Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-16


gun from Ike AndoI son. one afternoon
late IN November. having wandered far
Their than usual. | came upon a iuckleSs
bunny. who looking the other way.
His hccdlessuess cost him the Zip Of an
ear before he scdnpered into Il ciump of
scrub oaks ! remembered that it was
here that the croquet ball had disappeared
SO mysteriOusIy the afternoon of the pic
mic. Wondering It / might not be able to
find it, that it was daylight, began to
search. The ground was composed almost
entirely Of loose stones. l kicked them
about moodi!y and showed them around
with the lnuzzlc of my gun, until, having
half forgotten what l came there for, L
was about to leave.
on turning to go I noticed small hole
at the end of stone half as big flour
barrel
1 felt a great curiosity to see what was
there / would have enlarged the hole,
but the big stcne-fiTmly embedded-was in
the way. There was point one end
that offered good grip. l might be able
to lift it.
l gave mighty heave and hung to it.
Slowly. steadily | felt it rise Suddenly,
as though ii had been the Keystone Of
an arch on whose summit l stood it came
out. and the ground around me collapsed.
Down 1 went into the hole, rocks, dirt and
bushes falling with me l clutched wildly
at the loose rubbish; l might as well have
grasped at the air. / landed on my back
unhurt, and wriggled over to my stom-
ach in the midst of a dusty avalanche.
The dim light of the mole was rapidly re-
ceding. l dug my fingers into the debris
in futile effort to stay my involuntary
flight. 1 yelled in mortal terror. /
suffocatng. The air was close and i'm
pregnated with dust. I fancied myself
approaching bottomless pit or a sub
terranean precipice. The second barrel of
my gun. which was rolling in advance.
went off with thunderous report adding
the fumes of powder smoke to the already
overburdened atmosphere
/ no longer had breath to yell and the
opening presented the appearance of a
give up. l did give up. / ceased my fruit
less efforts to obtain a hold. and was i'm
medal ely landed On projection from the
SIDE of the tunnel. The momentum forced
me into sitting position. By the time I
reSalned my senses the avalanche had
passed and l could hear it rafting along
with diminishing speed, far down the tun-
mel. The dust settled, clearing the air so
that l saw the opening quite distinctly
l was grateful boy when l reached the
opening. 1t consisted of a circular we'll |
eight feet deep and twice as many in diam
etsr- The sides had once been walled up |
with stone. though now much of it had |
fallen in. A glance above showed the hole |
to have been rooted with logs, only few !
ends of which remained -protruding from |
the top of the wall, the remainder having
long since decayed. Only the roots CT the |
trees and bushes now held 1t together.
/ had no difficulty in climbing out the |
stones in the wall Offering abundant foot !
and hand holds. 1 sat down at safe dis
lance from the shaky roof. and while l |
took account of my numerous black and |
blue spots. torn clothes and generally dam |
aged condition. wondered where that hole |
led to.
That night after chores Tommy Wood |
ford and l had long confab, l had great |
respect for him. He was little, but he was |
bright as button and courageous as a |
little lion. only told him enough to arouse |
his curiosity but l promised that If he |
would show him something that would |
make his eyes stick out. He promised |
faithfully, and I knew l could trust him.
Next day We gathered all the old knots |
We could find down IN the pine lot and split |
them into long thin slivers. 1 got couple |
OF pieces of inch pipe about two feet long, |
down at our shop: and plugged them with
In three inches of one end. / gave one 70 |
Tommy and told him to make his light |
wood into neat bundle. get all the string !
he could-kit twine fish lines or anything
Knot them together and wind them on a |
stick l advised him to get lunch and |
some matches and meet me, with the entire |
outfit, at an old tree we could see from our |
house, at 10 o'clock next day. 1 impressed |
lhe necessity or secrecy on him again, and |
went home.
When Tommy and I arrived with our
outtit and he saw the great black hole he
visiby quailed.
Are We afraid to go down there?r 7 |
asked.
Well" he replied rather obviously, Il
shouldn't just care to go alone
Neither should l." ! told him: CHATS
the reason asked you to come along" |
What do you s'pose It's Frank?''
haven't the least idea, but If we have
luck we'll soon find OUT
We climbed down into the hole and
stuck half dozen pine splints into each
of our torch holders. AS We had no idea |
how far we would have to go, we agreed
OH
used. and return by the light of Tommy's
We tied the end Of his string to one of the
stones in the wall, and started / holding
IN. torch aloft and he unwinding the
string We kept to the sides OF the tunnel
taking hold of projecting points of rock,
and looking out carefully for holes and |
overhead Instructions.
The fame of the torch showed slight
drausht blowing up the tunnel Had we |
known more this might have set us to .
thinking. After going along in silence for
some time, Tommy told me his string was
out to the bare end and proposed that |
While there was but one passage. we keep |
my string. as we could not possible fail to |
find our way back.
I approved the suggestion but s1v,sa5
that he return, ball up what he had maid
out and bring ii along. then we would have
II al 10 use should we find the passage
branching out. l saw he didn't like the
IDEA especially as turn had obscu-ed the
opening, but, as l promised to wait keep
went. '-''
The noise he made Gathering over the
rough stones kept me COMPANY until he
got to the smooth rock, then the silence
was awful. ! sat on a bowlder and peered
into the gloom.
l was becoming momentariy more ner-
VouS. | wished / hadn't sent him back for
the string, or had gone with him.
thought / heard a distant whir in the
darkness. Before l could convince MYSELF
that it was all imagination. the noise in
creased until II roared and thundered in |
the great emptiness. l was terribly fright
ened-too frightened to cry out
A great black shape suddenly doomed in
front OF me II looked as big rs a blanket.
1t was suspended in space and two ferv
eyes shone from its center Though onnar.
emily stationary, 1 knew Il was cnn1tno
straight at me. My blood frozo nv bair
raised and my tongue Glove 70 the rnnf
OF my parched mouth. l couII ne,ther
move nor cry out. The horrible thing We
upon me. II dashed the torch out Of nv
hand knocked me off the rock and n.ssaS
on. continuing that terrifying whirrinp
The sudden onslaught and Irvn7;o, !
darkness released my tongue, and for Tho |
lecond time l made the cave ring with NV
frightened yells. startod as / s,lnno.nJ
for the entrance. but Immediately fell Over
a rock, barking my shins painfully. Win |
my senses thus rudely restored / sought |
for matches to relight my torch. opIv to |