cliff. walking which could not
possibly have been managed without
such aid. There was Il ledge indeed,
Int the cliff above it was so sheer, or
rather inclined forward so much, that
some slight support ON the soaward side
was necessary in order TO get along here.
The iron spike at the end of the rod sup
piled a good rest for me as | went. Pass
ing this dangerous point. was delight
ed to find that the cliff WAS still travers-
able. though with difficulty. and / had
frequently t. crawl. Yet l continued to
get forward. forward, ana also upward,
ever upward. In this manner l pro
gres>ed about mile, not knowing
whittier that traversable ragged ledge
led me, but hoping it might be to Cur
rvs Window. As my progress was slow
| would upon ordinary evenings have
been perceived by some passing boat,
hut the people were at this time very
busy about hay, and the Old Rake was
the only one which on this unluckv
evening had put forth from our little
harh0r. the Basin, as we used to call it.
Eventually l found myself all of a sud
den looking into considerable cave in
the cliff side. Curry S Window as plain
" perceived. l was surprised to find it
so large and also find that il was not
square. but irregularly arChed. | used
to think that the famous smuggleI would
have found a difficulty in rolling even
one barrel at time through the aper-
ture The delusive appearance of pei
feet squareneSs had of course been
caused by distance, for the aperture was
very high up in the cliff. 1t, however,
resembled a window in this respect, that
the sill. So TO speak, was perfectly
smooth. fiat and horizontal as if the
work of mans hands. The rest of the
aperture was very jagged and ragged.
l also saw that the rock in the inside
was smooth and sloped away from the
sill at an angle of As degrees or there
about The sun had now to round the
shoulder of the hill whose base was sup
piled by their cliffs: consequently ]
could see little or nothing of the interior
of the cave, but thought that could
perceive the bottom at short distance.
l pushed the butt end of the fishing rod
before me and found that this was So
There, about six feet below me, was the
bottom of the incline and apparently
A. d. %I,a