The herald., 1898-01-09

to look about. Our rope was washed
down to the foot Of the tunnel, and we
coiled 1t up and placed 1t on q ledge,
though can hardly tell why we did so,
as We had no use for it. When we
stood under the dome and looked up
we could see no light, which, indeed,
was to be expected, as 1t was now past
eight o'clock.
1--WE can do nothing about getting
out tonight" said the Captain. 1--WE
had best stir about until we are warm
and little drier, then find good bed
room and go to sleep. Time enough to
get out Tomorrow"
YES" I said, not yet being over my
fright, "there'll be time enough to-
morrow, and for some days, but what
about the way to get out Captain?"
We'll see, We'll see, my boy" he
answered. There's more than one
door to this place. In fact, I'm
thinking that's only a sky-light any,
how"
How long will the victuals last,
Captain"
1.-TWO days, full rations; four days,
half rations; week, light rations."
"But don't believe the candles will
last as long" 1 said.
Pretty nearly, Harry. Perhaps
longer. We won't need to keep a light
nights, and one candle is as good to
explore with as two"
We took the basket and went down
the cave in the direction we had fol-
lowed before. But the mud and water
were everywhere, and we had to go a
long ways before we found a good bed
room, as the Captain called it. We at
last hit on room with a sandy floor
and rounded ceiling, ten or a dozen
feet high. We had to climb up some-
what to get into lit, which accounted for
it's dryness. The floor was q hollow,
like shallow bowl, and looked as if it
had once been a small lake, the water
having dried up and left the sand.
There was a little crevice at one side
running down wedge-shaped in which
We're a few stalactites, and a pool of
clear water below which was sweet and
good. We tramped around on the
sand till we were warm and then lay
down for the night. got to sleep at
last, and though I woke up a good
many times with the cold and strange
ness, I still felt pretty rested in the
clared that he had never slept bet
ter.
We were a good deal puzzled in the
morning by certain thing, and for
many days later. This was strange
beating sound which I heard, or felt,
I could scarce tell which, as I lay
awake on the sand in the morning
while the Captain was yet asleep. 1t
was SO faint as to be almost nothing,
and often lost it altogether. When the
Captain wakened 1 told him of it; at
first he could not make 1t out, but by
laying his ear to the wall, where II
was palmer, he did; but could no more
explain 1t than I. It seemed like a
very dull and far-away pounding, and
beat twenty or twenty-five times a min
ute by the Captains watch. We lis
tened long, but knew no more what II
was when we got through than when
we began. When we went back under
the dome and looked UP, we could see
nothing Of the spot Of light, but this
was no mystery at all, as we knew the
water had again covered 1t with sticks
and brush.
! Now, though never wrote anything
before Except letters and such like)
am not foolish enough to try to de.
scribe the terrible next six days which
the Captain and I passed through II
that horrible cave. Never did I know
anything so bad before nor since, an(
though the Captain all the while tried
to make light Of it and kept referring
darkly to worse things which he hai
gone through when following the deel
sea, still know this, that a man may
| sail all the deep seas to the end of his
days-ay, and take his vacations ir
the desert, so to put it,-and yet never
! find anything so bad. These two mon
sters we fought night and day, to wit
Darkness and Hunger; and what is
worse? And ever the diving and turn
ing crazy, squeaking bats.
| So will say this only: That for these
six days we pushed our way through
| the darkness of that cave-burrowe6
our way through the darkness like
moles through the ground-searchine
for q way out; and found none. II
was well for us that those bats were
small; their will was good enough tt
destroy us; but they SOU aked at us
and slid up and down on the air, jerk
ing themselves this way and thai
through the rooms and tunnels!
| Twenty times we shouted ourselves
hoarse under the dome where we hat
entered, our voices growing each day
weaker; twenty times we wen
through the whole cave, the Captain
day by day dividing our stock Of foot
smaller and smaller; twenty times ii
seemed) we crawled down into eacf
hole and wriggled up into each crack
every hour that we could dimly lool
into each others faces our candle!
growing shorter and the matches in my
bottle fewer. To this day it make!
my flesh creep to hear a bat squeak
and when one dips at me alway.
dodge.
But I have said enough (and tot
much) Of this; on the fifth day tht
last of our victuals were gone. Tht
candles were gone, too, except for par
of one. But it was nine o'clock by tht
Captains watch and If we had not los
our reckoning, night and not morning
so we dragged ourselves to the bed
room, put out the candle, carefully
stood it in the sand and lay down tt
sleep again. I think our sleep wa
feverish and wakeful: I know min,
was; and 1 dreamed of all manner O.
things to eat, as had for two nights
before. The strange throbbing which
we heard only in the bedroom hat
grown louder, but we were not dis
turbed by it as we never heard it a
night; by which we had concluded
this much about it-that it could no
be made by water or any such thing.
In the morning the Captain said tt