The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-03

| in the dark, could not possibly find out.
| Even now always spin out ball OF string
! behind me when ! am going so far into the
| catacomb. You can see for yourself that
1t Is difficult, but everyone of these pass
| ages divide and sublivide a dozen times
before you go a hundred yards"
| They had descended some % feet from
the level of the byre, and they We're
standing now in a square chamber cut out
! OF the soft tufa- The lantern cast flick
ering light, bright below and dim above,
over the cracked brown walls In every
direction were the black openings of pass
| ages which radiated from this common
| center.
Il want you to follow me closely, my
| friend, said Burger DO not lOiter to
LOOK at anything upon the way for the
| place to which 1 viii take you contains all
mat you can see, and more. 1t will save
tlme FOR us to go there direct"
lie led the way down one of the corri-
dors, and the Englishman followed close
| ~ at his heels. Every now and then the
| passage bifurcated but Burger was evil
IDENTIFY following some secret marks of his
own Tor he neither stopped nor hesitated.
| everywhere along the walls, packed like
Ine perths upon an cmigrant ship, lay the
| christians of old Rome. The yellow light
| nlckered over the shriveiled features of
the mummies, and cleaned upon rounded
| skulls and long, white arm bones crossed
| over heshless chests. And everywhere as
| ne passed Kennedy looked with wistful
| eyes upon inscriptions funeral vessels,
| pictures, vestments. utensils, all lying as
| plous hands had placed them so many CEN
| turtles ago. 1t was apparent to him even
| III thoSe hurried passing glances that this
| was the earliest and finest of the cata-
| combs, containing such a storehouse of
roman remains as had never before come
| at one time under the observation of the
| student.
What would happen If the light went
out?'' he asked, as they hurried EDWARDS.
Il have a spare candle and a box of
matches in my pocket BY the way Ken
| nedy' have you any matches?"
mo, you had better give me some"
oh, that is all right There is no
| chance of our separating
How far are we going? 1t seems to me
that we have walked at least a quarter of
| a mile.''
More than that. I think There is
really no limit to the tombs-at least 1
have never been able to find any. This is
very difficult place. so l think that l will
| use our ball of string"
He fastened one end of 1t to a projecting
stone and he carried the coil in the breast
OF his coat, paying it out as he advanced.
kennedy saw that it was no unnecessary
precaution, for the passages had become
more complex and tortuous than ever,
with perfect network of intersecting cor
rldors. But these all ended in one large
circular hall with a. square pedestal of tufa
topped with slab of marble at one end
of it,
by Jover' cried Kennedy in an ecstacv
as Burger swung his lantern over the
marble. 1T is a Christian altar-proba-
biy the first one in existence. Here is the
little conservation cross cut upon the cor
ner of it. No doubt this circular space
was used as a church"
precisely" said Burger; eff had more
| ShOul6 all
bodies in these inches upon the walls. for
they are the early popes and bishops of
the church, with their mitres, their GRO
ziers and fun canonicals. Go over to that
one and look al IT,"
Kennedy went across, and stared at the
CHASTITY head which lay loosely on the
shredded and mouldering mitre.
This is most Interesting" said he and
MS voice seemed to boom against the con-
cave vault. "As far -, my experience
goes 1t Is unique. Bring the lantern over
Burger, for want to see them all"
But the German had strolled away and
was standing in the middle of a yellow cir
Gle of light at the other side of the hall
do you know how many wrong turn
ings there are between this and the
stairs?" he asked. There are over 1000
No doubt it was one of the means Of nro-
lection which the Christians adopted.
The odds are 1900 to against a man get
ting out even if he had a light but
If he We're in the dark it would, of course
be far more difficult"
80 1 should think"
And the darkness is something dread
full l tried it once for an experiment
Let us try it againr' He stooped to the
lantern and in an instant it was as if an
invisible hand was squeezed tightly over
each of Kennedy's eyes. Never had he
known what such darkness was 1t SEEM
ed to press upon him and smother him.
4 xHTDG q Gn1f1 nt,cf 1ta1a To-.
body shrank from advancing. He put
his hands out to push it back from him.
THAT viii do Burger" said he; Tets
have the light again"
But his companion began to laugh. and
in that circular room the sound seemed to
come from every side at once
You seem uneasy, friend Kennedy"
said he.
GO on, man, light the candler' said
Kennedy, impatiently.
it's very strange, Kennedy, but I could
not in the least tell by the sound in which
direction you stand. Could you tell where
1 ann"
mo. you seem to be on every side of
me-"
of it were not FOR this string which
hold in my hand 1 should have no notion
which way to co.
Il daresay not Strike a light man.
and have an end of this nonsense"
We'll, Kennedy, there are two things
which understand you are very fond Of
The one is adventure and the other is an
obstacle to surmount. The adventure
must be the finding of your way out of
this cataeomb. The obstacle will be the
darkness and the 1000 wrong turns which
make the way little difficult to find But
you need not hurry for you have plenty
of time, and when you halt for a rest now
and then I should like you just to think of
Miss Mary Saunderson, and whether you
treated her quite fairly"
You devil, what do you mean?" reared
Kennedy. He was running about in little
circles and clasping at the solid blackness
with both hands
Goodbye" said the hooking voice and
it was already at some distance Il real
ly do not think Kennedy, even by your
own showing that you did the right thing
by that girl There was only one little
thing which YOU appeared not to know.
and l can supply it Miss Saunderson
was engaged to a poor ungainly devil of a
student and his name was julius Burger"
There was a rustic some where the
vague sound of foot striking a stone