Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1911-07-13
LOST IN THE
CATACOMBS
By GROVER J. GRIFFIN
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.

! Rome in connection with my studies
the great desire of my life was TO visit
the Eternal City and the localities
at which the incidents I read about
/ occurred. l wished to go over the
seven hills on which the city had been
| built; l wished to see the Forum, the
home Of the vestal virgins, the spot
where Castor and Pol!ux appeared,
marked now by the ruins Of theiE
temple; l wished to see the Coliseum,
the triumphaI arches, the Pantheon.
Above all, desired to go down int
the catacombs where the early Chris
ttans secretly deposited their dead.
The time finally came when reach
ed the object OF my desires. l visited
Rome. On the steamer crossing the
Atlantic and later steaming over the
Mediterranean | met Marian Cham
bers, and, sitting on deck moonlight
nights with her, l caught from her
fever-the fever of love. By the time
we reached Gibraltar l was down, and
during the whole voyage from there
to Naples l was very i'll with this irri~
tating disease. l was cured on the
homeopathic principal that like cures
like. The love of the girl given in
gradually increased doses put me in
normal condition.
BY the time we reached Rome was
- VT ho cir A
ed on seeing ever since l began to
study Latin. And now 1 had loved
companion to visit them with me. The
catacombs that had interested me
most reserved till the last. Marian
and l had a fancy for slipping
away from those we travelled with
and going sightseeing together. One
morning we took a carriage, drove out
on tie Appian way and stopped at the
entrance of those subterranean pas
sages l had long wished to explore.
We were in time to join a party
about to descend, were each given a
wax taper, and a monk in a white
cowl, who was to pilot US, led US
down a stone staircase at the bottom
of which were the catacOmbs.
We followed the taper light process.
sion for awhile, but f1nally-at the
time l would not tell how it happened,
but now l am an old married man
will admit that was never happy for
half an hour at q time without a kiss
from my Marian, and l led her away
! no 90
taking one. AS soon as this object
/ had been accomplished we started on
after the others. Immediately We
came to split in the passage, and the
/ party had gone so far that we could
not tell which of the two avenues they
had taken. Making choice Of the left
hand passage, we ran as fast as we
could, only to find new splits and
/ turns and corners, but not the party.
/ We were lost.
People have been lost before in these
underground burial places and have
narrated their experiences. In our
case there is something different from
/ any of them. | had a box of matches
in my pocket that l carried for cigar
| lighters. We also had two tapers. As
soon as realized that we were lost
! put out both the tapers, and, being In
/ a small open space where was Chris
tian's skeleton in a sarcOphagus, we
sat down on the latter to think.
What would be the result of our thus
being lost underground? We would
not be missed by the party we hat
Joined, for we knew not one of them
Parties were going through the cata
combs every day, but would they hap
pen to come our way? Besides, W.
might starve before we were discOv
cred. There was nothing whateve
for us to subsist on. We might try t.
find our way out, but there were man,
miles of these subterranean passages
and we were liable to wander farthe
from the entrance. The result of on
deliberations was to remain where WI
were.
| I will pass over some twenty hour
of our captivity without attempting
to describe our feelings. The mos
hopeless part of it was that on
friends did not know where we were
We passed most of the time in tn
: dark, for | wished to save our taper
= and matches for any opportunity tina
might occur. While sitting on the sar
p cophagus something ran on my foot
scratched a match, and its fame re
vealed the two glistening eyes Of ;
rat.
l at once lighted q taper, and while
Marian held it l tried to catch the rat
If he would serve no other purpose We
might need to eat him. didn't have
much trouble getting my hands OF
- him. | think he knew we were los
there and was willing to help us out
Then an idea occurred to me. Serb
Z bling a note on a letter l had in m.
pocket, stating that we were lost in TIL
catacombs, held the rat while Mar
9 ian tied the note with strip torn from
her handkerchief around the little fel
lows neck. Then we put him down. H
gave US the most knowing look in tn
S world and ran away.
/ Half an hour later l felt the rat run
: ming over my feet. l lit taper ant
saw that he was without either tn
note or the strip by which it had beef
fastened to him. This gave us hop
that it had been removed by human
. being. Ten minutes later l heard
halloo. l replied, and after a numbe
Of calls we could see the dim light o
tapers, then a party coming to searcl
for lis They had received the mes