LOST IN AN ALABAMA CAVE.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 81, 6 February 1864, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOST IN AN ALABAMA CAVE.

An army correspondent, writing from Cave Spring, Alabama, gives the following incident of an adventure in a cave near that place:—

Half-way up the mountain is the entrance to what is termed u Saltpetre Cave." The rebels have worked it since the opening of the war. and the material, it is said, besides being plentiful, is peculiarly valuable. Excited by the stories concerning the cave, I repaired, with a small company and a piece of candle, to the big thing under ground. Half bent over we entered the cave, a strong current of cold chilly air almost extinguishing our lights. The passage way is exceedingly narrow, and at some points it was only after the greatest exertion we succeeded in squeezing through. Hundreds of dark aisles lead from the main passage, following which and exploring the principal chambers in a direct line with the way we were moving along, we left the main passage, and crawling on our hands and knees a distance of twenty or thirty feet, rose in a spacious chamber, hung with dripping stalactites, and quaintly carved, apparently by master artistes.

Led by a spirit of adventure and an insatiable curiosity, we travelled on from chamber to chamber, climbing huge rocks to higher aisles, descending ledges, crawling and stooping at intervals, until sheer exhaustion dictated a halt. Turning in what we supposed the direction of the cave's mouth, we traversed path after path, crept through the narrow fissures, and passed through lofty chambers that echoed and re-echoed our hasty footsteps, until a light appeared. The sound of a voice reached us, and in a moment a negro appeared, who crept through a small aperture, having evidently been wandering about for hours, in these labyrinthian passages, unable to effect an exit. His frightened features had their effect on us, and we began seriously to discuss whether we knew the way from the cave.

Apprehension quickened our steps, and hurrying forward, we entered what seemed a familiar apartment that offered safe egress to the main passage. To our surprise there was but one way of exit, and that by the way we entered. It was evident we were lost. Another hour passed in a fruitless effort to extricate ourselves. Hope had almost expired, and huge drops of sweat oozed from our over-excited foreheads. Our candles were almost burnt out. No footsteps were visible where we were. Night was coming on. Head-quarters would doubtless be removed before dawn on the following day, and a night in this dismal cavern, with a prospect of being left to starve, seemed inevitable. We had been separated from the main party, and here we stood, fear-relaxed, gasping as though the air grew hotter every minute, every sense of hearing employed to its fullest capacity. The negro was speechless. He stood as firm as the lofty walls of rock that shut us in. He was slightly bent forward, his eyes wide open, and lips agape, a perfect statue of a sable Hamlet, listening for voices from the spirit world. His appearance was ludicrous, but 1 had no disposition to laugh. My muscles were relaxed. I grew pale; my clothes were saturated with perspiration.

We stood silent as the tomb, drinking in every sound with the acuteness of perception known only to men dangerously circumstanced. I could count the heart pulsations of my comrades, and every breath seemed quick and labored. Suddenly, the negro started as if he caught the sound of a footstep. We turned toward him as he exclaimed, " Golly, Massa, I hears dem." He started in the direction of the sound, and we followed him to a lofty chamber, at least one hundred feet in length, eighty feet in width, and thirty or forty in height. From one extremity of this capacious apartment we discovered a faint glimmer of light at the other extremity, and were soon greeted by sounds of voices. I left the cave cured of my adventurous proclivities, and declaring that I would not soon be caught under ground, alive and voluntarily, without a guide.— Alta California.