The Portland daily press., 1899-08-26

than 80 feet from the surface, had
seemed to fall so far. The fragments Of
ladder, worm eaten and useless, ley
scattered epout. LIS bad been the mode
Of Ingress. As my eyes became atcus-
toned to the dim light perceived mar
Tow tunnel, which led of from the shaft
short distance. ~ Sr~s..
had a good supply Of matches, and
by means OF these / followed the tunnel
to its terminus, where not only came
across some tools, but also a considerable
quantity OF ore that had been at some
time prepared for removal.
In a moment the truth dawned upon
me. had discovered the lost mine, or,
rather, a grizzly bear had chased me into
it. was wild with joy and forgot for
the time that was at least 80 feet down
in the earth without any means Of get
ting out or food enough to last me "a
hours. | sat down and indulged in day
dreams until the fading light warned me
that the day was nearly spent.
returned to the shaft and for the first
time inspected its walls. They were too
smooth to afford footing in any attempt
to climb out. and the ladder. with the ex-
ccption of few Beet, was useless. 1t was
getting dark, and as | could not hope to
get out before the next day ate light
lunch and prepared to spend the night as
best | could.
was exceedingly tired and soon fell
asleep, nor did l awake until the sun
was gliding the tops of the cedars above.
l sprang up and again dividing my sean
ty provisions at a portion In my scram-
BILE down a small quantity of wild grapes
came with me, which were ripe and fur
nished most acceptable addition to my
repast..
There seemed to be but one way to es-
cape from my dangerous situation, and
that was to climb those rocky walls. To
do this, crevices must be cut in the rock
as l ascended. Fortunately | had tools
and a short piece of ladder. The task
might be accomplished in few hours-it
might take days. Whatever the time, l
had none to lose, and returning to the
tunnel | selected the best of the tools and
set to work at once. | reached rs high
rs | could aud began cutting footings in
the rock for the ladder. 1t was fearfully
hard, and | spent hours in getting the
first creyices. | was very tired when l
placed the ladder in position, leaning the
top against the opposite side of the shaft
Then i mounted and began working up-
on the steps above. | then realized that
l would need two ladders instead of one.
returned to the bottom, and, removing
my stout mining coat, tore it into strips,
and with these bound together the sound
er portions OF the ladder remaining at
the bottom CT the shaft. This consumed
the remainder OF the day, but / had the
second ladder.
l was now out of provisions and con-
sumed with thirst, but. throwing myself
down upon the ground, slept fairly well.
In the morning l resumed my task, but
was in no condition to labor. only gain
ed one more section, and, though / was
half way up, my powers of endurance
were almost exhausted. Again I arose
from slumbers that had been haunted by
the widest dreams barely able to place
my ladders in position. When l raised
my pick to begin another section. real
ized that my strength would not hold out
for another day, such as / had already
gone through, and / came near giving the
task up in despair. Only the thought of
the lingering death in that forgotten
shaft prompted me to renewed effort. To
my joy the first blow convinced me that
the rock was more yielding. and began
working frantically, 1ut soon learned
tti"t thut MVuiu uoi 10 ana InOGlned my
blows
The sun was low in the west when I
completed the section and with almost
a dying effort placed the ladder in posi-
tion. climbed to the pinnacle and
found that | could reach small twig of
grapevine. This I dragged down and
with it bunch of grapes. These de-
vourcd eagerly and then, with renewed
strength, began drawing down more of
the vine and fruit At last obtained
one strong enough to bear my weight
and, with desperate effort, pulled N.Y.
self to the surface After eating freely
of the fruit, which was both food and
drink to me. l spent the night at the
mouth of the shaft. Grizzlies nor aught
else had terrors for me that night
Subsequent events are soon told. The
mine proved to be as rich as its original
owner claimed. Myra was placed at
school while / developed the property
for our joint interests. At IS she has
finished school and is as lovely and re-
fined as she is good at heart. We have
just decided that it is not necessary to
divide the property, as we are soon to
contract life partnership and will Joint
iy own the mine.-Detroit News,