Lost in a Cave.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 265, 14 November 1885, Page 5

Lost in a Cave.

In tho southern pait of central Kentucky there is a cave which, like many in that region, local tradition haß made one of the many hiding-places of tho celebrated Daniel Boono during his years of fierce fighting with the Indians,

The waters cf Mooro's Valley find an outlet through this cavo. In the season of heavy rains, tho inrushing waters fill the entrance to the cavo from side to side, and there have been times when, owing to the inadequacy of the outlet, tho valley haß boon Hooded. In the dry neason there is ample spaco on either bank for people to enter, and at such times Boono's Cavo is a popular resort for picnic parties. Once past tho cramped, irregular entrance, tho cave opens into vast halls, draped with glittering stalactic curtains, branching out of whic'i aro great chambers that in grandour and beauty of ornamentation dwarf the proudest efforts of the human architect.

In tho oarly spring of 1564 a wounded soldior—it mattors not tho side on which ho fought-rodo over tho Cumberland Range with his loft arm in a sling and a bandage about his head. He ontorod Moore's Valley, first surveying it from in elevation, and dismounted in a grovo bofore tbo comfortable homo of Widow Mason, Throwing tho bridle over the horso-rack, Mark Brant walked up to tho houso. Bo foro he had gone half tho distance tbo door opened, and a beautiful, brown-oyed girl (lew out to moot him. Thoir greeting was that of lovers, and as Nellio Mason led him to tho bouse, sho

"I board you woro wounded, and I am glad you eainc, fo- now I can nureo you back to strength." '■turn afraid I shall prove a double trouble to you." he paid, with a aad smile.

" Why so, Mark?" she asked, engorly. " My old enomy and rival, Honry Troop, hm been chasing me with his nun for three days. My only chance for oscapo lay in this direction," replied Mark Brant,

Tlio beautiful girl's cheeks becamo paler and hor lips firmer on hoaring this, but sho spoke no moro till thoy reached the houee. Mrs Mason, a kindly-facad, matronly lady, mot them at the door, and gave the young f oldier as hearty a wolcomo as if ho.had been hor eon.

Thoro wero but few men in Moore's Valley at this timo. All thoso »ble to bear arms had taken sides and gone in about equal numbers to both armies. The Widow Mason's two sons lighting on opposite sidos.

Mark Brant's wounds wore dressed, and ho was sitting by tho fire that night talking to M is Mason and Nellie, when a black man, who had been keeping watch, ran into tho room in a state of great alarm. •■Sojorß ! Do sojors !" ho gasped. "In tho valley?" askod Mark, leaping to his feet.

" Yes, sah ! Troop an' his mon !" replied tho black man. Mark and Nellio ran to tho door, and thoy heard tho ring of iron hoofs coming up the road. Tho horsemen were galloping towards tho houso, and there could bo no doubt of thoir mission.

Nollio turned to tho alarmed negro and said :

"Tom, put the oars into tho boat. Quick —for your Hfo !" Tom started off, and Nollio spod into tho kitchen. Sho returned in a mitiuto with a cloak about hor shoulders, and, kissing hor mother, she said :

" 1 will get him away on thorivor."

"But tho river is up, and the cave! tho cave !" cried Mrs Mason, frantically.

Tho clatter of hoofs, the jingling of arms, tho panting of horses, and tho hoarse shouts of tho riders could bo heard near by.

With his pistol in his unwounded hand, Mark Brant followed Ncllio Mason through tho back door, and down to tho foot of the gardou, where tho swollen stream ran. By tho dim starlight, ho could see tho boat, into which ono servant was throwing blankets and baskets, while Tom tat amidship, balancing I ho oars. "Got in, Mark ! Hark! Troop and his men aro iv the houso !"

Nollio forced him into tho stern of the boat and sprang in after him. As they floated oil', tho shouts of tho pursuers could be hoard on the bank, and they gu.// tlio Hash of rifles discharged wildly into tho darkness. Tlio current was very swift, and the entrance to tho cavo was only two miles below tbe p.iint from which tlfeyhadstartod. About half-way down, tho banks woro covorod with a dense forest growth, and the margins of tho stream woro masses of cauo reeds. Horo Xcllio hoped thoy would find a shcllor until tho pursuit was over. Thoy succeeded in keeping tho boat in tho roods till daylight. Mark wanted to loave then, assuring hor that he could savo himself by flight across the mountains; but tbo bravo girl would not hoar of it.

"It would kill mo," sho said, " if I hud to remain homo thinking of poor wounded you flying boforo llonry Troop and his bloodhounds."

