The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-04-21
ScoM6m4.lstcn

Soc. and $i.oo, all druggists.
SCOTT q BOVINE, Chemists New York

forest was passed and they came out on
to steep incline that was fathoms deep
in ashes and where, with each step up
ward, they seemed to slip back step and
half The dust was suffocating, the
heat almost unbearable, the thirst it en-
gendered torturing, and when they had
finally accomplished the ascent the doctor
sank down exhausted.
"Boy," said he when he had recovered
his speech, "did you come all this way
last night? How were you able to do
itY
The Indian boy smiled sadly. ut was
the dog in me, senor," he answered.
"What does your mother call your"
asked Pedro.
"She should have called him Pedro"
the doctor interrupted, "for he has
dogs endurance and perhaps may prove
equally faithful"
The boy looked at him reproachfully,
but he merely rose to his feet and said,
III the senior is ready"
Up. up. through the broiling sun. over
fields of lava and volcanic slack, the trio
climbed persistently until they stood on
the mountains crest and gazed down into
the ominous depth Of the crater that
yawred before them.
at is there, senor," the boy said SIM
ply, pointing toward the black mouth of
a cavern half obscured by a cloud Of
steam that shrilly escaped from some I'M
seen crevice.
ut is the mouth of hell!" exclaimed
Pedro. Even the sturdy doctor shrank
back, but the lust for gold will lead a
man to brave the greatest danger.
Come, then!' he cried, but the Indian
boy detained him.
"Not that way, senior. See where you
would 60. 1t is none too sure, senor."
He took small pick from Pedro and
struck it through what seemed to be
solid rock, but which proved to be but
mass of light ashes. 1t was on this that
the doctor would have stepped and be-
meath which, had he done SO, he might
have disappeared forever.
Testing each foot of the way with the
greatest coution, he took the lead, now
through q cloud Of white vapor, now
across a bottomless seam, from which
poured cloud of black smoke, filled with
deadly gases, till the mouth of the cave
lay before them.
ut is suicide" muttered Pedro. IT, for
one, will 60 no farther"
Into the cavern the young boy crept,
and the doctor, first lighting torch that
he took from one of the saddlebags they
had brought, followed after as best he
could. 1t was not far that they had to
60. A few short steps from the entrance
the doctor saw the thing he sought-vir-
<r;, - al 4h,
Of Klondike could not equal, such as
men might have dreamed Of, but none
had ever beheld before. Mad with the
sense Of sudden power, the doctor clutch
ed 1t. He fondled it. With tears of joy he
kissed it, swearing, laughing and crying
by turns, and then-there was sudden
trembling Of the rock. The cavern SEEM
ed to sway in space, and there came q
sound as If the earth was splitting in
twain from its center. Pedro turned and
fed. The doctor threw the gold from
him with curse and frantically endeav-
ored to follow, but the boy held him back.
mo, no, senior, il you would live" he
pleaded.
But the doctor did not hear him. There
was the din of chaos without. A wide
crack opened across the cave, and suf-
locating vapor poured through it. Again
the rocky walls trembled and swayed,
and the crack closed its jaws with a
vicious snap, like some gigantic animal
enraged that it had not engulfed them.
"Cur! Dog!" the doctor cried, striving
to free himself and striking the boy who
chung to him. "Let loose, / say, or III
kill your
But the youth would not loosen his
desperate hold. He chung with the
strength Of demon, and, fighting to gain
each step Of the way, the doctor dragged
him to the mouth Of the cave, where, by
q supreme effort, he freed himself. Gasp
ing for breath, he rose to his feet and
blindly plunged out of the hideous place,
only to pause at the entrance, speeches.
with terror at what he beheld. The air
seemed blast from furnace.
As he peered out through the lurid
haze with eyes that seemed to him to be
starting from their sockets spur of
rock, a hundred feet high, that crown
ed the opposite side wall Of the crater,
toppled and fell with a deafening crash
and was swallowed up in the horrible
depths. The. path they had taken to
reach the cave had been split but yard
beyond him by yawning chasm whose
opposite wall he vainly tried to distin-
guish. The semidaylight that had pre-
vailed suddenly changed to darkness, not
the dark of summer night, but the
horrible dark Of the catncombs. Ghast-
ly flames of yellow and blue shot up from
the depths and pierced it, making its
blackness visible. A hot f1eck Of ashes
touched his cheek as a shower of them
fell about him and then deluge that
hemmed him round. A mass of vapor
puffed out suddenly and enveloped him
like winding sheet, and clutching Wild
ly at empty space, he felt himself fall
ing, falling down, down through an un-
known void that seemed to have no end
ing. And then-then he opened his
burning eyes and dimly looked about
him, seeing, but scarcely comprehending. |
"Pedro" he called feebly. The In |
dian boy bent over him, placing his
pocket flask to his lips.
"There's no Pedro now, senor."
"Where did he-ah, rememberw
"How did come here?'
II carried you"
Carried me whereT
"Where but through the cavern, senior
here to its other entrance"
"You? You brought me out OF that
hell? You carried me here to safety
You? How were you able to do it?''
The Indian boy smiled proudly. 1T
was the dog in me, senior. Seattle Post
1ntelligencer.