The times., 1898-01-23

rope which ] had cut was there also, al
Ieafheu later. Dauphin, IL ne told the
trusn, hfe ueen er1ised. stunned and
| place; and London certainly hurt, and,
ueffsye. broke ms aim; Dut beyond being
isass &c uizzy and given strange ringing
| IN The head, got off free OF narm, though
l wds 50 shaken up and dazed at IlTsg
! thatsI knew not IL / were unnuTt or mad
| every bone in nay body broken.
1ne 1nen who were after came to
| tire edge OF the pit and fired all the shots
III their revoiyers at me, or at tie ia rkness,
rather, whicn was what saved me, since
/ not one hit anything but the rocks When
| they stopped got To my feet, drawing
myself up by the wall, and started along
The Gun Barrel, humping my head well
at the turn and sta aggering along, suspect,
| crooked enough. had no candleor loren but
plenty OF naLches So wnen got out INTO
/ the FIRST room L struck one anu looked u +
myself little and tried to get together
NY wits by the help OF tile hight Ine noise
nad brought down 1he bats, and they wc-D
pitching about on all sides. like, kites
! which mad lost their tails; l staggered.
on across the room, lighting another
match after few steps, ana so l went
all the way to Fish Camp by ma tchlfght.
the bats taking IL very i'll from first to last.
Al Fish Gasp l found sJtiie torehrstlcks-
and lit one, and then built fire. This was
little cheering, and the warmth did no
harm. knew 1 Ought to De angry, but the
very thought Of food, and especially OF fish,
was unpleasant. l think IL l had been
SIRE that the outlaws could not get down
IL snould have taken nap ny the fire;
but, though l suspected they had no more
rope,~I was not certain OF IL, and so knew
IL was not safe. But l took few ui.,iutes
to think OF how matters stood, and I'm
sure L never bad felt so frightened and
utterly discouraged before.
i LIE great tnniss WHICH made it worse for
me than at any tiine before wa sa that
l was now alone. My bravery sSnotls
ing 10 Drag OF, but it would take a great ter
coward than To give up before anything
when with the captain. Then even Dau-
p ptarlT a alone with Iti1 the hoah ats WAS s other @
thing. Besides, what hope is there? |
thought. Here ain, DOWN in that part
of the cave W hich two, and for some time,
three of US, hunted over for days to find
an outlet, anu found none; so, what is
there for lne but 10 perish? FMS thought
more plainly than L can tell it, alone and
hundreds OF feet underground. Well, /
know | oughtn't to have cried like
very girl; but anyhow, felt better after
wards.
Maybe, too, it started an idea in my
mind; at least, something did about this
llint. III Seem soud that Idon't know when
ana how IL started, or what ufatfe me think
OF 1t, but l don't. Sometimes 1 think 1
must have taken forty winks, sitting there
by the fire, and dreamed it. or, perhaps,
my mind Went wrong for minute, and it
game TO Inc then, ana that is the rea son
can't remember how it was. Anyhow,
ii came gradually.
L knew this much: That the notion
which had come creeping into my mind
| meant the last only hope OF getting out
myself that l was to be disappointed,
l knew III another way that L was right,
| Just covered up the fire with hands treub-
Ing and heart fluttering, took the torch
sticks and ST arted off.
| crept past the muzZle of the Gun Barrel
with nay torch out, but heard nothing.
Then lit IL again anu hurried on Al Rope
FIT found the pole up: SO Just stuck my
torch In my collar and climbed it, thus get
ting some good out OF the thing at last. 1
made no call at either the Star Chamber
or the Robins Nest. having had quite
| enough of both, but went on pell nell for
the Trap Door. When | got through this
and listened 1 was a little crest fallen at
not hearing the throbbing. for it was on this.
as III warrant You have guessed. that my
hopes rested. However, L went on, and
soon did hear It, but 1t was dfiferent from
before, which pleased me. As went far
ther 1t grew louder, but the walls did not
throb with II, though the echoes were
lively enough. II sounded more open, and
as II it was In the cave.
So when | flashed my torch, Into the
Bedroom nay ears stunned by the crash
there IL was Just as the idea had come
stealing into my mind at Fish Camp the
great iron drill OF a well-horing machine,
beating up and downlike a trim hammer.
1t was not strange that | never thought
what it was till L went to sleep, or went
crazy, or something, at the last moment for
L never had much brightness at thinking
ways thought 1t rather odd that the captain
did not study it out, thoulsh.t TO be sure,
the sound, when he heard II, before IL
broke through the roof, was more like the
throbbing of the heart of the world, as
may say, than any noise made by machine
of man
When l saw it and knew thai my de-
liverance-as the word iS-was at hand
| half tainted and lay down on the
ground weak as cat, and Just watched
the big rod with the long shining links
n no m trhi f,,
jerk 1T loose il it got stuck, pounding
up and down with force enough to
knock hole through an iroIclad.
When had got little of my senses
together / began to consider what was
best to do The hole where il came
through the roof ten or twelve feet
inches across, though L noticed where
the drill was working in the floor IL
was smaller, by which | knew the men
were going to put down an ron pipe to
bridge the cave, Just big enough TO slip
down the upper hole but Just TOO big To
20 down the lower one; but this, luck
and rod were fifteen feet or more long.
but it had got couple OF yards into
the floor, so 1 could see the big rope al
most two inches thick, Just below the
ceiling The thing beat up and down
over a foot, and fell with a terrible era sh.
turning little each time, which | knew
was done by a man hold OF the rope at
the top.
/ soon say that I must wait till the
men drew up the drill TO clean out the
hole before | could let them know l
was below, but l had not thought of
any plan yet when the drill went up.
When it was clear of the hole above L
looked up and could see round spot
of light, like a small moon, but L had
no idea of how far up it was, though l
knew it might easily be hundred feet,
or maybe two hundred. First | was
going to call to the men; then 1 thought
1 might not be heard, or il | was, that
a voice coming up out of the bowels
them that, they would run away and
leave me after all.
The bucket, a long, slender. sheet t-iron
affair, with a valve in the bottom, came
humping and rumbling down on a slender
rope and blundered in the lower hole at
last and began churning up and down,
pumping up the water and pulverized
stone through the valve. I saw mist
send up written message, but before |
ming up; however, it came down again,
and by that time | had this ready, written
with lead pencil on the back of letter
from my father.
Capt. Archway and l are down here
in cave. Have found Isaac London.
Come right away to sink-hole, qua rter
mile southwest OF Birch Mound.
HARRY FARGO
j snatched off my cap, rolled the letter
i'll it and stuffed it all in the top end of
the buckets. which the next moment went
humping away up the hole. For ten
minutes, / think, after it got up, 1 heard
not sound, and guessed they ere read
ing my message out OF the earth ana get
was sudden flash of dazzling light
around the hole in the cave floor, nd I
knew instantly that they were flashing the
sunlight down with looking glass, to get
look up, but could no more open my eyes
than L could fly. But i knew thew saw