The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-09-06

nttle Iatc getting nome! 1 III lntik lhenl
after support
Turn out as early as you can Lem"
she called back
"All rightr he answered, cheerfully.
Waving his hand to the baby, he rode
away across the field, whistling. while
the harness chains tangled a loud ac-
compartment.
At the farther edge of the cultivated
land he stopped. got down, and put
the horse to n turnlng-plow that had
been left sticking in the ground. Let
ting the plow slide on It's bar, he fol-
lowed n rocky road over hill until
he came TO cultivated land again. Both
fields were thckly covered with dead,
girdled trees.
The back field was surrounded by
hills, and the field itself was by no
means level. Besides other uneven
ness, 1t contained three or four sinks.
Sinks, or sink holes, are numerous in
this part of Missouri. These funnel
shaped depressions are generally sup
posed to have been made by earth
quakes, particularly by the great earth
quake of 1872. which sunk vast tracts
OF land along the Mississippi River, In
the southeastern part of the State
But however they originated. most Of
them are probably centuries old.
They vary in size from Il few yards
in diameter and few feet deep, to
hundreds of yards in diameter, at the
top. and a depth, at the centre, of a
hundred feet or more. Now and then
one is closed up. and becomes n deep
pond. Most of them, however, have
invisible openings at the bottom, and
consequently the water draining into
them finds It's way into the under
ground streams with which this and
other limestone regions abound.
1t was mild day in the spring, and
Lem was feeling unusually cheerful.
The first thing to do was to lay off
"land" to plow around. With the
lines over his head, he chuckled to the
team and struck out across the field,
holding the plow with one hand and
guiding the team with the other His
eyes were fixed on conspicuous dead
tree at the far side of the field.
Before going many rods the team
came to one of the sinks, shallow
one. and went down into it, The low
est part was perhaps ten feet below
the general level. In the bottom was
n small, muddy place. where water
had stood after n recent rain.
The horses separated as far as tho
harness would let them OH opposite
sides of the mud-hole. Lem, having
the heavy plow to hold up, stepped
into the mud. The plow was already
on the firm ground beyond. when sud
denly he felt himself going down. ThC
earth seemed to be opening and swal
lowing him up!
AS he fell he clung TO the plow
handles with all his might. The bot
tom of the sink had dropped out, ant
he was hanging in the hole. The lines
being still around him and under on,
arm. part of his weight was on them
and the horses were pulled backward
AS the plow-beam rose up and the han
dies came down, LENS hands slippe'
off. Now his whole weight was Oh tn
lines and on the horses bits III
clutched at the edge Of the hole, bu
could not grasp it, and sank lowe
and lower.
Already he could see the horses tail
as the animals were forced backward
nearer and nearer to the hole. They
too. would have fallen in, but tn
lines broke. Down, down Lem dropped
He fell about twenty feet and plunge
into water
Up he came, kicking and splashin
in frightened way. Shaking the wa
ter from his eyes, he tried to loo
round There was not much ligh
down here, but overhead was the hol
he had fallen through. 1t was nearl
round, and looked like the top of
well The horses were not to be seer
having taken themselves and the ploN
out of the dangerous sink.
LENS eyes soon became accustome
to the dim light, and he could max
out walls on two sides of him, o
the other two sides there was onl
pitchy darkness. Out OF the darl
ness, IN one direction. came du
roar, which he knew was made by raj
ming water. He had dropped into II
underground stream. 1t appeared tn,
piece OF the limestone roof of til
cave. which was also the bottom {
the sink. had become loose-perhaT
by the freezing OF water In cracks I'll
winter beforehand his weight. ther
fore. had been sufficient to make
fall
Lem let his feet down several tlm'
without touching bottom. He swa
first to one side and then to the othe
but found only cold, Shiny walls, Il
smooth to cling to. BY this time
was getting tired and also becomlr
alarmed Although he was goo
swimmer his strength would soon
gin to fail. At last he turned nj
swan Into the darkness toward Il
running water.
After going a few yards. he aga
let his feet down. but still failed
reach bottom. and had to swim O
The roaring grew louder as he q
vanced In the cave, until 1t sound
like the noise of great torrent. Is
Lem was familiar enough with the
underground streams to know that Il
was not large one. the sound bel
confined and intensified by the cay
When at last he came TO where
could wade the light he had left