The Hattiesburg news., 1910-10-17

| tdheH away. L supposed IL was TO De
macheted at once and pulled my nerv-
es together for the finish, little dream
ing that something far more cruel
was in his mind. They carried me
down little decline and there was
the entrance of cenote or water hole
and down this was taken on the rude
ladder that afforded means of descent.
When the bottom of the cave was
reached beside the underground
stream found all my traps except the
guns and ammunition and the food
boxes all ready heaped up there and ]
was laid on the sand beside them.
Imprisoned In the Underground Cave.
Perhaps it is as well that | should
explain the nature of cenote. In the
region in which | had penetrated be.
gin the great underground rivers of
| Yucatan. There seems to be a highly
porous layer of soil from ten to
thousand feet in thickness through
which the water sinks SO rapidly that
it forms in no pools or streams on the
surface. Underneath, however. is a
clay and stone bed and on this the
streams form under ground and run
away under the earth only the great
Creator that made them knows where.
All over the region are spots where
the earth has fallen in leaving a hole
with running water at the bottom and
in some places there are winding caves
hundreds of feet deep. For countless
centuries the natives have descended
to the water by rude wooden ladders
1t was in one of these caves, a room
about sixty feet across that | found
myself. l could see up to the entrance
of the hole not over seventy feet
above me. On one side the dark
stream ran slowly and on the other
was a sort of sand and gravel bank.
Superstition prevents an Indian from
remaining underground any longer
than is absolutely necessary, so in a
few minutes l was left alone though l
knew that there must be a guard
mounted at the entrance of the cen
ote.
l resolved to make desperate
struggle for my life and without furth-
er ado threw off my bonds and began
to reconnoiter my position. To my de-
light, found that while my food box
es had been taken there was a select
ed case of canned goods in plain tins
that the Indians had left with my in
struments. They did not know they
contained food. A brilliant idea came
to me.
The Mayas must have the water
from the cenote and l could keep them
from it!
l had my Luger pistol, more than
two hundred rounds of ammunition,
and the Mayas could descend only one
at time. l had food, water, shelter
and could stand three weeks seige
I could drive them to seek another
source of water supply. If there was
one close, l was done, for they could
keep me imprisoned until my supplies
should be exhausted and keep them
selves supplied with water from the
other water hole. If there was none
nearer than several miles they would
hardly try to supply garrison at the
mouth of the hole with water brought
from such a distance.
My gratitude over having brought
my Luger with me and having had it
overlooked when l was captured was
extreme. am very fond of it at any
rate, and though an indifferent pistol
shot l knew from shooting game with
it that l could expect results nearly
the same as from a rifle, as a modern
magazine pistol of the Luger type is
so balanced that even the most inidf-
ferent shot will score well. I made up
my mind to make every one of the
nine shots in each magazine charge
count for one of the bronzed devils
that had trapped me.
Ibid not have long to sit idle. Some
one was coming down the ladder and
waited until the view was complete.
Two of the men of the band appeared
with some freshly cut stakes and some
thongs. They we're coming to take me
and stake me out. waited until they
stood side by side on the first landing,
looking down in the dark and then:
Crack Crack.
The one fell silently, killed instant
ly, and the other screamed like a
wounded panther as he came down.