Year: 1860

better success. They were too damp
everything was damp; the matches were
useless. With faint hope Of drying
them in time, put the box into my
breast, and buttoned my vest over it,
With my failure in procuring light,
and the pain of bruises, added to my ter
ror and bewilderment Of mind, | suffered
intensely. Through all, it becomes clear
to me that instead of falling over, had
fallen through the cliff--strange as it
was that hollow ground should occur 30
near to the edge without the external
wall of the cliff caving in towards it,
The space through which / had fallen
must have been narrow, for my body was
bruised, and the skin torn from my sides,
with strips of clothing, that l could not
feel Oh! for light to examine better
into my miserable position; but after all
without hope. could not loose the idea
that was to hit upon some means or way
of escape, if l could only get the matches
to ignite, and show the size and form of
the cave.


Worn out with pain and thought,
must have slept. / awoke with raging
thirst, and almost at the same time, j
became sure that / heard the dropping
of water. dragged myself towards the
sound stretched out my hand, and drops
fell from above upon it; eagerly swal-
lowed few, which burned my throat,
they were distilled brine-salt as any
impregnation of water could possibly be.


This disappointment crushed me ter
ribly. / should die of thirst ere had
found mode of exit. L thought of the
matches, and tried them again, in vain,
however they gave forth light somc.-
In time the heat Of my breast would dry
them--that was hope. had no idea
of time, save that my watch had run down
while l slept. i wound it up again
knowing that when it again stopped,
eight-andtwenty hours would have gone
by. Again, on my hands and kness /
crept around, feeling by the damp walls,
and, ! continually approached and reced-
ed from the spot where the salt water
dropped from a projecting rock, dis
covered that the cave was nearly round,
and not many yards square.


Having discovered this, became more
collected and resolute, and forced myself
to calm review of my position. had
to acknowledge to myself that my only
chance of escape seemed the hole or crack
through which had fallen; but no ray
of light betrayed that spot-earth and
stones must have fallen in and choked it
up. Parching with thirst, and faint from
bodily injuries, l was almost at the point
of despair, when distant sound fell upon
my ear. listened with intense atten-
ton. Soon, more and more distinctly 1
recognized the noise Of machinery, the
rumbling of carts, and the voice of men;
then a bell rung, and, with throb of
Joy, / recognized it as the morning sum-
mons to the laborers in the works. A
night only could have passed since my
leaving their outer world. Had they
missed me would they search for me /?
Alas there was nothing to lead them to
suspect the spot of my captivity. !
thought of the strange disappearance of
my young brother-,tiis double bereave-
ment would kill my poor mother, but
still was comforted by the knowledge
that only partition Of rock separated
me from my fellow men. Now could
almost distinguish their voices. / felt
that it was vain to hope that my calls and
shouts could be heard by them, yet |
could not forbear shouting till l was
quite exhausted.


Then l reflected on the means could
find of digging away the barrier of rock.

1t could not be thick; knew that, by
my faculty in hearing sound, and conclu-
ded that, as had fallen close to the edge
of the cliff, had sunk straight down to
the level of the valley at its foot, and
possibly the wall of my prison was not
more than two or three feet in thickness.
But had no implements, save my knife,
and that was slender one quite unequal
to cutting passage through even tho
soft and damp salt-rock, which formed the
partition. Suddenly remembered hav-
ing picked up heavy iron ox-shoc, on
the wagon-road during my Sunday walk.
1t was still in my pocket. With what
Joy l pulled it, and commenced eagerly
my work.


/ will not detail the agonics Of those
days and nights, when ! worked on in
the darkness, sometimes encouraged,
sometimes nearly hopeless i could not
find that ! made any visible progress; the
sounds were not nearer than at first, and
/ was growing hourly moro exhausted
from fatigue and burning thirst. The
salt air of the cave inhamed my eyes,
parching my skin, and excoriated my
throat and often had horrible idea
that should go mad; but | worked on.
/ had wound up my watch five times,
therefore it must have been the sixth day
-delverance rs far off as ever. had
been trying to loosen fragment OF
which seemed somewhat detached from
the strata. This could only Judge of
by my feeling) II succeeded should
much reduce the thickness of the barrier
at that point but l had to stop and rest
before the final trial.


again tried my matches. ! had con-
stantly done 80 hitherto, but without
success, and but few remained; but now
the third one that l tried gave forth
light smoke, then light blue flame, and
finally clear red light. held it care
r,llv and l~.hold ,,la,plv tho cavern in