LITERATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5494, 17 December 1885, Page 3

LITERATURE.

♦ SCOEPION GULCH. (Continued.) A feeling of horror took possession of me as I felt myself slowly descending into the unknown deaths of that fearful abyss. I raised my hand, feeling for the tightly drawn rope above my head, and was astonished that I had not before noticed how very frail it was. My sensitiveness was so great that it seemed to be a mere thread. I was filled with a vague horror' that it might at any moment snap, and launch me to destruction ; nevertheless, I conquered my fears by a great effort of volition, controlling myself sufficiently to call up at intervals, " All right ! " to my companions above. Upon examining the wall of the chasm nearest me, I was also exceedingly encouraged to perceive, in the uncertain light, the yellow glitter, which I knew so well how to appreciate. The rock was literally seamed and clothed with golden ore. I was abont to realise all I had dreamed - I was penetrating the bosom of the mountains, the golden heart of the sierras* at whose gloomy exteriors I had so often moodily gazed, longing to pierce them with clairvoyant vision -nevertheless, the darkness soon became so dense that I could not see my hand before my face, and my golden visions were slowly darkened by the actual terrors by which I was surrounded. At length I felt that the extremity of the rope mußt be reached, as the regular jerks above my head suddenly ceased. I had left the broad, sunny daylight behind me ; but now, turning my gaze upward, through the apparently diminutive aperture at the top, the outline of which I could faintly distinguish, I saw the stars shining brightly in the heavens. I must now surely be deep enough. Feeling out for the wall, I luckily found it close at hand, and, to my joy, discovered a broad, firm ledge, which I immediately gained, giving a sigh of relief as I loosened the j tight pressure of the cord from across the lungs. The wall was moist, but I managed to strike a match, and soon kindled a flaring torch from one of my pineknots, placing it in a niche just above my head. I was disappointed at the amount of light emitted by the flame, which I attributed to the dampness of the atmosphere ; nevertheless, a broad portion of the opposite side of the chasm was made visible, the sight of which dissipated any uncertainty which may have existed in my mind as to whether the glittering particles I had Been were truly gold. The glorious metal cropped out in huge, pure masses at my very feet. The entire circumferenje of the abyss was auriferous ore. I wa3 almost wild with conflicting emotions. Where I stood the quartz was exceedingly friable. It was possible, with a little diligence with my pick, to detach masses, 75 per cent of which was clean, genuine gold. I was suddenly interrupted in my operations by a great noise, as of contention, far above my head, I could hear curses and yells, and now and then fragments of the little pyramid, which Gonzago had piled about the crow-bar, would come hurling down before my face. I held my breath in an excess of terror. An indistinct premonition that something frightful was about to happen took possession of me, and I quaked from head to foot. Just then there was a great shout at the top ; then, as a mass — rendered shapeless by the velocity of its fall— came rushing by me to the depths below, a skriek, an awful howl of horror, smote my ears with an emphasis which will continue to echo through them till my dying day. That mass was a human form, that howl a human voice. Whose ? My heart stood still as I put to it that frightful query. I listened, with a sense of hearing sharpened hy my extremity into i an acuteness of abnormal intensity. Far, ! far down below went tho sullen boom of : that falling body, striking the ledges as it ' went, until at length it died away, and then, far up above, I heard a fierce shout, ' and caught the expression, "Accursed Americanos ! " Then with horrible rapidity — like the events of a lifetime that pass in panorama through the brain of a drowning man — link by link, I worked together the incidents of the few previous days — our insiinctive fear of Gonzago, his silent, sinister ways, his little girl spying us as we buried our treasure, his jealousy and hatred of Hereford, and, last of all, his luring us to that remote and almost impenetrable crater — all these reflections rushed through my mind in an instant, and I knew that my friend was ere thi., in the other world. In a few seconds I was roused from my horror by feeling a tug at the rope from above. Instinctively loosening it from my per.on, I wound the end secure around a massive fragment close at hand. Scan-ely was this done when the crow-bar aud rope came rattling and clanging by me. Down, down, clanked the iron bar, but was soon

