The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-03-18

able him to attack it. To make the
most of his strength, he dragged the log
to the place selected for the expert
ment, with the intention of using it for
Il ladder from which to begin the as
cent; and, having braced it against one
of the walls, he took off his coat ano;
shoes and made an attempt to work his
way up the desired vantage-ground.
The first trial was failure. He lost
his hold before he had ascended to
twice his height,and slid back to the
sandy floor of the crevice; but there
was enough of promise of success in
the undertaking to make him wear
away the remainder of the day in re-
peated endeavors, and to encourage him
to try again and again, even after the
long abstinence from food had begun
to have it's effect on his tired muscles
and overstrained nerves. The final at
tempt, made just at dusk, carried him
to within few feet of the roof; but the
darkness baff1ed him; he again lost his
hold, and it was only by the utmost eX-
ertion of his failing strength that he
saved himself from falling heavily to
the bottom of the cavern. AS it was. he
knocked the log down in his descent,
and, realizing that nothing could be
done without the help of daylight, he
lay down in the sand and tried to go to
sleep.
Lying there in THE darkness and lis
tcniGg to the microscopic noises sift-
ing through the entrance to the cave,
he fancicd he heard sound as of some
light object falling upon the sand. He
first thought of wild beasts, but, re-
flecting that no animal large enough to
attack him would be likely to enter the
trap-like crevice, the incident was soon
forgotten in train of suggestions hav-
ing the indistinct noises of the day for
starting point. Now that he recalled
them, he remembered hearing sounds
like the echoes of dull blows at irregu-
lar intervals all through the day, and
he speculated over their probable origin
until weariness overcame him and he
fell into a doze from which the growl-
ing of the rising storm awakened him.
Since there seemed to be a sort of COM
panionship in the roll of the thunder
and the sweep of the wind, he sat up to
listen, and in one of the lulls he thought
he heard a voice at the mouth of the cav
ern. Wondering if his captors were
coming to liberate him, he got upon
his feet and felt his way to the farther
end of the cell, standing under the aper-
ture and staring up into the gloom.
While he stood there listening and
looking, small star of yellow light
made its appearance at the extreme end
of the rocky corridor, and he saw the
shadows of two faces framed between
the walls of the narrow slit in which the
chamber terminated. His first impulse
was to make his presence known; but
! before he had taken a step he recoiled
in horror at the sight of a gun barrel
thrust through the crevice above the
wavering star of light.
Under some conditions mental proc
csSes are instantaneous. Ringbrand
saw and understood the purpose of his
enemies as clearly as if his sentence had
been pronounced with formal verbiage.
With the understanding came fren-
zied fit of terror, and he shrunk with
chattering teeth and trembling limbs
into the deepest recesses of the cave;
the wavering light danced in fantastic
gyrations before his fascinated gaze;
Il noise like the beating of hundred
drums filled his ears; and he could feel
the cold perspiration pricking from