The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-01-02

some day. too And as for the crooked
ness Of cave, we'll have help enough
when we begin to explore IL In earnest
Ihe Captain kept on taking "l INC
way. saying. among other Things lh"t
another reason he had for thinking that
streams of water went down to the river
in "A cave instead of in a valley. was
That some of the settlers had had Wells
drilled through the rock. always nhoinS
water IL they went deep enough. 10 being
three hundred feet To- the bottom OF some
of the wells near the river.
Just as the sky was getting red ln lhe
east we drove into little grove al l"e
north of q small mound, ana concealed
The wagon in q thickct OF undeipIusn.
The Captain embarrassed the horse ana
turned him loose. saying Chat he would
not wander far. ] put the candles 100 the
basket with The victuais and took II,
together with the axe. lantern, ana gum
which WAS a. long. sugle-larrelcd snoi-
gun with pOwder-hOrn and shOt-iiask'
while the Captain sh0uidered the coil OF
rope. lie said he thought the most pro-
missing sink-hole was quarter OF mlle
TO The sOuthW i
This sink was in the middle Of patch
of bushes and small trees The grounu
sloped in that direction AN around, ana
"a shallow raviue lcd to DO from the norln-
west The sink itself was about ten rods
across. very rocky. ami tine Sides ram
down to the middle. just like funnel,
only not so steep. We found great lot
Of limbs. trcc-trunks. and roots IN the
bottom. ana set ourselves 10 clear III out.
This WAS a good two hours work. and 10y
the tim we bad lnished 10 drst eating
brcakfasD the sua looked down az us
nrettv hot. Tne hole which we had
uncovered was Jagged and irregular.
some four feet one way hy lhiet Hi5
other. though down about the height OF
O. man 81 was rather smaller ana Noi"
smooth hy the water. we placed
youno nonlaf stick. ten feet long and six
inches through, across the middle oil ''e
hole. Then We tied % stone 20 the end
nj The rome and sounded. This stone
struck somcthire about thirty feet down
but rolled of and went on, and at last
seemed TO rest on good bottom ana
leave about ten feet OF the rope to spare.
That's ID good hole TO get down.
cried the Captain. "and not so deep as
Ill barks main-Llast is high.
was afraid 10 risk going down the
rope. n.yer having done such a thlns'
SO the Captain proposed 10 go first, ne
being an old sailor as You know, get
the lay Of the land. and thon come up
and lower me like a well-bucFet. II The
prospect proved good. but as ] saw this
would make him extra work. ] told him
10 lei me down nrst and then come down
himself So he made o loop I'm the end
Of the rome with queer knot. into which
{ sliDped nv LIFT foot. Then nc put
small strap around just under my arms.
buckline in the rope. / took the ian
tern. which was an old-fashioned square
one with four glass panes and q candle
inside. slipped an extra candle III my poe
ket. with some matches and | was ready;
and l will say that my heart had never
beat so fast before. though II soon found
good excuses TO beat much faster and
dat on more than few occasions.
The Captain lowered me slowly and
| soon pulled my wits together and felt
less fear. When my eyes got little
used TO the darkness. ] made out that
the sides were slanting away all around
like the roof in garnet. but as / got
lower | saw them coming In again like
the sides Of "a hopper. 1 thought the
place might be thirty or forty feet across
az its widest Soon my feet struck on the
shelf where the stone had rolled oyer.
This ledge went all around, leaving the
opening into the depths below ten or
twelve feet across. / slid over IL. though
by this time pretty dizzy having spun
around a good deal on account Of the
new rope untwisting.
now found that | was under the
ledge and could no longer see the light
Of the opening above. My poor lantern
made little impression on the darkness
Sometimes 7 brushed against the wall.
and again l was so far from II that /
could not tell where 1t was. l kept turn
ing round. but pumped onto the bottom
N iaot NTH nv head WhfrlfnO Nka a ton
When lii my other candle found my
self in a pretty large space. with a floor
almost as steep as a roof. I ventured
down II q few steps and saw It was q