The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1896-05-14
Icopyhght. 1905. ty J. 3. LIppineott Col

copyright. 1905. BY j. B. Lippincot Col
In little while it was light enough
to enable him to see his surroundings,
and he found that he was imprisoned in
Il crevice-cave much like the one he had
explored two days before. 1t occurred
to him at once that it might be con-
tinuation of the same cavern, or that
possibly he might be in the very
chamber into which he had tried to
penetrate; but this seemed unlikely, for
two reasons. One was that he could
not make the locality of the McNabb
tunnel agree with the general direction
of his wanderings of the night previous;
and the other was even more conyinc-
ing, for, while his cell terminated at one
extremity in narrow fissure like the
~one in which he had lost the pick and
the lamp. he could not find the missing
articles. though he lost 10 time in maxi,
ing careful search for them. In do :
ing this, however, he stumbled upon
another discovery which was of much
more immediate Importance: reaching
down into the crannies of the assure,
his hand found a pool of water. and he
drank gratefully, dipping up the cool
liquid by spoonfuls in his followed
palm. ,a a /
> After this. he gave an hour TO minute
examination Of the boundaries of his
prison, scrutinizing the walls and care
fully weighing every possible chance of
escape. At the end of this preliminary
survey he sat down upon the log. which
proved to be the trunk Of Il small tree
hurled by some accident of wind or
lightning through the opening above,
and began to go over the events of the
past few days. in the hope of finding
something to account for the mysteri-
GUS attack and Imprisonment. In this
effort he racked his brain to little pur-
pose, and. after repeatedly scouting the
idea as absurd, he finally accepted the
conclusion that the Bynums had in
some manner connected him with the
fortunes of their enemies, and had
taken prompt measures to deprive the
Latimers of a possible ally.
IF that's the case" he unused, speak
ing aloud for he sake of the companion
ship of his own voice, what do they
mean to DO with me? If they had
wan!ed to kill me, they certainly had it
all their own way last night; very
small domestic cat would have male n
better resistance than | did. No, that
isn't it. they don tmean murder; they're
only trying to get me out of the way
for awhile. And the next thing is, for
how long? Keeping in view the COM
forting conclusion that they don't
intend making away with me. the ques-
ton will answer itself in few hours
at the most, for they haven't given me
anything to eat. Which reminds me
that I'm pretty hungry, now" he looked
ruefully at his watch. Tom Ludlow
had his breakfast two hours ago, and
at the present moment, suppose, he's
sitting in his office with the comfort
able under-thought that tin be dinner
time before long. Lucky fellow, not
TO know what it is 70 sit in crack in
the face of the earth, specializing on the
doubtful possibilities of future meal
times. Well, presume the next thing
is to decide whether or not I'm to sit
here and wait for some one to come and
pull me out; and if I'm not, what's the
alternative? Let's have another look
at the resources"
After overhauling the rope and coil
ing it beside the log, he searched his
pockets, but found nothing useful
therein, except small penknife.
l'Thcre they are-say 40 feet Of rope, a
piece of wood six or seven feet long, and
toy pocketknife; and this hole is
about 80 feet deep, l should Judge.
There isn't very much to, work with,
bat I've pulled many a hero out of worse
scrapes than this with much less.'
The humor of the comparison pro-
voked laugh, and then he wondered
what had become of his depression Of
the previous day. The explanation
came suddenly when he ran his solilo
guy back to the point where he had con
y eludcd that his connection with The
Latimers was the reason for the assault
upon him. 1t seemed in way to bring
him nearer to Hester, and for tim,
there was cheerful enthusiasm in til,
thought that other and compelling
hands had pushed him over the dividing
line between his pusillanimous resolu
ton to run away and an active partici
patton in the quarrel which involved
her family, There was little comfor
in the contemplation of the part h
might be required to take in the feud
the battle was still to be fought wit
his weakness, and he had the fresh an,
humiiiating example of few hours be
fore to remind him that he had not We
made q beginning. The recollection
of this discouraged him again, and al
The arguments that had PRESENTS
themselves in defense of his plan of re
treat came back with redoubled empha
sis. He was not sure that Hester love
him; if she did, she would despise hir
when she found him out; it would b
inexcusably wrong for him to win he
love under false pretenses; she had toll
him only last night what she would e,
pectin the man of her choice. He pushe
the tormenting thoughts aside, an
brought himself down with jerk t
the present and its demands. I'm nc
going to dispute with the weak-knee
devil any more, y he muttered; 1.-THE frs
thing to do is to get out of here, an
4 ~ L.