The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-12-03
Freed at Las..

When I awoke Il was dark The first
storm of the rainy season had broken
and 1t was the Gcwapour Of rain in
realized where icas ana how | was
stake holding ny rigsi hand pulled out
able to turn on on. sic and after long
and patient work puii III. other hand
free. After q whii- ! Tas able 20 pull
my leg takes oit srG Eieavens, what
a fight ! put TO 70 ksep lie in my
body till she nigh. wa7 owe, and could
move. n iohi;o az sf;or- I. escape from
the vicinity ~ 40. baai " Mayas
went FROM hust - lu;h n the dark,
draining nc rain water ~, OF the hol-
lowed leaves until my thirst was slaked
and with the Gra. ligh: Of dawn
began the hur: s.. ;opt. The popular
idea of he tr'Tir7 tr- one point of
fallacy. II Is ro'r-aCa relief among
people Who havc rev. been in the
tropical Willis rat every ether tree is
4 palm. banars. hrc17 .ruit or such
tree that bcirs something At TO eat.
The truth Fl ,"e matter Is that food
bearing tree, sre gre and the birds
and morkeT' krtr :sc. stripped. II is
only when a.f, ars rla-:ed them that
there is an 'Nprda"ce, kept on the
hunt, how."c-. urti Ind filled my
stomach AMI 'htn began 20 take my
bearings
After two h1urs c-.,rirl through the
jungle guiding r'y Wv ,, TIE slope OF
the watershed lei, iva, . was near
the location of n, ri'iled buildings and
began to move wi;h great care. | had
made up my mind that could not set
off across country without arms or sup
plies and the one way TO prepare myself
was to play strategca game. could
hide in the Jungle near the game till
had some opportunity Of waylaying
some stragglcr or az stealing in and
getting what | must havs II was a des-
pcratc. desperate 'h'Hg - do and L
think that With all ~ efforts TO keep
strong hand ON r;y sci' that | must
have been half mad
Slowly | crept n's.,i the place, ap- /
proaching from the s'e on which the |
cenote was situated Ice.e was no one
about the water hct sud making a
detour | was soon uesf enough TO the
ruins TO tell that they, too, we're ap-
parently deserted. t,,'~g and carefully I
listened and watched and when satis-
fed that the band had departed | ven- |
tured forth openly I
From the discarded trappings and
from my own boxes OF instruments
which they had been unable to carry,
] got together a makeshift outfit, rigged
some bird snares, made myself a rude
knife. contrived water bottle, and
shaped myself stout club and then
with all the scraps of food could col !
lest | struck out in the direction OF
Chinchanoha.
|, must have been about a week later
that / became aware, as ! made by
way across the short brush country
of the arid section 0f Yucatan. that
there was something or someone fol-
lowing me- | hid behind a clump of
bushes and waited. In moment there
stole ont of the growth a henequen
planter who had seen me from horse
back at a distance and had dismounted
to stalk me. wondering what strange
creature | could be- At sight of him I
sprang forward and dropped uncon-
scious before | reached him and when
| recovered consciousness II was weeks
later in the hospital at Merida.
This was the man | saw from the
deck of the ship as | sailed from South
hampton and | hope il he reads these
lines that he will write to me, care of
the Lambs Club, New York City and
give me the opportunity of thanking
him for rescuinp a fellow human being