The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-12-26

IL
going to be given our pick out of the
group.
"Maxville was slightly in advance,
and we kept our relative positions, both
advancing upon our hands and knees,
while the Glands continued nibbling at
the rank grass, until 1t seemed to me
we were near enough to risk a shot.
"As Max didn't stop, 1 warned him
in whisper that he would frighten the
game.
"He turned his head and pointed to
a streak of low, dense bush, a yard or
two in advance, which he signified he
wished to reach before firing.
81 hadn't noticed the cover, which
lay little to the left, and II struck me
as such good plan that nodded for
him to go on.
"He timed his progress so that when
he reached 1t, minute or two after
ward, was directly beside him.
"'Now,' said he, we've got them just
where we want them, and we can take
big fellow off there to the left; and
there's another with, his head up, as
If he scented danger. Suppose you
take him?'
"I'm agreeable replied, and 1t
Isn't safe to fool away any more time
with that we brought our guns
around, and hitched forward to make
the aim more certain, when, without
the least warning, the ground gave
way beneath us and we found ourselves
going down somewhere.
"Maxville gave a shout, and dropping
our guns we made a desperate effort
to save ourselves. He grabbed at the
bushes, but as 1 saw them going, too,
l gave a backward spring, or rather
i tried to do so.
"As is generally the case at such
times, some little impediment pre-
vented. My foot caught in a vine, 1 fell,
and down we both went amid lot of
bushes, earth and pebblestones.
"When we fetched up on the bottom,
and found that neither of us was hurt,
we laughed; but after we looked into
the matter a little further, we didn't
laugh quite so much.
1--WE had fallen into a seam or fissure
about 30 feet in depth, and of indefinite
length. 1t was one of those cracks such
as are met with in tropical countries,
and the dense vines growing on the
margin so hid it from view that we
never suspected it's existence, and went
so near that it crumbled, and we both
tumbled over the edge together.
"The underground and rafting debris
so broke our fall that we were not hurt
in the least; but when we examined fur
ther, we found that, somehow or other,
both our guns were so injured as to be
useless until repaired. The locks were
only slightly broken, but it was just
enough to prevent their being dis
charged while in that fix.
"The fissure into which we were pre-
cipitated was no more than four feet
in width. We supposed at first that by
going either forward or backward we
would find some way OUT.
MAX walked ahead, while went the
opposite way. A hundred feet or more
and / was stopped by the narrowing OF
gether a short distance further on.
When attempted to push ahead, 1 was
nearly covered by the dirt that ratified
down upon my head-so, of course, /
turned back to hear what Max had to
say.
II met him at the very spot where
we had fallen in, and he shook his head.
There was no door by which we could
walk out. He had been obstructed in
the same manner as 1; but he found a
little spring at the extremity of his
walk, the water of which seemed to es-
cape by some underground outlet.
"'How are we to get out?' was the
question which came to our lips stimuli
taneously as we looked in each others
faces.
at was already growing dark, and
we had no reason to hope that any Of
our friends were within five miles; but,
as nothing else suggested itself, we
took turns in shoating until we were
compelled to cease from exhaustion.
No response came; and as night wore
on, Max and sat down to discuss the
situation, which indeed, was no joking
matter.
"For long time It seemed rs if there
must be some way by which we could
climb up the sides of the ravine, and it
was not until we had repeatedly tried
and failed that we concluded that some
other means must be found. You see
that, while there were plenty of places by
which we could catch hold, yet none of
them would hold. Every time we tried
1t, the dirt and gravel came rafting
down on our heads; and more than
once we really feared we were going to
be buried alive.
"We wrestled with the conundrum as
to how we were. to get out, until we
gave it up, and lay down to sleep. Our
position wasn't pleasant; but can't
say we felt anything like despair. We
believed we were going TO get out of the
scrape some way or other, even if we
couldn't guess the method; and when
we lay down, we both fell asleep, and
remained so until daylight. remem-