LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1682, 11 July 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A CAVE ON SAL AMIS. ( Continued .) My light was fast coming to an end, and the more time tbat passed the more bitter seemed the alternative—either tojawait death with philosophic coolness or to struggle on through unsearchable mazes, dizzy with fatigue and pain, and then perish cither by hunger or suffocation ; and I cursed the folly that had led mo to brave such a fato rather that put my relatives in England to tho expense of buying my liberty. At least, I thought if it had been my lot to die, I should have passed my last hour among human faces, and my courage would have found respect iu the vilest of my executioners. I should have looked up once more to tho blue sky, and have half-dreamed my soul away ere violence parted it from the body. My fancy warmed, and every loved feature of the world outside passed before me, so bright, so inviting, that I yearned for life with a strength of desire that would have made me give up honor itself to retain it. But there was no one with whom to make the bargain, and the half-frantic cry that anguish forced from me re-echoed harshly, and seemed to enter my lungs again, The linen hsd shrunk to three strips, and the smoke of wh»t had been already consume 1 tilled the spot where I had halfreclined, half-knelt, with noisome fumra. There being little or no circulation of the air, I could scarcely breathe, when the effort to do so recalled mo to consciousness, and mechanically I crept forward toward the hole which appeared to terminate the open space. Worn out, I paused, and feeling about, found myself on soft dry dust, extending apparently to some distance, while above I could not touch the roof. I was too tired for despeiation, so with one or two preliminary nods I fell into a deep sleep. Nor was this unbroken.

Vague figures passed before me, eluding my eager grasp, and towers and churches lay in tho full glory of tho sunshine, to disappear the instant I endeavored to fix them. Home came and fled, and then Italy and its pleasures, and thou tho scene changed suddenly to Athens, where I found myself a guest in a well known house, and the light of the sun came in through windows tbat I remarked with astonishment were bare of blinds One lo ked toward the other, but no one spoke, and it seemed as though wo were not there for a convivial purpose, but that some grave solemnity had called us together. I tried to break silence; but no, my tongue would form no sound. Our aged host looked fixedly at me, and seeing the motion of my lips pointed with an angry glance toward the window. There was nothing there, and the other guests as I turned seemed to fade away one by one till only tbe old man was left, whose stern look, and outstretched arm remained unchanged I was striving once more to give utterance to my perplexity when tho rays of light outside began to dance, and a sound broke on my ear that I fancied familiar. Nor wai I mistaken. Clearer and clearer became the tones of avoice thatlrecognised as Waring’s, and attempting in tho joy of recognition to address him, I awoke. It was no dream. Waring was still speaking, and what to my excited fancy had seemed the sun was a ray of light coming through a crevice opposite where I lay, at the distance I judged of, from eight to ten feet. For a moment I doubted tho evidence of my senses, but the dust below me, the strange dank smell, but above all, the pain from my wounded feet and tho pangs of hunger, brought all to mind, and convinced me that it was no deceit. I thought, though, that I must have confounded the speaker with the American from my dream, and as the voice ceased, hesitated some time, impelled to shout and make my situation known, and yet kept back by the consideration that, in such a retreat, I could scarcely count on meeting friends, and a delay would enable me to reconnoitre, and perhaps fly without giving the alarm. The latter thought prevailed, and I rose and dragged myself with agonising pain to where the light issued, realising for the first time how helpless I had become. Tho orifice at which I placed my eye was nearly a yard long by perhaps three inches in breadth, and smooth and polished as steel. The light, which proceeded neither from daylight nor a fire, was placed at a considerable distance, so that a largo portion of a chamber of this remarkable cave was illuminated and visible from my peephole. The speakers we~e quits silent, and I oh. served that arms such as brigands use were scattered about amid shorpskins and the rude woollen mantles worn by the Greek mountaineers. One or two pigskins, with woollen mouthpieces, which made mo long intensely for the wine that filled them, and tho remnants of a repast, piled up on a natural table formed by stalactite droppings, completed, as far as I could see, tho furniture. After waiting long, I lelt round in the hope of discovering some indirect way of obtaining a fuller view, or even of entering ; but 110 other opening presented inself in that direction, and I was forced to have patience. ‘ Come, my good fellow, let me go; I have not that much money,’ I heard a voice say, that I could not doubt was Waring’s. ‘ What can I do ? I am not tho only one,’ answered another person, whose hoarse tone betrayed the wild lifo of the mountains. * VYo must live, and they have been Lard ou

