Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1914-03-27

by nature or by chiseling were a.
smooth as the sides OF a house.
Nothing but lizard could have
climbed them, and they would not
have offered cover for a fly. A
clump of red valerian here and
there, or q tuft of purple aubrieta
broke the sameness Of the wall at
rare intervals; but these offered no
foothold, and, indeed, only tended to
accentuate the steepness and the
height of the great rock faces.
An owl whizzed in from the val
ley, swung past Captain Kettles
head, and then swooped upward and
disappeared.
Got nest there, that fowl" he
thought. "Or roosting-place.
There's been a bit Of q fall of rock
here; the outside's shelled of.
wonder"
He ran out briskly into the plain
and stared hard at the face of the
rock. The night was thinning. AL
ready the east was gray. Day would
stare at him within matter Of
minutes, and II he was to find cover,
1t must be before day showed him
to the curious. Yes, In the edge Of
that rockfall there was dark patch
was darker stain at the foot of it
that merged into green below, and
meant trickle of wet
1t would be damp and uncom-
Portable in the hollow even IL he
could get into it, but he was in no
position just then to pick and
choose. He must take what offered,
and IL it turned out that the dark
patch was merely shadow and not a
hole at all, well, there was no get
ting over the fact that his position
would be desperate. So he ran in
once more. clambered up over the
tumbling screes, and then with fin,
gers and toes attacked the narrow
lodges of the rock itself
He went up, he crawled sidewise,
he went down and clambered up
again with straining fingertips; and
finally got to the middle of frac-
tureless slab of rock, and had to
give up and go down and start
afresh.
He prospected more diligently this
time, traced a course, plotted 1t in
his head, and attacked it. with toes
and fingers. This time he had more
success He dragged himself up
hand over hand for six feet till once
more he could find lodgmeut for the
toes of his boots. And then came
triumph. He put out a hand high
above his head and got it in firm
hold A second later he was in the
place where his hand had been, and
the owl, complaining noisiiy, few
outward past his ear. For while
Captain Kettle lay on the floor of
the cleft, getting back his breath in
labored sobs.
The cleft ran into the mountain,
flashed on him that here was a place
to ambush the Wangaroo's men if so
be he found it necessary to bring a
squad of those all-nation ruffians up
to the valley.
All evidences showed that the
cleft had been but newly opened.
The rock slab that sealed it's mouth
had shelled away and tumbled down
on the screes below only matter
of weeks before, perhaps days.
The hollow in which he lay and
painted would harbor half a dozen
men at a pinch-if they could get
there. He rose to his feet and press
ed on to the gloom at its farther
end The crack went on into the
rock, and the stream murmured up
into the black distance; but the rock
walls drew together, and Kettle
could not press even his slim body
in between them. He shut his eyes
tightly, and then peered upward
into the gloom. Yes, there was a
hole above him.
He pressed his toes, knees, and
elbows into the rock walls and heav-
ed himself up, chimney-sweep fash
ion, and presently stood in chan
mel above which appeared to lead
directly in toward the heart of the
rock.
He had matches, but they were
few in number, and he did not want
to waste them. So he went ahead
into the darkness, exploring eau
tiously with hands and feet, and al,
ter removing the glass from his com
pass with the point of his knife,
took bearings of direction from time
to time by delicate finger touches on
the bare needle. 1t was nice piece
of work, carried out by remarkably
clever surveyor.
The cleft he was in was an old
water channel, now dry, which had
broken through in places to a newer
water channel below. 1t was level in
floor and roof. smooth in sides, and
for the most part beyond his reach
in width. though here and there il
, contracted to a waist. These mar
rows were never too strait for navi