The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1896-07-29

able under-thought that it'll be dinner
time before long. Lucky fellow, not
to know what it is to sit in crack in
the face of the earth, speculating 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 Pm not, what's the
alternative? Let's have another look
at the resources"
After overhauling the rope and col-
ing it beside the log, he searched his
pockets, but found nothing useful
therein, except a small penknife
There they are-sny 40 feet of rope, a
piece Of wood six or seven feet long, and
toy pooke5inife; and this hole is
about 80 feet deep, l should judge. |
There isn't very much to work with, |
bat I've pulled many Il hero out of worse |
scrapes than this with much less"
The humor of the comparison pro-
vokcd a laugh, and then he wondered .
what had become Of his depression Of
tha previous day. The explanation
came suddenly when he ran his solilo-
guy back to the point where he had con-
cludcd that his connection with the
LatimcTs was the reason for the assault
upon him, 1t seemed in q way to bring
him rcarer 70 Hester, aud FOR o tirnc
there ..4a d cheerful eatauaNsm Ia the
Thought thGt other and compelling
hands had pushed him over the dividing
| line between his pnsillanimous rcsolu-
tioa 10 rum away and an active partici
patton in the quarrel which involved
her family. There was little comfort
in the contemplation Of the part he
might he required to take in the feud;
! the battle was still to be fought with
his weakness, and he had the fresh and
humi'iatipg example OF q few hours be-
fore 20 remind him that he had not yet
made a beginning. The recollection
of this discouraged him again, aud all
the arguments that had presented
themselves in defense Of his plan of re-
treat came back with redOubled cmpha
sis. He was not sure that Hester loved
him; if she did, she would despise him
when she found him out; it would be
ineXcusably wrong for him to win her
love under false pretenses; she had told
him only last night what she would eX-
pectin the man Of her choice. He pushed
the tormenting thoughts aside, and
brought himself down with a jerk to
the present and it's demands. I'm not
going to dispute with the weali-kneed
devil any more" he muttered; "the first
thing to do is to get out OF here, and
then I'll leave it with her; if she honors
me enough to make me her defender,
I'll make a shift to fight her battles if
/ have to hire some one to hold me
while do it."
Under the inspiration of this conclu-
sion he went to work patiently and res
olutely, trying the first plan that sug-
gested itself. Using his knife for q
chlscl, he attempted to cut inches fol
hand and foot holds in the wall, perse
vering until both blades of the small
tool were worn down to useless
Stumps. When the failure of the knife
put an end to the eXpedient, he exam
ined the narrower part of the crevice tc
see if he could not climb to the roof by
bracing himself from wall to wall. A;
' it was reasonably evident that the cav
ern had originally been nothing more
than an irregular crack in the sand
l stone, open at the top through its en-
tire length, and afterward gradual,
covered in by slow accumulations o
earth and debris interviewer with twig
i and grass roots, he argued that it woulc
y be comparatively easy to dig through
i This thin covering if he could obtain
/ foothold near enough to the roof to en-
i able him to attack it. TO make tn
j, most of his strength, he dragged the loI
- to the place selected for the expert
y ment, with the intention of using it TO
U ladder from which to begin the as
! cent; and, having braced it against on
u of the walls, he took off his coat an,
y shoes and made an attempt to work hi
II way up the desired vantage-ground
> The first trial was failure. He los
his hold before he had assembled t
c twice his height,and slid back to tn
y sandy floor of the crevice; but ther
" was enough of promise of success i
3 the undertaking to make him wea
away the remainder of the day in ~
peated endeavors, and to encourage hil
= = to try again and again, even after tn
II long abstinence from food had begu
= to have it's effect on his tired muscle
- and overstrained nerves. The final a
=, tempt, made just at dusk, carried hi
- to within few feet of the roof; but til
~ darkness baflled him; he again lost h
- hold, and it was only by the utmost e!
- crtion of his failing strength that
" " saved himself from falling heavily
- the bottom of the cavern. AS it was, l
=. knocked the log down in his descen
! and, realizing that nothing could
40 done without the help of daylight,
-. lay down in the sand and tried to go
- sleep.
~ Lying there in the darkness and Ii
,o tcning to the microscopic noises sill
% ing through the entrance to the cav
=. he fancicd he heard sound as of son
~ light object falling upon the sand. /
ha first thought of wild beasts, but, I
bo fecting that no animal large enough
in attack him would be likely to enter t
hn trap-like crevice, the incident was so'
,d forgotten in train of suggestions ha
be ing the indistinct noises of the day f
starting-point. Now that he recall
H. them, he remembered hearing soun
M like the echoes of dull blows at irreg
ev lar intervals all through the day, a
y, he speculated over their probable orig