The Washington times., 1912-05-11
behind the
- By =
CHARLES STEPHENS
Copyright, The Frank A. Munsey Coz
All Rights Reserved

| feelers might be brushing my hands
and face was too much for me.
! fled aimlessly through the tunnels
Where l went l did not stop to reckon
My nerve was gone. II / had lost all
| sense of location before, | now lost all
sense of myself and the reality OF my
situation.
When pulled myself together, finally,
1t was with n start. l set down the
lantern and stood staring at it as a
sudden dimness had come upon the
! cracked globe. ] dropped on my hands
| and knees and peered at the wick. 1t
was still burning, but | could see little
red globules beginning to gather on the
wick. The oil was finished
/ composed myself as best I could and
sat down to await the end. 1t seemed
| an eternity before 1t came. and then it
was only the beginning of eternity. The
| light grew DINNER and redder. The
| stalactites became more ghostly, moI e
menacing, and more mocking in as
pect DINNER and DINNER
! saw the antennae of millions of the
strange cricket shrimps waving gently
| toward the lantern, like hordes of dem
! ons waiting to snatch the soul Of the
| hated flame. The light suttered, flared
| up brightly for moment, then II went
| out with q puff.
| l was left alone in darkness which
| could feel pressing around me like a
| living thing. But there was still one
straw. to which I chung with my eyes.
The wick stil glowed red-two little
| spots of red.
They became more minute, found
myself holding my breath, which burst
ouc again with a sob as one. little spot
| vanished. But ! had one left-one,
! 1t seemed to linger, for an INDEFINITE
, time. | found myself crying to Heaven
| 20 put it Output II out and be done!
| Oh. the agony of It'll
It blurred and spread before my gaze,
| until it shone like star. Presently
across it stole shadowy mountains. 1t
| became a world with the sun going
| down Soon it would ne dark-a starless
tight. The shadows stole on. The pur-
pie twilight came and faded into a dull,
ashy gray =. Then there was
nothing but a faint spot on the retina
| of the eye. This faded. And there was
nothing.
The long night had begun.
I will not tell you in detail of the next
| few days. Days they must have been,
| tion. I wandered, with my hands
stretched out before me, through end
less tunnels, the hoop of the dead lam
| tern slung over my arm.
Most of the time my eyes were closed,
| for 1T hurt me to stare and see nothing.
| sat down sometimes and tried to make
| lights inside of my eyes, by pressing the
! balls with my fingers. But the pressure
duced the queer mosaic patterns which
usually result in such an experiment.
| At intervals my sight was relieved by a
blur of phosphorescenCe among the
| halo clinging to some sightless Great
uure. | do not know. My nerves were
/ too shattered for investigation. l would
| sit for hours watching the glow until II
| faded. Then | would grope on and on,
and on, until came upon another phos-
| phoreSCenCe.
I was glad to find some excuse to sit
,, down; for unless l moved slowly I suf-
10, NzlA 1n-. -
stalactites. Indeed. after a time I was
| forced to sit and nurse my throbbing
wounded head between my knees. If
| had to die I did not intend to allow my
self to be tortured.
Starvation began to do the work.
! Thirst did not truble me, oddly enough.
Possibly the air l breathed was SUI
! fCiently laden with moisture. But star
walton gnaWed more and more. ] grew
| feNerish and delrious. No more was
| IN the dark. The place was afiame and
sunshine and fire, and people with all
| manner of men and creatures.
| Once / was attacked by a fiend. and
with a shout Of battle JOY | rushed
| upon him, swinging the dead lantern
as a weapon. ! remember the lantern
smashing to. srithereens, and mo-
on the head. Then oblivion.
! awoke to find myself standing up
right, with my hands over my eyes.
was conscious US, that something was was
that I was myself again, but weak and
| famished. I removed my hands A
shaft of pain stabbed them. But I had
| seen light. BY and by | could bear to
| look through my fingers. What ! saw
| was a bar of sunlight quite some dis
tance ahead of me. | looked behind me.
! The tunnel was there. shrouded in its
everlasting night. ! seemed to have
wandered back to the bottom OF the
! sink hole.
| Slowly | crawled forward. Presently
| | became aware that the place could
not be the sink-h hole, for there no actual
sunlight entered. Besides that, the light
which, was nearing entered obliquely,
| and the approach to II was a gentle in
! cline. once while | stopped, exhausted,
| ] distinctly heard a banana bird utter
| ing its musical measure.
l Crawled upward with eager despera-
| ton Soon came to a point of the tun-
mel where the incline ended and the
! way dipped again. | stopped to stare.
| Before me-not fifty yards away-was
the sunshine streaming through mass
OF jungle foliage. With shout, ] raced
| downward and plunged into the bushes
at the mouth of the cave. In another
moment I fell headlong on a patch of
turf over me were the green. glisten-
ing hills, and above them Gods blue
sky. and floating in the empyrean was a
graV hawk mockingly crying:
"Peeeeeng-y yrrrroooooo!
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