Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-05-07
WERE LOST
in THE
CATACOMBS
.exJS. S.sJSe<y&srJa>sSSs

GS0SS WV - 49,
Thirty years ago I was girl OF
IS, spending my first Easter In Rome
with old family friends-Mr. and MIS-
Anderson and their only son, Maurice
a bright, jolly Cambridge undergradu-
ate. whose spirits, alas! were In
much better state Of repair than his
lungs.
Mostly for his sake we had drifted
slowly down the Riviera and dawdied
on in Rome, until now 1t was aoso-
luteIv imperative that the next day
should see us start for England.
Maurice and 1 had determined to
visit the Catacombs of st. Calyxtus'
but, with the usual dilatoriness OF youth
we had postponed the trip until the
very last day Of our stay. Being anx-
ious to see some fine frescoes that had
recently been uncovered, we decided,
though It was getting late in the al
ternoon, to drive out to the Catacomps
and see If we could persuade a guide
to take us down.
On arriving at Porta San Sabasti-
ano, we found that all the regular
guides had gone home, but heavy,
ble-looking man, sitting ana
drinking outside small tavern. at
last consented to take us through II
we would wait while he finished MS
supper.
We agreed that 1t would be no dark
er inside the Catacombs at O'CLOCK
than it was at midday, so we possess
ed our souls with what patience we
could muster while the surly looking
ruffian ate and drank.
The tether of an undergraduates 8
patience is proverbially short, and
soon Maurice would allow the man no
peace, but by worrying in his broken
Italian, at length cajoled him into
leaving his meal unfinished. Arming
each of us with long pieces of twisted
candle and grumbling under his
breath, the guide led the way and we
descended into the Catacombs.
All went fairly we'll for some time,
and as we traversed passage after
passage and turned this way and tnat'
in the tortuous windings Of the vaults,
our guide explained the rude frescoes
adorning the roof and sides. But, alas!
that was where the trouble began, for
his English was, If possible, shade
more peculiar than Maurice's Italian,
and, from shouting questions and an
swers in what each fondly believed to
be the others native tongue, they n
nally got intensely irritated with the
difficulty of understanding one anoth-
er. In spite Of my earnest entreaties
to Maurice to be careful and not need
lessly annoy the man, he persisted In
yelling at him, and at length with an
oath, our guide Hroughly told us 10
stand still. A moment later he strode
off down one Of the numerous tunnels,
which extended, as we knew, for many
miles beneath the earth.
AS long as the glimmer OF his light
could be followed we ran after him,
calling upon him to return, but pres
emily 1 caught my foot on a piece OF
broken masonry and fell heavily, drop
ping my precious piece of candle in
the fall.
On recovering my senses found that
Maurice had picked me out of the
mud and seated me on one of the lit
tie shelves or recesses, about a foot
from the ground, which-centuries
ago-had been cut to receive the
bodies of the early Christians. The
guide had vanished
BY the dim light of Maurice's taper
l could see that he looked very white
and anxious, but a gleam of joy IL
Illuminated the poor boys face when he
saw that l was regaining conscious
ness.
One Of my earliest questions was as
to whether he had found my precious
piece of candle, darkness in such q
place being the worst possible misfor-
tune that could befall us. Luckily, he
had discovered it after careful search,
and, though it was much damaged, he
had pinned it on to the crown of his
soft cap to insure its protection from
further harm.
1t was now nearly Z o'clock, and we
reckoned we had been in the Cata-
combs rather over two hours.
How we inwardly cursed our folly
in not having told any one at the hotel
of our intentions.
Although by this time we had, no
doubt been missed, no one would have
the slightest idea in what direction to
search for us, and there flashed
through our minds terrible thoughts
Of the extent of the Catacombs. For
many scores of miles the labyrnths
extended beneath the city, sometimes
at a depth of 40 or so feet. What
chance, therefore, had we of making
our escape unguided?
The passage we were sitting in was
very narrow-barely two feet across,
i'm fact and very damp-so we decided
to move on until we came to one of
the larger chapels, from which the
minor alleys branch off.
Presently we came upon quite a
large cubiculum, from which five small
passages radiated. There was tiny
niche here in which we placed our
candle, and Maurice and l 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 treasured
candle in safety and settled ourselves
than, to my horror, a loud whispering
and rustlng commenced, and before
we could determine whence it came
a shadowy something swoOped down
and extinguished the light!
With the darkness came utter si-
lence, and it was some seconds before
we could recover our courage suttici-
emily 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 flame flickered into life than