Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-07-10

out INFO q Kind OF soup bowl OF two acres
| size. and then the breast Of the cupola
ewells up against q great mass of cracked
iecks which crown the peak. More proper
~ they look like time-worn weight placed
there to hold something down.
After making the effort. one could well
understand why the daring mountaineer
halted at the pinnacle" 800 feet UP, and
declined to burn his brain further In the
blazing. pitiless. tropical sun. to lacerate
his body or risk his life further at scaling
the abrupt blocks or slanting slabs. With
out hobnailed. rubber-bottomed shoes and
my knotted robe with its iron moose for
piece Of chalk to mark the way through
the crevtces, ascent OF certain stages was
impossible. When not possible to scale the
top. l worked my way down under the
the cracks to the surface again, going in
this way as much as 100 yards into the
depths Of the mountain, coming out as
much as 200 yards from the ingress, either
forward or to the side. Often I retraced
my slow, creeping course to find an egress
using the chalk to chart the course to pre-
vent being lost. Once I spent fully two
ncurs scaling 5O-foot rise IN this way.
sores and bruises did not count. Putting
your provisions through and then working
yourself through the gap of some irregular
niche Of sharp rocks is far from pleasant
but 1t must be done il one aspires to ton
the Black Trevetons.
Inside of the Mountain.
mig Wy CO"pdSS, dIteT passing the
first tier. found myself worming further
ard further into the middle of the great
hill. The sun could not be seen; my watch
was left behind for safety; the fading light
soon told the approach of evening. While
streaks of light still bent themselves about
ike silver ribbons during the day, they
were now getting paler and leadened The
sun may have been shining outside, but 1t
had now lost its angle upon the caves
about me. How far l was in the mountain
l do not know. I had worked and pulled
and crawled through hole after hole and
explored cavity after cavity, following the
brightest light for hours until my knees
were raw and my garments torn in the eff
tort AS the dense curtain of night pulled
itself down before me, the air pulled about
my ears like the spirit wings of invisible
ghosts. l was tired and worn out. When
my own hand could not be seen against my
own nose, l lay down to rest-a human
parcel in mass of stone In that terrible
climb up and down and about beneath the
surface, not able to see further than the
immediate rock opposite the hole through
which streamed the gray streak which
guided me, the mysteries of the pile re-
manned mysterious still. The little rays
SHOT ON down or out, the rock still jumbled
and yawned and yawned, and at times one
hardly knew whether he was going up or
descending. The beams of the sun didn't
seem to come from anywhere in particular:
they just bent and shot and hoisted
through the pile as best they could At no
time did l double on my course, except
when forced to retrace my chalked track
because OF failure to find an opening big
enough to admit the body of 1SO-pound
man. At places l found large caves or
rooms from 10 to 40 feet wide, of equal
LENGTH and as much as 20 feet high. The
noors Were Fairly level 1t was in small
one of these that night caught me, and
there l slept. How long? l do not know
NO noise save the low, seductive cadence
Of the cool wind which worked it's way
bro 1Crt,
A Cavern Filled With Light.
The light which stole back down there
from the morning sun soon avoke me, and
1 limbered my stiffened joints for another
effort. Day might have been well ad-
Vanced outside. Its flood of light was
breaking through new cracks from above
and some even peeped up from below.
Taking the line of the biggest ray, 1 chalk
ed my course through the dubious open
rgs, up, down, back and over All of a
sudden white sheet seemed to hang in
'front.' OF me. 1t proved to be a cavern filled
with light. strengthening arrow stood
perpendicularly in it. This was the first
sign of wood, vegetation or life. I.eaping
dcWn through an opening six or eight feet,
ana tnen sliding over a tIeacherOus slab
ten feet further to the floor, l found my
SER In chamber about twenty by forty
ieet' and about twenty feet high Think
ing mat the faultlessly straight spear
SNAPPED stem was the weapon of an abor-
lyme. 1 fancfed all sorts of queer things.
10 my establishment, the assagai was the
i've root Of some tree or shrub from the
outside. blackened in here by the decon
posing oxide Of iron. 1t came out of the
root, dropped in perfectly vertical nor
tion, pierced the floor and Disappeared
among the rocks below. Leaving my kit.
out taking my knotted rope, 1 chalked NV
way after 1t for at least a hundred wards
Ihen the hungry thing disappeared through
small aperture and was lost. Its size did
aot oimlnish In the least from the 11a-inch
diameter 1t measured in the cavern No
SHOOTS or suckers curled out from its stern
ana no semblance of earth fed its course
ahere was nothing save little handouts of
sandy gravel which had settled unon tho
level surface of the hard rock
Strange Pilot.
Retracing my chalked course. and taking
my ne" discovery as pilot to lead me
upward from this wilderness of rock.
wended in and out after its winding course
Tor an hour: losing, then finding it. and
finally losing it for good. Where it came
from Is uncertain; where 1t went TO ia
equahy so. After moping and creeping
here and there for two or three hours
longer, a big, gray pillow of light lay in a
yaWhing chasm beneath. 1t came from
somewhere. Getting down into it and look
ing up. silvery vista wound in and out
from above like the rays of a great search
light seeking out the darkness down there
past an nl-placed lot of jagged, overhane-
ing rock, the hot air of the outer world
warmed my face, and the MONDAY sun
sweitered on the meridian above Sentinel
rock lay fully half a mile back and 500
Feet further up in the air. though invisible
from the pinnacle the first tier The
ascent from my exit to the apex. while
wearytng and hazardous on the surface re-
quired no more of the perilous slides and
climbing which necessitated navigation
within, and you didn't have to go over by
going under. The sun beat down merciless-
ly. By o'clock the top was reached. and
the rock there-felt its first press of mans
foot. The climber preferred rest to feel
irgs of triumph.
Deep down in the Black Trevetons the
wind comes from all quarters and from
below. Rock wallabys entering either side
have been seen to emerge upon the other.
The inference is that they went through
When the sun has passed to the west and
Is low down below the first tier, the light
peeps IN from the western shafts and rents,
and the easterly and top holes darken
his shows that the rays penetrate from
the west and from below the first tier and
at depth Of 500 or 900 feet. through that
half mile of piled stone. Assuming that
the remainder Of the Black Trevetons is
similar to this huge section, then a small
dog. kangaroo. or a large hawk could
v ork Its way through the whole mountain
from east to west or elsewhere. By daring
slides down the face of great blocks. and