The Washington times., 1919-08-21


tom of the pit, circular in form, was
q good ten feet across and car
peted, he knew not how deep, by
debris of small animals bones.
Now for what had the Mayas Of
old time made so tremendous an eX-
cavation? he questioned, for he was
more than half convinced that the
funnel was no natural phenomenon.
Impossible to Escape.
Before nightfaIl he made sure,
by a dozen attempts, that the fun
mel was unscalable, between at
tempts he crouched in the growing
shadow Of the descending sun and
painted dry-lipped with heat and
thirst. The place was a very fur
mace, and the juices Of his body
were wrung from him in perspira-
tion.
throughout the night, between
dozes, he vainly pondered the prob
lem Of escape. The only way out
was up, nor could his mind devise
any method Of getting up. Also,
he looked forward with terror to
the coming of the day, for he knew
that no man could survive a full
ten hours of the baking heat that
would be his. Ere the next night
fall the last drop Of moisture would
have evaporated from his body,
leaving him a withered and already
half-sun-dried mummy.
With the coming of daylight his
growing terror added wings to his
thought, and he achieved a new
and profoundly simple theory or
escape. Since he could not climb
up and since he could not get out
through the sides themselves, then
the only possible remaining way
was down. Fool that he was. He
might have been working through
the cool night hours, and now he
must labor in the quickly increas-
inE heat. He applied himself in an
ecstasy Of energy to digging down
through the mass OF crumbling
bones. OF course, there was way
out Else how did the funnel drain?
Otherwise it would have been full
or part fun Of water from the
rains. Fool! And thrice times
thrice q fool!
He dug down one side Of the
wall, dinging the rubbish into a
mound against the opposite side.
So desperately did he apply himself
that he broke his finger nails to
the quick and deeper, while every
hnrer tin was lacerated to bleed
ing. But love Of life was strong
to him. and he knew IL was a life
and death race TO him with the
sun. AS he went deeper, the rub
bish became more compact, 50 that
he used the muzzle Of his rifle like
a crowbaF to loosen IL ere tossing 1t
up in single and double handfuls.
By mid-forenoon his senses be-
ginning to reel in the heat he
made a discovery. Upon the wall
which he had uncovered, he came
upou the beginning Of an inscrip-
tion, evidently rudely scratched In
the rock by the point Of knife.
With renewed hope, his head and
shoulders down in the hole, he dug
and scratched for all the world like
a dog, throwing the rubbish out
and between his legs in true dog
fashion. Some Of Il fell clear, but
most Of it fell back and down upon
him. Yet had he become too fran
tic to note the ineRiciency OF his
effort
At last the inscription was
cleared, so that he was able to
read:
peter McGm, Of Glasgow. On
March 18th, 1920.
81 escaped from the Pit Of He'll
BY this passage by digging down
and finding It"
A passage! The passage must
be beneath the inscription! Torres
now toiled in a fury. So dirt-soiI-
ed was he that he was like some
huge, four-legged, earth-burroFing
animal. The dirt got into his eyes,
and on occasion into his nostrlls
and air passages, so as to SURROGATE
him and compel him to back up out
Of the hole and sneeze and cough
his breathing apparatus clear.
Twice he tainted But the SUM- by
then almost directly overhead
drove him on.
He found the upper rim OF the
passage. He did not dig down to
the lower rim; for the moment the
aperture was large enough to ac-
commodate his lean shape he
writhed and squirmed into il and
away from the destroying sun-rays.
The cool and the dark soothed him,
but his joy and the reaction from
what he had undergone sent his
|
third time he had tainted.
l At Work Again.
l.. Recovered, mouthing with black
Rand swollen lips a half-insane
chant Of gratefulness and thanks
giving, he crawled on along the
passage. Perforce he crawled. be-
! cause il was so low that a dwarf
could not have stood erect in it.
! The place was a Charnel house
7 Bones crunched and crambled under
his hands and knees, and he knew
! that his knees were being worn 10
the bone.
Al the end OF a hundred feet ne
caught his irst glimmering OF light
But the nearer he approached free
dom the slower he progressed, fol
the fnaI stages OF exhaustion were
upon him. He knew that u was not
| physical exhaustion nor food eN'
haustion. but thirst exhaustion
/ Water few ounces Of water was
all he needed TO make him strong
again. And there Was no water
But the light Was grow ING
stronger and nearer lie noted
toward the last that the noor of
the passage pitched down 80 the
angle ~ fully thirty degrees Thts
made the way easier Gravity drrw
him ou. and helped every faIIIue
rnrFt uf him. toward fHs source OF
IIrEt AFrF close fu ff Do ruTHuuf
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