Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1900-02-16

black pipe, and one shilling and six
pence; yet he was speedily deprived
of them by one who seemed to be the
leader of the gang,
you raseally Jack Spaniard!" said
Tom, shaking his clenched fist in the
robbers face, "if ever l haul alongside
of you elsewhere, look out for squalls!"
At this they all laughed, and seized
us by the arms, dragged us into the
back part of the cavern or fissure in
the rocks, leaving one of their num-
Der, armed with musket, as sentinel
at the entrance, where he lit a paper
cigar, and stretching himself on the
grassy bank, placed his hands under
his head, and proceeded to leisurely
smoke in the sunshine
These proceedings filled us with
great alarm; now that they had rob-
bed us of everything save our
clothes, what could their object be?
One Of them produced two pieces Of
rope, with which our hands were
tied. Dragged by some, and receiving
severe blows and bruises from the
clenched hands and musket-butts of
others accompanied by the impreca-
tons and coarse laughter of alive
were conveyed through a low-roofed
grotto, or natural gallery in the rocks,
the echoes of which repeated their
voices with a thousand reverberations.
The only light here was by the re-
Election of the sunshine at the en-
trance, where the basalt was coated by
white substance, the debris of some
old volcanic eruption; for the slope
up which we had been ascending all
the morning formed a portion of the
great Peak. And now we became SEN
siBle of a strange sound and a strange
odor pervading all the place.
Through rent in the rocky roof of
the grotto there fell a clear, bright
stream Of sunlight, that revealed the
terrors of the place toward which our
captors dragged us.
On one side there yawned a vast
black assure or chasm, in the somber
masses of obsidian and red blocks of
lava witch composed the floor of that
horrid Cavern; and from this fssure
Il there assembled, and doubtless still as
times, hot, sulphurous
ich rendered breathing diff;
Induced an inclination to
rafg
20 depth of that hideous
gFehaea the profundity of which no
mortal eye could measure, and no hui
man being could contemplate without
awe and terror, we heard a strange,
buzzing sound. as if from the bowels
of the inner earth, far-heaven alone
knows how far-down below.
In fact, we were upon the verge of
one of those natural spiracles which
the natives term 1.-THE nostrils," or ave-
nues through which the hot vapors of
that tremendous Piton ascend; and
the buzzing sound that made our
hearts shrink, we scarcely knew why
was caused by some volcanic throe at
the bottom Of the mountain, whose
base is many a mile below the waters
of the sea.
The assure was also twelve feel
broad, and across it there lay a plank
forming species Of bridge.
Two of our captors crossed, and Their
ordered US to follow them
l followed like one in a dream; but
my heart was chilled by a terror sc
deadly that l had no power OF
thought of resistance. My first feal
was that the plank might be trundled
from under our feet, and that we
would be launched into the black abyss
below; but such was not the object Of
these Spaniards, as Tom and l were
permitted to pass In safety.
The remainder of the thieves fol
lowed, and we found ourselves in an.
other grotto, the roof Of which was
covered by stalactites, that glitteret
like gothic pendants of alabaster in the
light that fell from the upper assure
, which formed a natural window, anC
through it we could see the thin. Whit
steam ascending and curling in tht
sunshine.
Now, supposing that they had us II
perfect security. our capters proceed
ed to hold a consultation as to wha
they should do with us: and imagik
, ing that we were both ignorant of theil
language, or. what is more probable
caring little whether we knew it o.
not, they canvassed the most terrible
resolutions with perfect GOODNESS ant
, freedom of speech.