The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-05-16

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Presently We came upon quite 4
large cubiculum, from which five
small passages radiated. There was
tiny niche here in which we placed
our candle, and Maurice and I sat
down on a broken piece of marble
that had, no doubt, been an altar in
the early days of Christianity.
Hardly had we placed our treas
ured candle in safety and settled our
selves than, to my horror, a loud
whispering and rustling commenced,
and before we could determine
whence it came shadowy something
swooped down and extinguished the
light!
With the darkness came utter 81
lence,, and it was some seconds be-
fore we could recover our courage
sufficiently to consult each other as
to this new terror.
At last Maurice whispered to me
that he had matches and that he
would relight the candle. Hardly
had the tiny fame flickered into life
than once more that indefinite some
thing rushed forward out of the
inky darkness, and again we were
enveloped in darkness.
This time the extinguishing was
accompanied by a curious swishing
sound. In my terror I grasped Mau-
rice's arm with what, I an sure,
must have been a painful grip, and i
could hear him breathing hard in the
velvety, impalpable blackness. Each
moment we expected bony fingers to
clasp us by the throat, or some other
horror to emerge and confront us.
How long this tension continued ]
do not know. It seemed like hours,
but was probably only few minutes
duration. Then, far up above our
heads the rustling recommended, ac-
companied by shrill, bird-like chirp-
ing! Oh, the relief to our strained
senses! simultaneously we gasped,
"Bats!" and could have laughed at
our terrors of the moment before.
After this, as it was useless to at
tempt to light the candle, we sat very
quietly for long while in the dark
ness. Maurice had his case full of
cigarettes, and, by shielding the
match very carefully in his cap, we
were able to light one each, and
felt grateful indeed that my educa-
ton comprised the unlady-like &C
complishment of smoking.
I think, after while, we must
have fallen asleep, for it seemed
very long time before Maurice spoke
again. He said he felt so thirsty that
he must go back to the passage we
had first been in and try to scoop up
some of the water lying there. He
said he knew quite well which turning
it was, and he would only be away a
few minutes He left me two match
es and another cigarette, and I heard
him stumbling away over the broken
ground. It seemed to me that several
minutes elapsed, and still I heard no
sound of his return, so called him
softly at first, then louder, as my
panic grew more intense.
At a certain pitch of my shouting
it struck upon some sound-wave in
the caverns, and Immediately all the
vast extent of the labyrinth took up
the cry. Every tunnel and passage
echoed Maurice! Maurice!" and the
name was repeated in every possible
gamut of whisper and growl. The
bats shuf1ed and stirred overhead,
ghostly forms seemed to rise out of
the darkness, and at last my nerves
gave way and I broke down, sobbing
myself into state of semiunconsci-
BUSINESS.
When I awoke again Maurice had
not returned, but I felt that it was
impossible to remain longer in this
state of inaction, so, taking the taper
with me, felt my way very carefully
around the wall until I came to the
opening by which I fancied we had
entered.
When 1 had gone little way down
it used one of my precious matches
and lighted the candle, as we had dis
covered that the bats were only to be
found in the high vaulted cubicula.
Shielding my light with the utmost
care, I proceeded down these inter-
minable passages, but nowhere did I
come upon any trace of Maurice,
neither could I recognize any of the
frescoes or decorations upon the
walls.
My watch told me it was nearly 3
o'clock, and after walking on in this