The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1903-10-16
TCoNCLUSIoN.1
CHAPTER II.

NN was dark. 1t must have
" " been several minutes be-
fore l attempted to move,
and 1 gradually came back to fuller
consciousness of what had happened.
My eyes peered round curiously into
the darkness in the vague hope of dis
covering something that might help
me, but the shadows were impenetra-
BILE. What was it that had happened?
At last put out my hand cautiously.
1t came in contact with something. 1t
was sopething rough and hard and
cool, and instinctively | drew it back.
Again put it out, and this time l felt
for the place on which / was lying. 1t
was soft and warm, like very fine dry
sand. | thought l had been perfectly
silent, but l suppose must have made
some noise loud enough to be heard in
the utter stiffness of the place.
A low, cautious whisper reached me.
"Wheest mon," it said in tone which
somehow brought everything back up
on my mind with vividness of light
ming blaze. "Ah wadna jist say it
was over canny tae max ony noise the
noo"
"Is that you, Menzies?" I whispered
anxiously.
100, aye sir; Am thinkin' it's a.
that's left O. me ,onyway. An hos
yersep after a. said an dunew
l felt myself over with my hands
before atteI1pting>to reply. hardly ex-
pecting 10 find myself entire, though
felt no1pain. The result of my inyes-
tigatfoh was encouraging.
"a" 81 seem to be all right. Menzies."
whispered after pause, but where
are we? Surely we must be on shore"
son shore, div ye say? There's nae
doobt O. that, for there ne'cr was craft
wiz sac uncanny smell O. damp earth
an rocks as this. But hoo we cam
here All dinna ken. for Am thinkin'
All must ha' got bit ding ON the heed
whan the deeviis blew up. The Lord
be thankit for'tv'
st might have been better for US
after all if we had gone up with them
ourselves" l said despondently. 1T
was quick end, at any rate
"Wheest, s1r," he whispered impress
lively, while there's life hopes no
deed, Am thinkin'. Ah wudna Won
der but ye MIGHT say yet WI auld King
Dauvid, by the Lords help We hae
This feels unco like a wall O. some
sort"
II wish we had some light, if it were
only to see what the place is like" I
whispered impatiently.
"Weel. Am no sure but there's a
iicht comm. Yell no forget tae max
q the use We can OF when it's here"
1t was true. There was a faint red
glow that seemed to mix with the
darkness, though jas yet it didn't en-
able us to see anything. 1 raised my
self on my elbow and looked eagerly
around. Little by little it grew stronger
until at last it came suddenly into
sight as if from an entrance at right
angles to the place in which we lay.
The light came from a faring torch
made of something that looked like
twisted cocoanut fibers, no doubt
soaked in grease, which blazed up with
a wavering flame that threw only an
uncertain light on everything but the
little party of some half dozen men
who accompanied the man who carried
it. Seen by that red, smoky blaze
they were a strange, brutal looking
party. Olive tinted, brown, black and
yellow with shaggy hair and fierce
eyes, they seemed to be at least half
intoxicated, and in their fantastic
clothing, made up of bright colored
tunics, coats and vests, they looked
like troupe of crazy actors escaped
from pantomime.
l had but just time to notice that
Menzies and l seemed to have been
thrown down on a bed of soft sand
that formed the floor of some sort of
cave, one side of which was formed of
what looked like vast blocks of roughly
hewn rock laid one on the other with
out any mortar between. Menzies,
who wasn't a dozen yards away, sat
up blinking with dazzled eyes at the
smoky red light near the middle of the
cavern, while 1 was close to the wall,
which must have been what touched
when first l put out my hand. In an
other instant we were surrounded by
the party, amid q perfect babel of ex-
carnations in what sounded like half
a dozen languages, and l found myself
roughly seized and dragged to my feet.
Resistance would of course have been
madness. as they were not only three
or four to one, but were also armed
with large knives or daggers, which
they flourished before our eyes. 1t
was like some wild nightmare-the
cavern, with the huge cyclopean wall,
on which the smoky light glanced and
sparkled, the wild, masquerading fig
ures, with their discordant speech and
hoarse laughter; the strange stunned
sensation, in which were mingled a
confused recollection of the past and
a puzzled perception of present danger.
Our guard or executioners-for my
first impression was that we were be-
ing dragged out to be killed-marched
us off in Il kind of rude procession. in
which the torchbearer went first and
MenZies, held ON each side by guard
and followed by third, like myself,
came last. After the first few yards
we turned sharply to the right. and in
another minute we were in the open