Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1896-02-13

Every thing was so still. Sudden
ly it came to me, and / found that
the heat was less intense, though ii
was still hot, and I was weak from
the heat, and thought l must have
passed through the center of the
earth and was now nearing the
other side, and my faculties were all
on the alert to catch the first sign
OF my approach to the surface.
was hungry, and thought Of my
apple and cakes that / had in my
pocket. Judge of my surprise to
find the apples soft and sticky. 1
tasted one and found that it had
been baked. The heat through
which / had passed having been
great enough to render that fact
possible. | was also thirsty, but
the apples relieved me somewhat,
and / began to feel better. And /
longed for the moment when
should reach the surface. It was
getting cooler, and ] thought |
must be nearing China. When |
started l was feet foremost, bus
somewhere in the center of the
earth probably l had changed and
was now head first. After a time |
thought l could see dim light,
which was approaching, although
rs much as l could tell | was not
going at as high rate of speed as
l had been.
Could l see light? Yes; though
dim. Yet light. 1t was getting
brighter. / could see the blue sky,
but | had almost stopped. / was
going more and more slowly. Would
l reach the surface? / was,
thought, almost still; scarcely a
motion. My heart sank within me.
What if l should not reach the sur
face? Oh, horrible thoughts.
! had stopped, and slowly began
to return. Horrors of horrors. If
| had not speed enough to carry me
through to this side would l ever
gain the other? i tried to explain
the thing satisfactorily to myself.
Was it because | had started from
beneath the surface of the earth?
Had some unknown power retarded
my progress? l could not answer.
| simply knew that had failed to
reach China. And then would i
ever reach the other side? The
thought overcame me, and uncon-
sciousness came TO my relief.
When came to my senses again
| found myself resting upon moist
earth. My clothes that had become
dry were again wet with sweat.
Where was l? attempted to arise,
but found | could not stand erect.
Ibegan l to craw along the passage,
the earth was soft and warm. Sud-
denly at my right l saw light and
then it was gone. Again it appear
ed, like flash of lightning, follow
ed by darkness. Carefully worked
along in the direction it had ap-
peared. Again it came. l was al
most to the spot. The next time it
came | was close up to it, and saw
before me a passage which looked
like an old iron pipe full of holes,
and it was through these holes that
| had seen the flash of lights. l
felt along and put my hand through
one of the holes. A cool breeze was
blowing. | found a larger hole and
put my head through. My hat fell
off and whirled away out of reach.
This passage seemed to be at
right angle to the one in which /
had just been, and as there was no
current of air in the first one !
thought best to try to get ont by
means Of the one just found. I
soon found hole large enough to
admit of the passage of my body,
and boldly trusted myself to the
currents of this passage, feeling
that could not do worse than to
stay where l was.
AS l sped along the flashes Of
lights came again and again, and |
decided that. they must be electric
ity.
There was no noise except as the
rushing of winds. 1t was cooler.
/ wondered why. 1t was getting
uncomfortably cold. I had just
been where it was so hot that my
garments were wet with the sweat
that poured from my body, but now
they were getting stiff, freezing.
What did it mean? The answer
soon came. When the flashes Of