Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1912-09-27

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no actual danger for some distance.
Old Mortimer had built his tunnel well,
| and through all the years 1t had held
| safely, except where water had soaked
through, rotting the timbers. The
! candle was sputtering with final eff
fort to remain alight when I came to
| the first serious obstruction. I had
| barely time in which to mark the ma
| ture of the obstacle before the flame
died in the socket, leaving me in a
blackness so profound it was like a
weight. For the moment / was prac-
tically paralyzed by fear, my muscles
limp, my limbs trembling. Yet to en-
deavor to push forward was no more
to be dreaded than to attempt retrac-
| ing my steps. In one way there was
hope; in the other none.
With cropping fingers 1 verified the
situation, as that brief glance ere the
candle failed had revealed it. A beam
had fallen, letting down a mass of
earth, but was wedged in such way
as to leave small opening above the
floor, barely sufficient for man to
wiggle through. How far even this
slight passage extended, or what worse
obstruction lay hidden beyond was all
conjecture. 1t was a mere chance in
which l must risk life in hope Of Saw
ing it might become helplessly
wedged beneath the timbers, or any
movement might precipitate upon me
mass of loosened earth. 1t was
horrid thought, the death of burroW-
ing rat; and l dare not let my mind
dwell upon the dread possibility. Slow
ly, barely advancing an inch at time,
l began the venture, my hands blindly
cropping for the passage, the cold per-
SEPARATION bathing my body. The far
Their l penetrated amid the debris, the
greater became the terror dominating
me, yet to draw back was next to i'm
possible. The opening grew more con-
tracted; could scarcely force myself
forward, digging fingers and toes into
the hard earth floor, the obstruct1ng
timber scraping my body. 1t was an
awful, heartrending struggle, stretched
out fat like snake in the darkness,
the loose earth showering me with
each movement. There was more than
one support down; / had to double
about to find opening; again and again
| seemed to be against an unsurpas-
sable barrier; twice I dug through a
mass of fallen dirt, once for three SOL
id feet, throwing the loosened earth
either side of me, and pushing it back
with my feet, thus utterly blocking all
chance Of retreat Scarcely was this
accomplished when another fall from
above came, half burying head and
shoulders, and compelling me to do
the work over. The air grew foul and
sluggish, but l was toiling for life, and
dug at the debris madly, reckless Of
what might fall from above. Better
to be crushed than to die of suffoca-
ton, and the very desperation with
which | strove proved my salvation.
For what remained of the roof held,
and struggled through into the firmer
gallery beyond, faint from exhaustion.
yet as quickly reviving in the fresher
air. | had reached the end Of the pas
sage before comprehended the truth.
1t opened in the side of a gulley, COM
ing out between the roots of great
tree,
Twas wreck in body and mind, my
face streaked with EARTH my hair
filled with dirt, my clothing torn and
disreputable. Laboring for breath, my
fingers raw and bleeding, I lay there,
with scarcely enough strength remain
ing to keep from rolling to the bottom
of the ravine. For some moments
was incapable of either thought or ac-
ton, every ounce of energy having
been expended in that last desperate
struggle. l lay painting, with eyes
closed, hardly realizing that I was in
deed alive. Slowly, throb by throb,
my heart came back into regularity of
beat, and my brain into command. My
eyes opened, and shuddered with hor-
ror, as l recognized that dismal open
ing into the side of the hill. Clinging
to the tree trunk l attained my feet,
still swaying from weakness, and was
thus able to glance about over the
edge of the bank, and gain some con-
ception Of my immediate surroundings
1t was early dawn, the eastern sky
that shade of pale gray which pre-
cedes the sun, a few, white, feecy
clouds sailing high above, already
tinged with red reflection. | must
have been in that earth prison since
the morning Of the previous day; it
seemed longer, yet even that expira-
ton of time proved that those who
had imprisoned me there had left me
tc die God! / couldn't believe that
not Of her! Clear as the evidence ap-
peared, yet fought down the thought
bitterly, creeping on hands and knees
over the edge Of the bank, to where
l could sit on the grass, and gaze
about in the growing light The house
was to the left, an apple orchard be-
tween. and low fence enclosing a
garden. l could gain but glimpses of
the mansion through the intervening
! trees, but it was large, imposing, a
square, old-fashioned house, painted
white. with green shutters. It ap-
peared deserted, and no spirals of
| smoke assembled from the kitchen
chimney. Apparently not even the
/ coryapfc uoro uof 60