El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-09-29
The Black Allotment
By H. Mortimer Batter

TT WAS just after sunset one sum-
mer evening when 1 first saw the
- pit We were returning home
over the moors, Hollick and ], and the
winding sheep track on which we
walked led us through the Black Al
lotment-a wild, uncultivated stretch
Of land, covered with coarse bent, and
strewed here and there with rugged
boulders of rock. 1 noticed a strong
wooden fence, built in circle, and
enclosing what at first thought to be
the mouth of an old shaft, till Hollick
told me otherwise.
I'VE call 1t the Black Pit" he said.
TITS simply a huge hole in the earth,
no one knows how deep. 1t may have
beeen made by water centuries ago;
or-who can tell-it may have been
forcing its way to the earths sur
face, after having remained buried for
thousands of years" Hollick was al
ways romantic fellow.
We crossed the low wooden fence.
and, leaning forward. 1 peered into
the inky blackness Of the pit. From
somewhere far below. muffled by the
distance, came the gurgling swish of
water. The mouth Of the pit was al
most round. and perhaps 20 feet in
width. On one side there was a steep,
other the walls dropped perpendicular
~ from the level ground.
And this was the place Hollick led
me to just after sunrise one morning,
a year later.
Well what do you make of this"'
he asked ! saw that the wooden
fence that surrounded the hole was
broken, and that the turf all around
had been trampled upon by the hoofs
of cattle.
It's the second night within week
that this has happened" he told me.
-Four days ago, at sunrise. when 1
came this way, found the fence
broken and the grass trodden down
all around. just as you. see it now.
I counted the cattle-there was one
beast missing. She had evidently
fallen into the pit So I repaired the
fence, and now''-he. waved his hand
and paused, that his words should gain
their full significance-"and now there
is another beast missing"
We smoked a pipe each in silence,
and after that we repaired the fence.
and fortified its weak places with
heaps of stones.
That. night found US both stretched
in the long, sun dried grass. close to
the mouth of the pit, but we saw and
heard nothing.
We watched during the night follow
ing. and during the night following
that, but nothing happened On the
fourth night we went home to bed.
I slept with my window open and
the sweet summer air tanning in my
face At midnight awoke. wide
awake. and found myself listening.
The house was silent as cave.
lay still, looking out of the window
at the stars. and the distant hills
bathed in moonlight, And so, I sup
pose, I dropped off to sleep again, when
the sound which had evidently caused
me to waken few minut.s previous
a jerk. 1t was the low of distant
cattle, coming from the direction o.
the Black Allotment.
Slipping on my clothes, I vert out
Of the house, and made n bee line for
the pit.
On reaching the place I pulled up
short, and stood staring. There. in
the moonlight, closely grouped round
the fence. with their necks extended
towards the mouth of the hole, stood
Hollicks' herd of cattle.
The animals were lowing dismally,
as Though the pit had some attraction
for them, and they wished to get to It,
As I APPROACHED, most Of them never
even looked in my direction.
I thought of HollicR; after all, it
was his affair so 1 set off az a run
towards his house, and half IN hour
later we stood together at rhe mouth
of the pit.
They can smell something down
there that they want he remark ed.
We walked back and forth for a
long time, then finally drove the beasts
to the other end of the allotment End
went home.
All went well till the end of August,
and it was then that by chance hap
pened to stumble across the Key to the
whole mystery
I was strolling along the bank of
the wide stream that flowed by Hol-
lick's house. On one side of the
stream was a high hill, 70 which the
Black Allotment formed a tableland-
The rocks rose up perpendicu1ar1y
from the water on the allotment side,
overshadowed by trees, and in many
places inaccessible.
It was a wild little gully, only pas
sible in summer time when the wa
tiers were low, and I doubt If more
than three people year passed that
way.
Presently I discover ID Il large cave
which ran off at a right angle to-
wards the center of the Black Allot-
and spilled out of II. ernpty;ng Itself
into the still pond.
This set me thinking. Was the cave
with the pit into which Hol- |
lick's cattle had fallen? Selecting
large log of wood from spinney near
ty 1 carved a cross on it, and making ,
my way to the pit, threw the log down. |
Also I threw several armfuls of grass, |
tied up into bundles.
r,,ir7 OF
seated by the mouth of the cave ard |
waiting patiently. R1t I had not long |
to wait; first Of nil lie ~; 81 Voc Z APP |
the one after The other, the hun |
dies Of grass.
That night / hid myself by the mouth |
Of the underground river down by the |
stream. Nothing hoppened, however, |
and every night for a wc,:< found me |
watching in the same place
On the eighth night something did |
happen. The moon was brilliant, and |
there was not a sound in the ravine, |
save for the steady ripple Of the wa
ter. had even ventured to light pipe. |
and was trying to smoke it without |