Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1919-11-27


my paramount business was to es-
cape. But might as well have hurled
myself against the solid rock. And, at
that moment noticed that the place
was darker than it had been. My Ian
tern was going out. In moment or
/ had discovered that the door at the
end of the gallery was as solid as the
others.
was to be trapped, after all; and
l pictured myself slowly dying there
of hunger-the pangs of which / was
already beginning to iceland some
one, years hence, finding me there,
moldering skeleton-some one who
would break open those doors, uncover
those cleaning boards, and moralize
on the irony of my end; condemned to
die there of starvation, with the treas
ure had so long sought on the other
side of those unyielding doors. Old
Toms words suddenly flashed over
me. and l could feel my hair literally
beginning to rise. "There never was a
buried treasure yet that didn't claim
its victim" Great God land was to
be the ghost, and keep guard in this
terrible tomb till the next dead man
came along to relieve me of my sentry
dutyl
Frantically turned up the wick of
my lantern at the thought-but it was
no use; 1t was plainly going out. /
examined my match box; had still a
dozen or so matches left. And then
my eye fell on that shattered chest.
There were those boards, too. At all
events I could build fire and make
torches of slivers Of wood, so long as
the wood lasted.
And then 1 had an idea. Why not
make the fire against the door at the
end of the gallery, and so burn my way
through. Bravo! My spirits rose at
the thought, and / set to at once-split-
ting some small kindling with my
knife. In a few minutes had quite a
sprightly little fire going at the bot
tom of the door; but I saw that
should have to be extravagant with
my wood if the fire was to be effective.
However, it was neck or nothing; so
| piled on beams and boards till my
fire roared like furnace, and present
ly had the joy of seeing it begin to
take hold of the door-which, after a
short time, began to crackle and splut-
ter in very cheering fashion.
Whatever lay beyond, it was evil
dent that / should soon be able to
break my way through the obstacle,
and, indeed, so it proved; for, present
~, l used one of the boards as a bat
tering ram, and, to my inexpressible
joy, it went crashing through, with
shower of sparks, and it was but the
work of few more minutes before the
whole door fell flaming down, and I
was able to leap through the doorway
into the darkness on the other side.
AS stood there, peering ahead, and
holding aloft a burning stick-which
proved, however, a poor substitute for
my lantern-a wonderful sound smote
my ears. I could not believe it, and
my knees shook beneath me. 1t was
the sound of the sea.
Yes, it was no illusion. 1t was the
sound that the sea makes singing and
echoing through hollow caves-the
sound heard that night as l stood at
the moonlit door of Calypso's cavern,
and saw that vision which my heart
nearly broke to remember. Calypso!
Oh Calypso where was she at this
moment? Pray God that she was in
deed safe, as her father had said. But
had to will her from my mind, to
keep from going mad.
And my poor torch had gone out,
having, however, given me light
enough to see that the door which I
had just burnt through let out onto a
narrow platform on the side of rock
that went slanting down into a chasm
of blackness, through which, as in a
great shell, doomed that murmuring Of
the sea. 1t had perilous ugly look,
and it was plain that it would be fool
hardy to attempt it at the moment
without a light; and my fire was
dying down. Besides, I was beginning
to feel light-headed and worn out, part
~ AAOhu ldSA VI lOOO, uU uOuDL.
AS there was no food to be had, /
recalled the old French proverb, "He
eats who sleeps"-or something to
that effect-and I determined to hus-
band my strength once more with
brief rest. However, as 1 turned to
throw some more wood on my fire
preparing to indulge myself with
little campfire cheerfulness as I dozed
of-my eyes fell once more on that
grim line of locked doors and my
curiosity, and an idea, made me wake
full again. l had burned down one
door-why not another? Why not, in
deed?
So I raked over my fire to the fam
lily vault nearest to me, and presently
had it roaring and licking against the
stout door. 1t was, apparently, not so
solid as the gallery door had been. At
all events, it kindled more easily, and
it was not long before had the salts
faction of battering that down too.
Ac r at,