Whon it was sufficiently light Mark Brant went ashoro and ascondod a hill near by. A glance up the stream showed him Troop'B mon not a hundred yards away. That Troop's men saw him tho rattle of a dozen carbines proved conclusively. He ran back and sprang into tho boat. " Lie on tho bottom, Mark !" cried Nellie.

Ho obeyed hor ; and taking the cloak from her shoulders, sho threw it over him, so that ho could not bo seen from tho shoro. Then seizing 0110 of tho oars, sho called out to the servant:

"Pull, Tom ! Pull for your life !" Oboying hor startling order, and following hor oxample, Tom bent to his oar, and, aidod by the swift current, tho boat fairly flow down the river.

At a bond four hundrod yards above the entrance to tho cavo, Nellie saw a group of mountod mon ; butunheoding thoir frantic gestures for hor to land, sho still urged the boat on.

"Gome back! Como back!" shouted a man, whom her rapid glanco recognised as Captain Troop. "Comeback, or you'll be awopt into tho cavo !" Sho hoard, but did not hood him. Mark Brant throw oft tho cloak, and bogged hor to head tho boat for shore before it was too lato.

" And place you in his power!" she replied. '' Bettor wo should die togethor." "But, see! wo are near the cave!" he urged. Nellie turned and looked at the hill, at right angles to which the swift current ran. She saw the black segment that marked tho elevation of tho cave entrance above the roaring flood. " Wo can- pass though," she said as if speaking her judgment aloud. With ashy faces tho soldiers watched the boat Hying to what they doernod certain destruction, its opood increasing as it neared tho entrance to the cave.

A moment of breathloss susponso ; thon darkness. The boat had disappeared in the sido of the mountain.

"Head tho boat against the curront! We must not loso sight of the entrance to the cave !" shouted Murk Brant, helping to carry out his own ordor, Thoy turned tho boat, and saw —like a far-off window in an interminable dungeon —tho arc of light that markod tho place by which they had entered the cave. Nellie and the black man pulled till the ashen oars cracked in tho rowlocks ; but all in vain ; they woro being swept further and further in The arc of light dwindled into a star, a speck, thon was swallowed up in tlio awful blackness.

Impenetrable darkness enveloped them, and tho vast subterranean halls rang with tho thundering echoes of the maddened waters.

"Takeboth oars, Tom. I have candles, and will raako a light." Nellie Mason gave the black man her oar, and taking a candle from a basket at her feet, she succeeded in lighting it and fastening it in the bow of the boat. "Wo must make for the bank!" cried Mark, horrified at the danger to the woman ho loved and bin own utter helplessness.

They succeeded in reaching tho " bank." but it mocked at hope of escape in that direction. The candle revealed the white, precipitous wall that hemmed in the subterranean river, rising sheer up, and lost among tho overhanging shadows. The shores of this wonderful river came closer together, adding to the force of the confined current, and deepening the hoarse reverberations that went up from every side. To add to* tho terrors of their situation, tho roof above the river sank lower and lowor, until Mark could raise his unwounded arm and touch its surface.

Thoy well knew that if this compression continued tho boat must soon be forced under tho water, and all would be over. They had to etoop to avoid tho stalactites that, like petrified icicles, hung from the roof, and at times scraped the side of the boat.

Mark Brant took Nellio's hand, certain that the end had come, and Tom began praying at the bottom of the boat, when suddenly the cramped walls expanded into an immense chamber, and the ceiling shot,

up so far that the dim light from the candle in the bow failed to reveal it. The river widened into a Stygian lake, and the current, as if exhausted by its tremendous efforts, settled down for a rest.

They succeeded in urging the boat to the shore, if shore the irregular rocks rising at a sharp angle from the water could hecilled. They made the boat fast, and as Nellie sprang out she exclaimed: "Thank heaven, we have escaped them !"

" I would rather fall pierced by their bullets than subject you to the dangers of such another escape !" said Mark.

" 'Peers to me like," said Tom, as he took out tho oars_, basket and blankets, "ezif wo was a hollerin' afore we get out obde woods. Fore de Lor' I thought we was all gono up shunh. An' heah's I, riz nigh dia cave, an' nebber dreamt it went on an' on, clar down to paradition." " The water will soon subside, Tom," said Nellie, encouragingly, "and then wo can got back." " I hope yeh's making no mistakes, Miss," replied Tom, and there was that in his voice that told very plainly that ho did not share in her hopes, and that ho never again expected to ccc the sun, nor his wife and little ones under the green trees. When tho cargo was all landed, Nellie set out a very comfortablo breakfast; and Mark asked her how she happoned to bring food with her.