brought to a stop by the fastening, whiel I had made secure. The fiend at the toi waa evidently in doubt aa to whether h( had succeeded in launching me after mj comrade, for he hung around the mouth oi the abyßS, sending down a jargon of oaths and yells, but without eliciting any response from me. At length all was silent I concluded he had gone away • and sitting down upon the ledge, and bowing my head upon my kneeo, I gave myself up to the host of emotions which oppressed my brain, Need I Bay that I considered myself loet beyond redemption ? The awful extremity of my own situation Boon ameliorated the grief and horror into which the death oi my friend had plunged me. I must have sat thus for hours, for when I again scanned the walk of the abyss, I saw them but indistinctly, for the torch which I had lighted was nearly consumed. Even while I looked, it burned from its fastening and fell into the unknown depths below. The bare idea of being left in that subterranean darkness was so horrible that my hand fluttered at my belt for a match immediately. I _ But I paused. I only had three more ! pine-knots. Should I not be sparing of them for an emergency ? Emergency ? What one could arise more perilous than my present situation? The air was bo moist that I began to shake with cold. No sound through that realm of darkness— no sound but the shrill small voice of that little torrent, dripping somewhere downward through the gloom. When far abore, in the blissful regions \ of light and warmth, I had imagined ; that sound to be the chuckling laughter of a fiend. With what fearful fancies did it now impress me ! I could have sworn that it waß a voice, a demoniac voice. There was a weird, ghostly significance in its hollow but ringing laugh. Now it would chuckle in a wicked, self-satisfied way, then it would ring aloud in silvery . peals, with a joy so exultant and wild that ' I feared it would make me insane, and I closed my ears with my fingerfe, which gave to it a muffled, ill-defined murmur, as of • half-suppressed mirth, which was more ■ horrible still. The awful blackness of that quintessence of midnight darkness lay upon jme with the weight of an iron globe. I j shut my eyes, and would yet feel it, ' pressing upon head and bosom until I j could scarcely breathe. But sufferings of the imagination, like those of the body, must cease in time ; and, after an interval, I resigned myself to my fate, and ! passed into a kind of torpor of despair. ! From this I was awakened by a clammy j hand — bo it seemed — a corpse-like, death- .. dewy, shuddering hand, passing across jmy neck. Flinging it off with a stifled shriek, I hastily lit another torch, and perceived that the ledge upon which I Btood was swarming with the great, black, loathsome, lizards peculiar to California, one of which must have given me that clammy touch which had so appalled me. The sudden gleam of the torch was reas.uring, and I again began to examine the walls in a mechanical way. To my disgust they were alive with large scorpions, while, from several ledges, I noticed, hanging and swinging, several of those hideous, black bloated spiders, the tarantula, whose very aspect curdles the blood of the stranger. The bite of this insect is exceedingly venomous and sometimes fatal, and the Bting from the tail of the scorpion— doubly dangerous from the fact that it moves witincredible velocity— is scarcely less painful. Again I viewed the glittering, goldcrusted walls of my prison-house with gloomy reflections. Above, around, beneath my feet was opulence outvying that oi kingdoms and principalities, wealth enough to equip vast armies and cover the sea. with mighty navies ; all this within my clutch — all this, and yet not enough t. purchase me a gulp of God's pure atmosphere; not enough, perhaps, to save me {rom a lingering, miserable, unwept-foi tomb. I covered my face with my hande and burst into a torrent of bitter, scalding tears. But, dark as may be the vicissitude* of fortune, often there are little things * which may afford momentary relief. I found that the little rivulet, whost silvery voice had at first so frigh tfullj affected my morbid sensibility, dripped from the rocks so near me that, by cautiouE crawling, I could reach a little plashing basin, which it formed ©n the right-hand extremity of the ledge whereon I rested, I drank a deep draught, and bathed my head in its refreshing currents. That, at least, was sweet and pure, and fresh from the free air of the mountains above. It had no longer a demon's voice for me, but tinkled merrily down like a chime of fairy bells. That hearty draught and ablution was like a resumption of the connection with the upper world, which I had almost resigned for ever. Naturally of a disposition exceedingly sanguine, the reaction from despair to hope was almost like the work of enchantment. I began to eye the walls, not with the dull stare of hopelessness, but with the swift glance oi enterprise. The ledge upon which I stood was a broad, deep platform of mingled earth and quartz, and, it 6hook as I stamped it with my heavy heel. It must, therefore, be also comparatively thin as well as broad. Advancing to the outer edge as near as I dared, I cast the light of my torch up and down the opposite wall, and saw that the conformation of all sides was in no instance smoothly perpendicular, but composed entirely of ledges or galleries, at quite regular intervals, probably varying in width from six to ten feet. Above and below, as far as I could throw the light of my torch, I saw this singular formation, and concluded that it must be bo all the way to the surface. It struck me at once as a kind of ogre's amphitheatre, as if there, in other days, they had held their hideous orgies. I was encouraged to find myself planning and devisin g, with abusy brain, soin c method of, assent, however ridiculously impossible. Anything was preferable to the torpidity of despair. To ascend by climbing up the edges of these projections, outside, over their appalling brinks, was not to be thought of for a moment. Even if the horror of the unfathomable depths had not been a sufficient objection, tbe fact that these edges were crumbly and insecure was an insurmountable one. I retired to the centre of the platform I occupied, ahd looked up. The ceiling of the ledge immediately above was about two feet above my head. The only possible mode of ascent seemed to be by digging one's way up through the successive platforms or tiers. When I reflected that I must be nearly or quite one hundred feet below the crater's rim, the old qualms of despair almost repossessed me • but I managed to become myself again. At least I would die trying to escape. Choosing several large fragments, I loosened them with my pickaxe, and built a littlo hillock on the ledge, by which 1 was enabled to step up to within a few inches of the ceiling, and, avoiding the loathsome insects as much as po.silile, I commenced pegging away at the rooky roof with all my might. It was vory slow and arduous work • still 1 made headway in the friable stone made porous by the nitrations of ages and the corrosion of nameless centuries. Once I came very near losing my pick. It flew from my hand by aceij dent, and almost rolled over the ledge. i Ergaining it, I proceeded to avoid p, similar : accident by securing it to my wrist with 1 a thong, which 1 cut from my buckskin trousers. While doing this, I per- ; ceived tho rope dangling over the ledge. I had forgotten all about that; yet there it was, with the crowbar probably attnuhod to its other end. I was overjoyod at this discovery, a ; the crowbar would be a mast valuiibk* auxiliary to the furtherance of my project. Quickly drawing up the line and loosening the still secure bar, I set to work again with a degree of cheeriness which surprised me. I prised off great fragments, which went booming down the abyss, making a most appalling, long-echoing din. In about an hour, to my great joy, I felt the crowbar go through to the surface abovo. With a , little more hard work I e fleeted a large breach in the yielding rock, through which, after increasing the elevation of the artificial stool on which I stood, 1 could thrust my head and shoulders. Very greatly encouraged, 1 put all my imple* uientH up through tlio aperture, and th"Ti crawled up myself, torch in hand, 1 (To be continued.)