The times., 1898-01-02
TN FRONTENAC CAVE
AS TOLD BY ONE WHO WAS THERE AND EDITED By
HAYDEN CARRTTH.


floor and said:
Harry, nave thought much about
this thing, and have made up my mind to
tnis: 40 nunt out those roupers and give
them over u the law. II seems as IL it
WAS my duty to do So
But how can you?'' / asked
An, / shall hit on some way. j feel
that can 60 IL, ana lnat l ought to 40
IL, before they Kill other Innocent people.
But heaven knows that | do not do 1T Tor
revenge They shot my boy in cold blood,
and the old mans voice choked, ana he
stopped. Then he went on again: They
shot my only boy, but have no right 20
harm them myself for that reason, only
To oring tnem L, feel the justice vi the law
The time las been, Harry, when l would
nave folio owed them and snut them down
like dogs III could have done 50, Dut tnat
tine rs past now. / have lived too long TO
attempt revenge on any man. Revenge
hurts the man who indugles ia il more IMAM
IL does the IMAM on whom he takes 1t.
But these villains must be brought To Jus
tice, and 1 must attempt il. Will you help
me?'
At first l could make no answer. Isus-
pecteG his plan, and could not think well
oft. But mad Thought ii Thousand times,
l suppose, since it happened, that Robert
would not have been ia the bank that
day had he not gone with me, and you
may be sure l had grieved over 1T enough;
and it seemed that / must not now refuse
10 help hs rather, however hopeless and
dangerous it might be.
''lf you do not care to, you must not
be airaid to say SO" went on the captain.
In that case l shall go alone
Capt. Archway, l'n so with YOU" i
cried. sprnging up. He seized my nand
and said:
n nanK, you. Harry. / was sure you
would"
Inat very night l was awakened from
sound sleep by knocking at my door. 1
found It pitch dark, anu il was as soon
learned no more than , O'Clock i'll the
morning.
'i,re,s yourself, Harry" said the cap
tain. as | crenca the door, and come on.
the horse is hitched up and were all
ready to starl.
1 Married on my clothes and in ten min
utes was climbing into the buggy. by the
light OF lantern l saw ali AK, a gun, a
dozen or more candles IN a box anu great
coil of rope. We drove off. net along the
valley OF the Zumtjro, where the robbers ha,
gone. but a narrow, winding coulie, which
thought must lead to tie prairie north of
that river.
ne night was cool, though il was in the
latter part of July As I lad come out
OF the house / al noticed that mist was
hanging Yer the river, and cut OF il lad
come the deep, regular brea thing OF a
steamboat feeiinS it's way around Shelter
Nose Island. Tne moon was set, but L
thought the stars shone with greater bright
ness than common.
Inc captain scarcely spoke till we We're
well up onto the prairie, where we bore
away due west 1t was then that he ex-
planned his plan. Thus 1 may briefly
give II: To get down into Frontenac Cave
through some or the sink holes on the
af lfa.i inf a "a
believed they did.
"of course he went on, we can 10
nothing at capturing that band OF outlaws
alone. Ii IS not even hIy idea To Try 10
find them, for IL would Rot be safe. What
well do will be TO get down, If we can,
and see if we are not In q cave which
promises to be the right one Then We can
come back for help, and people VIII he
willing enough 10 listen 10 Us. They would
only laugh at US now, as they 10 at MY
engine" and there was tone of SADNESS
in MS voice lie said this. We ought to
he able To find out all We wantto know in
q couple of hours. and, il we can get down
this morning, he up before night. Then,
if we think we are rignss we can go down
with enough men Tomorrow 10 shUDtl out
tile robbers. ! beiieve the water hat goes
down these sink-holes, and probably much
more. that comes from farther, follows
cave and gets into the Zuubro through
springs in the bottom or the river.
Know the re are sucn springs j II along there,
for I've seen 1t on the SURF ace of the water.
Eve got a long rope and plenty OF candles.
Then / brought a gun, too, though OF
course We shan't need that, and food
enough for two or tlrea days; 50 il we have,
ITouhie in getting down Wen not have to
go back Tor supplies"
But, Cap+ain,''I put in. having. | win
say plainly. no relish for tie prospect,
caves are so crooked-tile lead up, down,
everywhere; with pits and comes where
sink holes come in, and ten thousand holes,
pockets, crevices, tunnels, and every shape
of opening You can think OF Besides
don't you suppose the men have gone
out some other Way?ff
'-Ay, like enough, he answered, no whit
discouraged. Though pforahIy not, since
the whole Country is on the lockout for
them. and they ha We not been seen any
where. Pesdes, even If they have gone,
maybe their plumber can be found and
given back TO the people they have robbed
nj they would bc back some day, too.
A nj as for the cTookedDeSS OF a cave,
well have help enough when we begin to
explore it III earnest.
The captain Kept ON talking III the way,
sa wing. among other things, that another
reason he had for thinking that streams
OF water went down 10 the liver i'll a
cave, instead of in valley. was that
some OF the settlers lad had wells drilled
through the rock, always finding water
if they went deep enough, IL being 800
feet 20 the bottom OF some of the wells
near the river.
Just as the sky was getting red in the
east we drove into a little grove at the
north of a small mound. and concealed the
agun in a thicket OF underbfush. The
CAPTAIN unha messed the horse and turned
him loose, saying that he would not wan
der far. j put the candles i'll the basket
with the victualS, and took 1t, together
with the AK, lantern and gun, which was
a long. single barreled shotgun, with pow
ier-horn and shot-flask; while the captain
shouldered the coil of rope. He said he
thought the most promising sink khole was
a quarter o ( mile to the southwest.
This sink was in the middle of patch
Of bushes and small trees. The ground
sIopcd in that direction ali around, and a
shallow ravine led TO il from the north
west The sink itself was about ten
rods across, very rocky, nd the sides ran
down to the middle, just like a funnel,
only not SO steep. We found a great lot
OF limbs, tree-trunks and roots in the
bottom, and set ourselves To clear il out.
This was a good two hours work, and
by the time we had finished IL (firSt
eating breakfast the sun looked down at
us pretty hot. The hole which we had
uncovered was jagged and irregular, Some
four feet one way by three the other,
though down about the height of man
it was rather smaller and Worn smooth
by the water. We placed young poplar
stick, ten feet long and six inches through.
across the middle Of the hole. Then we
tied a stone to the end Of the rope and
sounded. This stone struck something
about thirty feet down, but rolled off
and went on, and at last seemed to rest
on a good bottom and leave about ten
foot nf he rome Ia snare.