The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-05-24

Five minutes later we four stood on the
brink of a precipice. looking abroad upor
one OF natures most singular caprices. Con.
ceive IL you can a segment of the table.
land. In shape like a broaG-biiged man o
war. sunk to q depth of, mayhap. six o,
seven hundred feet below the general level
OF the plateau. Give this ship-shaped
chssm a longer dimension of two miles or
more. and "a breadth of somewhat less thar
hall Its length bound it with a wail-like
line of cliffs falling sheer to. steep, ~forested
slopes below: prick out a silver ribbon of a
stream winding through grassy wanna
and well-sst groves Of lordly trees from enc
to end OF the sunken valley; and YOU will
have some picture of the scene we looked
upon.
But what concerned us most was a sight
to make US crouch quickly lest sharp eyes
below should descry US on the skyline Of
the cliff. Pitched on one of the grassy
savannas by the stream. so fairly beneath
us that the smallest cannon planted on our
cliff could have dropped a shot into it, was
the camp of the powder train.
CHAPTER XIV.
How %UncnnooIa Trapped the Great
Hear.
Twas Richard Jennifcr who first broke
the noontide silence of the mountain top,
voicing the query which was thrusting
sharp at NJ OF Us.
Now how in the name of all the fiends
did they make shift to burrow from yonder
bag-bottom into this? he would say.
"Ez l allow. that's Jest What the good
Lord fetched Us here for-to find out was
Yeates's rejoinder. DO you and the chief.
Pap'n John. circumambylate this here pit
fan yon way, whilst Cap'n Dick and l go
t'other way round. BY time we've made
the circuit and fined comDany again, l
reckon we'll know for sartain whether r
no they climm' the mounting to get in"
So when he had breathed US a little the
c;rcuting was begun, Ephraim Yeates and
Jennifer going TOWARD the lower end of the
sink. and the Catawba and | in the oppo-
site direction.
Since we must examine closely every rift
and crevice In the boundary clif. It was a
most tedious undertaking; and | do rcmem-
Der how my great trooper boots. sun-dryfng
on my feet, made every step a wincing
agony. They say an army goes upon its
belly, but an old campaigner will tell you
that you can march a soldier till he be too
thin to cast a shadow II only he hath ease
OF his footgear.
Taking 1t all In all. 1t proved a slow bust
ness. this Looping of the sunken valley; and
when we had worked around to the eastern
cliff and to a meeting point with the old
hunter and Richard Jennffer. the sun was
level In our faces and the day was wan
ing.
Coming together again. we made haste to
compare notes. There was little enough to
add to the common fund of information,
and the mystery of the lost trail remained
4 mystery. True, we. the Indian and !.
had found a ravine at the extreme upper
end OF the valley through which, we
thought, a sure-footed horse might be led
at a pinch, up or down: but this ravine
had not been used by the powder train,
and apart from it there was no practicable
horse path leading down from the plateau.
AS for the hunter and Richard, they had
made a discovery which might stand for
what II was worth. AT its lower extremity
greet gorge without only by a ridge which
was no more than a huge dam; and this
diking ridge was evidently tunneled by the
stream. since the latter had no visible out
let.
Inasmuch as the most favorable point of
espial upon the camp below was the cliff
whence we had first looked down into the
we harked back thither. passing
around the lower end of the valley
and along the barrier ridge. Plan we had
none as vet, for the preliminary to any at
tempt at a rescue must be some better
knowledge of the way into and out of Fall
comets %cunningly chosen stronghold. True.
We might win In and out again by the ra-
vine which the chief and I had explored at
the upper end. and Dick was for irving
this when the night should give us the cur.
tain of darkness for a shield. But the old
would hold this forlonrn hope In re-
serve as a last resort.
Sort it out for yourself. Cap'n Dick" he
argued. Whatsomedever we make out to |
on us ag'inst that there whole on
during army O their'n-has got to he done !
on the keen jump. with a toier-ble plain |
hoss-road for the skimper-scamper race !
when 1t is done. For. looking it I'm and
down and side to side. we've got to nave ,
hosses-some O. their bosses. at that. I