The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1906-10-10
BY HUGH r. GRINSTEAD.

surface of the earth has been eX-
plored there will yet remain many
vast underground caverns that will
furnish a field of research for the
scientist and adventurer. While the
short space of one day was as long as
! ever spent under ground, the con-
ditions under which this enforced and
unpleasant journey was taken has
sufficed to satisfy any longing / may
have otherwise had for subterranean
explorations. The circumstance which
am about to relate occurred in
Southern Kentucky, near the head
waters of Barren River, twenty miles
south of Mammoth Cave.
In 1854 my father moved from
Virginia to Kentucky, where, with
the help of myself and brother, aged
respectively seventeen and fifteen
years, he had built a two-room log
house and cleared several acres of
land preparatory to planting a crop.
The spring following our removal to
the new home was characterized by a
great amount of rain, and conse-
quently much time was allowed us
for hunting. Wild turkeys were nu-
merous, as were also deer and other
large and more dangerous game.
One morning about the LIST of May
! awoke early and decided to go tur-
key shooting before daylight, while
the wary gobbler was still on the
roost. Quietly taking the trusty
musket from the rack over the door
l made my way out of the house
without disturbing the other mem
bers of the family. Outdoors the
oon was shining brightly, and with
out difficulty l found and followed
the path that led down to the spring
and across the bottom to Barren
River. Midway between the spring
and the river was a narrow strip OF
"hog wallow" land, so called from a
series of short undulations Tesemb-
ling the holes rooted out by hogs in
search of roots.
On nearing the hog wallow" my
attention was attracted to what ap-
peared to be a black spot on the
ground and almost directly in the
path. Having been along the road
the evening previous l was at a loss
to understand the cause of this phe-
nomenon, which in the uncertain
moonlight looked for all the world
like an immense splotch of ink. l ap-
preached cautiously and was almost
at the verge of what proved to be an
all but bottomless pit, when, without
warning and before l could recede a
step to safer footing, the point OF the
earth on which l stood gave way and
/ was precipitated feet foremost
down an inclined plane. Would l
never stop? l was not falling, but
sliding and rolling down a mud-lined
passage which dipped at an angle of
forty-five degrees. However, such
was the impetus gained by my first
plunge that l was shot down as from
a catapault. Clutching wildly for
some means to stay my mad fight
my hands would touch the sides of
the narrow shaft, and once so small
was the opening that l stopped for
an instant, but the loose earth giving
away l dropped sheer downward
twenty feet into a shallow pool of
water.
Dazed and half stunned by the fall
sat or rather lay there several min
utes before my scattered senses could
grasp all that had befallen me.
Where was l and how far had ] fall
en-? For a few seconds / could hear
the rumble of dislodged earth as it
followed me, but was caught in the
small passage, finally shutting out all
sound from above, barring escape by
that way. Then l did what might
have been expected of a boy of my
age. Frantic with fear 1 called loud
ly for help. The reverberating echoes
of my own voice told me l was in one
of those vast caverns with which this
section of the State abounds.
With this discovery came reason
and l began to think.
] had often heard Bob Clary, the
old bee hunter, tell of the caves on
Lost Creek, where the bees made
their nests, and / had seen the pits
on Blackburn's Bluff, less than a
mile from my fathers house. These
pits were more or less perpendicular
in depth, forty feet or more to the
bottom and of irregular shape. The
walls of some of these could not be
scaled by even the panther or wild.
cat, while others could with diff.
Guilty be climbed. In some of them
] had seen the bones of cattle and
sheep, showing where some maurad,
ing beast had held high carnival.
AS this all came to my mind / tool
courage. If my prison had an out.
let by way of the pits on Blackburn.
Bluff there was at least a chance fol-
my rescue If l could ever reach there
! knew 1t must be over half a mile t.
the bluffs, and that distance ! mus
grope in absolute darkness. Ono,
there ! could at least behold tn,