The herald., 1898-01-09

and he lived alone with his son Robert,
who was then, and up to the day when
he was shot, for that matter, assist
ant agent at the steamboat office on
the levee.
The Captain asked me, very pleas
antly, what l did SO far away from
home, and on my telling him that
was striking out for myself to see the
world and try to make my own living,
(my fathers family being large and
he not overly supplied with this worlds
goods, as the saying goes) he said to
me that must come and stay at his
house TILL something turned up for me
TO DO, and was so cordial, making
nothing OF my excuses, that was
Obliged to accept of his invitation, and
went, stranger that was. He did this
mainly, am sure because the Landing
was rough town, overrun with
drunken and desperate, men, and not
mt place for boy who had no home
there.
From the very first moment took a
great liking to the Captain. He had
been retired from the river a dozen or
more years, and, l thought, seemed
Dut little like the steamboat captains
had seen, being too gentle for such.
He was something of an inventor, hav-
Ing patented a slide-valve for steam
boat engines, and was now working
(and had been for long time) on a
new kind of marine engine. He was
not tall man, but strongly built, and
you would have said he was not above
fifty years of age, though he was really
over sixty. No father ever thought
more of his son than did the Captain
of Robert. And Rob deserved 1t, being
good boy. He was three or four years
older than I, and would not, that ter
rible day, have been in the bank had
he not gone there to do me faver.
His father bore UP better under the
shock than I thought possible. He
brooded a good deal, however, and, I
believe. began forming from the first
the plan by which he could bring to
justice the murderers of his son.
This villainous London gang was no
new thing in the country, having been
known for two years or more as horse
thieves and stage-robbers. AS I write
this it seems I can hear them riding
up and down in front Of that bank,
whooping and shooting at everybody
they saw, with the ones inside stuffiing
and tumbling the money into grain
sacks, and London himself poking
his black, smoking pistol into my
face. OF course pursuit was promptly
made after them by the sheriff and
posse. They were followed along the
valley of the Zumbro and then up
little side cou1ie which led away to the
northwest. Here they left their horses
and went down small opening which
was known to be the entrance to From
tenac Cave. This cave had not then
been much explored, but the sheriff,
who knew 1t as far as anybody, led
the way in. They searched the first
part Of the cave, but when they came
to small hole, which was known to
lead down to the main part, they found
1t stopped by rock at the bottom,
which they could, in no way move. 1t
was clear that the outlaws had shut
themselves beyond this where there
was no chance of their being come at.
So the sheriff came back, leaving par
ty on guard outside.
1t was a full week, or maybe ten
days, before Captain Archway spoke to
me about the matter which makes 1t
at all worth while for me to write
this. He then began to ask me about
caves, knowing that I came from the
limestone region in Kentucky, where
there are many of them; indeed, I
was born over against the line of Ed
mondson County, where is the Mann
moth Cave itself; and so I informed
him, at which he seemed much pleased.
told him all I could about caves,
which was something, since had been
in several, though never in the Mann
moth Then he fell to asking Of
sink holes, as they are called, sunken
places, shaped like a dish or a funnel,
where the rain water and sometimes
brooks disappear in the ground.
could tell him little of these. though I
had often seen them, but had never
gone down into one. But this much I
knew-that they usually or always