She responded

"I can hardly explain ; but the moment I heardyourpursuers coming, I thought of the river as tho only avonuo of escape. Then it llashod through my mind, ' What if we are carried into tho cavo ? I ran to the kitchon, and gathering all the cooked food I could fined, with candles and matches and blankets, I hurried them down to the boat. Wo have enough food to last for a week, and candles onough to light us. By that time, let us pray that the flood may subside"

" You are the bravest girl that ever lived," sa:d Mark.

Then, after a pause : " Were you ever in tho cavo as far as this before ?

" Never half the distance. As Tom says, I did not dream that it ran back so far."

" And you think the flood will subside in a week ?"

"Yes," she answered; "if there is not more rain in the outer world in the meantime."

Brave as Mark Brant was, he shuddered at the thought of spending ono hundred and sixty-eight hours in these gloomy, water-washed, lightless, lifeless depths. But his dread was for tho beautiful girl by his side, not for himself.

Tom, who had not tho ghost of a hope that he would ever get out, became philosophically cheerful, and hummed a campmeeting song, while he held the light by which Nellie Mason dressed her lover's wounds.

As all wero very much exhausted, the blankets wore divided and they lay down to sleep, Nellie having the burning candle near her, and the other candles and matches within reach.

Tho air of the cave was bracing and comparatively warm, while the monotonous roar of the waters in the distance had so soothing an effoct that all weto soon asleep.

When Nellie woko up tho candle was dying out, and from this she reasoned that sho had bcon asleep about six hours. She lit another candlo, and sat watchinc Mark for fully, two hours, ho rostiug as peacefully as if he wore i>i the bed prepared for him in tho Widow Mason's house.

When all wore again awake, and feeling much refreshed, Mark went up the bank to search for a better camping-plaeo. By a rugged path he ascended what seemed to be a subterranean mountain. After much climbing he reached the summit, and found it to bo the portico of a chamber of such vast dimensions that the hill by which it was reached was but a stepping-stone. Fearing to go far from tho water, which was the only moane by which they could hope to find their way out, Mark went back to wait for the subsidence of the flood.

Ono by ono tho candles wore consumed, until only ono was loft. Little by little tho food disappeared, until the remnant was not sufficient to appease tho hunger of a child And still there was no apparent fall in tho waters of the lnke.

They had o»ton and slopt, and clambered up and down tbe inky rocka, talking in low tones ; and these wore tho only breaks in the lone, monotonous hours. Was it night ? AVas it day ? What day was h V Would a search bo made, or mu=t they ponah on this black, lifeless Bhore? The?c questions wero over running through their minds, though each tried to cheer tho othor.

When Ncllio told Mark Brant that they had only ono candlo and no food, he said : " Wo must try. to get back at once." The boat was bailed out, and again they ombmked on thoir adventurous voyage to, an unknown landing. They rowed along the wall shutting in the lake, and were surprised to rind a half dozen openings through which tho current flowed into the groat reservoir. They solectod the widest opening and rowed on again, and Mark, leaning over tho bow of the boat, saw tho candle growing shorter and shorter as tho curront against which they pulled became swifter.

" The candle iR nearly out; we mnst make for the rocks," cried out Mark. The boat was headec7 for the rocks, and after some trouble a landing was effected, but not a moment too soon, for tho light flared up and died out, leaving them in impenetrable gloom. Throwing himself on tho rocks, in piteous tones Tom bewailed his sad fato. Mark and Nellie sat side by side, his strong arms encircling her, but for hours neither uttered a word. It seemed like an age since they had made this second landing,' and Tom had sobbed himself to sleep, when Nellie, exclaimed:

" Did you hear that, Mark?" "What?"

" A shout: Hark !—there it is again." It was surely a shout.but it was impossible to tell the direction from which it camo. Mark leaped to his feet and answered back. Then he drew his revolver and began firing at intervals.

Nearer and nearer catno the shouting. At length it could be heard, apparently over their heads. They looked up, and afar of! they saw dim Hehts and recognised figures, like indistinct silhouetteß. The search party came down and proved to be Mark Brant's men, now, by' the fickle fortunes of war, in possession of the valley. With gladsome shouts Mark and Nellie were conducted back to the sunlight and friends.

To this day Mark Brant and his wife— accompanied by their children—often visit the cave with picnic parties, and never a timo that they do not have to relate thoir thrilling adventure therein.