caof late. Give me your bill—give it quickly, You know Demetrius is waiting, and within forty-eight hours you shall bo bo free as air. ’„ ‘ Then I will stay here,’ «aid Waring, ‘ and y- u will see the hue and cry raised after me very quickly. Our government will not leave a man like me to your mercies, and you have put your hand in a hornet’s nest.’ ‘ Who knows? I feel perfectly secure,’ was the answer, ‘lt is not difficult to fancy you drowned in a drunken freak, and even if some have their suspicions, I shall not put my namo and address In tho Ethnophylax. ’ ‘ And what will you do to me!’ ‘ If you are obstinate—the lads know their business.’ ‘ You will give me up to those rascals, to he slashed in pieces with their yataghans ! ’ ‘ I can’t help you if you will not hear reason Why should yon kick up such a dcst? You are young and have friends, and what little money you lose you will soon make again. Life is pleasant at your age, and I would not throw it away in your place. I’ll give you four hours to consider. You will have wine enough to drown regrets in here, and there 13 plenty of meat and vegetables iu tho cavity ; so I’ll leave you. But mind, do it and do it soon. I have a liking for you, and speak for your good.’ ‘ Hang your liking ! I’ll—But tho rustle of the fastanella kilt as ho withdrew was tho only sound that replied When the old man had disappeared, I called through the opening to my friend. If a ghost bad appeared befere him, ho could not have been more startled. * Where are you ? Aro you a prisoner, too ? ’ he asked. * A prisoner by my own act,’ I answered. * But not yet in the hands of that mild ruffian.’ ‘ And how did you get in here? You are not outside the cave, surely, for I see no light.’ ‘No. I am further in than you. For aught I know, buried alive, for I caa find no means of exit.’ In answer to his questions, I told him the whole story as quickly as possible, not omitting to add that I had preserved my revolver fit for service. ‘ Just tho way in which-1 was taken, ’ was his comment, ’and now I understand tho whole affair. That wine in the Bai Busse was drugged, acd I was trapped iu a senseless condition and carried here. This is some haunt of the scoundrels, where they are sure of evading all search ; but if you can only get out again, we shall teach them something they have not heard of yet.’ ‘ But how to got out ?’ My feet are so painful that I could not go twenty yards upright, even if I were-free, and then you would be massacred long before my return. ”

*No great danger of tbat as long as they think themselves undiscovered.’ ‘ But what can I do ?’ ‘Do? Have some wine. You must be dead with hunger and thirst!’ ‘ For hunger lam badly off; but I found water in here.’ He went in search of some food, and poked it piecemeal through tho hole, and then set about devising means of conveying to me some wine. This was no easy task, as it was in pigskins, and the aperture was, as I said before, not above three inches wide, but with the practical readiness of hia countrymen, his eye fell on the empty scabbard of a sword, !e"s crooked than those worn generally by the mountaineers. He began decanting tho liquid with great care into it, corking it after with a linen rag, and passing it through. Much more wine was lost in the process than reached my mouth, but what I got was sufficient to revive me wonderfully, and even banish for a time the pain of my wounds. Wo conversed meanwhile iu broken whispers about the means of action. * Can yon find no hole in tho wall ?’ inquired Waring. I carefully examined the wall, and at last found an opening some three or four feet distant from the aperture through which we had conversed. ‘You ar-e free, then’ answered Waring, when I had told him the result of my search. ‘ That hole opens into the compartment in which I am confined.’ With some difficulty I succeeded in crawling through, and a few momenta later stood at Waring’s side. ‘ I do not see exactly what is to be done,’ said Waring. * The outlet is guarded, I dare say, by ten or twelve men ; there are weapons left about, but we could make little use of them against such odds.’ ‘You don’t want to die fighting, then ? ’ * No, by Goorge! As you have roughed through matters in this style, ’tis time to see if nothing better can be done.’ Here a sound in the distance interrupted us, and I hastened to conceal myself in the further corner of the chamber. It proved to be the o’d chieftain, who, it appeared from what was said, came to remove the arms that had been left about Great was his surp-ise and indignation to find the leathern scabbard soaked with wine. To his remonstrances Waring turned a deaf ear, and said sharply that he had so many hours allowed him to make np his mind in, and expected the undisturbed enjoyment of them. ‘ Well, well, my son, if you would listen to me you would not have need of them at all,’ said the old man ; ‘but yon are wilful, and I hope your st*y here will have a good effect upon you. Take care of yourself, and don’t drink too much wino.’ And muttering something about that being tho great failing of the Franks, ho withdraw the muskets, c’anking against the top and sides of the low gallery. In an instant Waring was with me again. ‘ That is a good sign, he said. ‘ What?’ * That they have removed the arms.’ ‘ I do not see that. It is so much the worse for us, I think, for now wo have nothing left but the littlo pistol, that may hurt—and may not. ’ ‘ No; while the tools were there it indicated great consciousness of strength. They did not care what I did, being sure of keeping me in, even if I showed the might of Hercules ; bat this precaution points to their having sent away part of the men, and the reduced guard shrinks tom coping with an armed mm.’ ‘ Well, if of your build, they maybe right,’ I said, ‘ but it seems to me to be folly to think of encountering them where a single musket, held at the mouth of tho cave, would hold at army at bay.’ ‘ Wo do not know what the exit is like. Anyhow, they must have good reason for looking after mo so carefully—l was going to say us, but they do not know you are here. If they did—’ ‘And if they did ?’ ‘ They might have as bright an idea as that which now strikes me,’ he said, clapping his hands. ‘ For mercy’s sake make less noise, and if yon have imagined a plan of deliverance, tell me quickly.’ * You know these fellows are very superstitious.’ ‘ Well ? ’ (To be, continued.)