Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-09-15

Miranda again and en- route for Den:
ysr.,
"That Ia, II we are not rescued be:
fore" said Madge Hurst
IT you value your OWN safety and
that Of your mother and Florence, my
dear, you will not talk Of rescue' any
more" said Uncle John grayely. "0ur
friends over there might not like 1t,
and after what has passed I don't want
to hurt their feelings.s y
Madge was sfIenced. but In her heart
Of hearts she distrusted Ftliey, and 80,
forbidden to speak her thoughts. she
turned to Chester for comfort, and to-
getherr they conversed In low tones,
while Mr. Draper and his ward did
likewise. :, ......... 49, .'''
There being no. objection Gustave
was reused up and bidden to cook some
sort Of a :fepast out Of the scanty ma
terials In the commissariat Of the rob
Der gang. With the accustomed In
genuity Of his profession he worked
wonders. and soon a decent appearing
and smelling meal was spread before
the famished captives, TO- which they
sat down by the side Of the brook CUR
Cling through the cavern. :
While they were eating a curious
phenomenon occurred. The tiny stream !
began to foam and sputter; It's volume
Of water momentarily increased until
In the space of, ten minutes 1t ran bank
full. and our party had to move back
to avoid q wetting. For upward OF
half an hour the miniature, freshet con.
tinued, and then the stream as quickly
subsidized to its former modest dimen:
sions. -
On being questioned as to the cause
Of this sudden swelling Of the waters
Dallon replied in an ofhand manner:
Been a-rainin UP yonder in the noun.
tains-sorter cloudburst. reckon.
That there erik tumbles In here from
underground som'eres. but. no one
rightly knows where"
This set Ives pondering. and soon
wild, land perhaps foolish idea occurred.
The water. in the creek had risen at
least three feet above its normal level
and then subsided. This proved that
the inlet or. orifiee by which 1t entered
the cave had capacity or bore sutt'
cient to carry the larger flow Of water.
When the food drained away, there
would naturally be space Of three or
four feet left between the water and
the roof. Of the tunnel-if. as he sup
posed, there was a subterranean tunnel
connecting somewhere with the open
air.
What was to hinder q man escaping
from the cave that way? Prudence
said, mo; remain where you are until
Ftlley returns" But suppose Filley
met with some accident or the bank
refused to pay the money? What then
would be the fate Of Madge and Flor
ence and Mrs. Hurst? He shuddered
to think!
By this time 1t was pitch dark In the
cave. A small fire was kept burning,
but the embers had died down to dull
red glow. One by one the women sue
cumbed to fatigue and excitement and
lay down on the sand, their heads pill
lowed in each others laps. Uncle John,
Henry, Alec and Gustave soon follow
ed their example. The robbers were
all withdrawn to the mouth Of the cav
ern, that, In their estimation, being the
only spot worth guarding.
Soon the regular and rhythmic
breathing around him convinced Ches-
ter that he was the only person awake.
He rose to a sitting posture, then got
upon his hands and knees and In this
fashion wriggled his way to the upper
end Of the cave, following the sound
of the flowing water on his left hand.
He had covered less than a hundred
yards when he was stopped by wall
of rock. Gently stepping into the
stream, he felt all around the opening
and found It had radius of about
three feet above the water, being OF
roughly semicircular shape. The bot