Part 3 (1/2)
Seeing also several which appeared to have fallen on the ground, I ran forward to examine them, when what was my disappointment to find that they were of a stony nature, thus formed by the dropping of the water.
In another cave our guide, having lighted two of the largest torches, waved them about, when we appeared to be standing in a wintry scene.
Ice above us, ice on the ground, with here and there patches of snow.
We did not get nearly to the end of the cavern, and therefore missed seeing a beautiful grotto which our guide told us was called ”Serena's Arbour,” and that the walls are covered with a drapery resembling yellow satin falling in graceful folds, while through it murmurs a rivulet, falling into one of the many rivers running through the cavern, which is said to be nine miles in extent. It appeared to me that we had been walking all day amid vast towering rocks. Often the roof was so far above us that even the light of our torches failed to reach it. We now entered another hall, when our guide told us to seat ourselves on some rocks and to extinguish our lights.
”Don't be alarmed,” he said; ”I'm not going to be guilty of treachery.”
My father and Uncle Denis agreed to his proposal, and there we sat far down in the depths of the earth, not a ray of light reaching us. I could feel my mother's hand, but although I placed it close to my eyes, I could not see it. After waiting some time I began to grow uneasy, when greatly to my relief the guide returned with a lantern in his hand.
”Look up!” he said, ”see to what a region I have transported you.”
On gazing upwards, we saw stars innumerable glittering in the sky, so it seemed, but in vain we looked for those to which our eyes were accustomed, though it was difficult to persuade ourselves that they were not veritable stars. The guide, holding a stone in his hand, threw it upwards, when it struck the roof above our heads, and we found that the seeming stars were produced by pieces of mica imbedded in the roof on which the light from the lantern, being thrown in a peculiar way, was brightly reflected.
Relighting our torches, we saw that the walls were of a yellow colour, while the ceiling appeared to be of a dark undefined blue, resembling the midnight sky. We visited several other caverns, some of which appeared to be of immense height, though the ceiling in most parts is not more than thirty feet from the ground.
One cavern had, what looked like a mountain in that subterranean region, rising from the ground, with a stream running at its base. We crossed several rivers; besides the ”Echo,” one called the ”Styx,” the other the ”Lethe.” Our guide had brought a net, with which he caught some fish and crawfish. On examining them we could discover no appearance of eyes, while, from being deprived of the warm rays of the sun, they were perfectly white. Uncle Denis remarked that as they had no lamps down there, eyes would have been useless, but their instinct, or probably their keen sense of feeling, told them when they were running into danger. The crickets which came hopping about around us, could however, we ascertained, see perfectly well, and appeared to be attracted by the light of our lanterns. They were not pleasant-looking creatures, and if the rats can find nothing else to eat, they must have an uncomfortable life of it. The guide told us that the cave was not known to white men until 1802, though he did not acknowledge that the natives were ignorant of its existence. For many years no one could advance beyond three miles from the entrance, further progress being stopped by a deep chasm called the ”Bottomless Pit.” At length, however, a daring guide threw a ladder over it, and thus getting across, he explored six more miles of this underground region. A bridge has now been constructed, by which people can pa.s.s over in perfect safety. He a.s.serted that no dog would willingly enter the cavern, and that although he had made the attempt several times to induce his own faithful animal to follow him, the creature had always run back howling with dismay. We readily believed this, and for my part I felt oppressed with a sensation of awe I had never before experienced, and which I can to this day vividly recollect.
I have since, more than once, visited that subterranean world, and though aware that its dimensions are not so great as I then imagined, and that there was no real danger to be apprehended, I have on each occasion felt awestruck, though in a less degree than formerly.
My father and mother acknowledged that they were thankful when we regained the upper world, and Uncle Denis gave a shout of satisfaction as he inhaled the fresh air of heaven, while the black boys leapt and laughed, and tumbled against each other, as they hurried off to harness the horses to the waggon.
”Fine place dat, Caesar, for n.i.g.g.ar to hide away if de white ma.s.sa not know it,” observed Peter to his companion.
”Berry good for hide 'way, but bad for de food; nothing but rats and crickets to eat dare.”
Uncle Denis, jumping up on the box, shouted ”Erin-go-bragh,” and away we dashed as fast as we had come. It was dark long before we reached the farm; my mother appeared pretty well tired out. We remained a couple of days more to recruit, and then set out on our return home. Uncle Denis accompanied us part of the first day's journey.
”Keep clear of Master Silas Bracher,” he observed as we were about to part. ”I have no wish to meet him again, for he is more likely to pick a quarrel and send a bullet through a man's body than to do him any good.”
”I'll follow your advice,” answered my father; ”I wish from my heart, though, that I could get the black, Dio, out of his power. I really believe that he is jealous of the poor slave.”
”You may as well try to draw sunbeams out of a cuc.u.mber, as to get him to agree to your offer; keep clear of him altogether, and should I have the chance, I will not forget your wish to obtain the black, whom, should I succeed, you can either set free or keep in bondage, as you may decide; probably, were you to give him his choice, he would prefer remaining your slave.”
After an affectionate farewell, Uncle Denis turned his horse's head, and rode back, while we continued our journey to ”Uphill,” the name my father had given to his property. Avoiding Mr Bracher's location, we drove down to the ford, and as the water was much lower than when we before crossed it, we got over in safety, though my mother naturally felt very nervous as we were making the pa.s.sage.
We found all going on well at home, Martin Prentis, the overseer, also giving a favourable account of affairs on the estate. It may seem strange that, young as I then was, I should be able to give so minute an account of some of the incidents of our journey: but in the first place they made a deep impression on me; in the second, my parents have since a.s.sisted me to brush up my recollections of those days.
CHAPTER TWO.
LIFE AT UPHILL--OUR TUTOR--MR. MARK TIDEY'S FIRST LESSON IN HORSEMANs.h.i.+P--STUDIES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE--OUR TRIPS WESTWARD--A STRANGE COMBAT--A HASTY SHOT--SOMETHING WORTH KNOWING ABOUT SNAKES-- CAMPING OUT--THE BEAR'S VISIT AND ITS RESULT--WOLVES--DRAWING LOTS--A SLEEPLESS NIGHT--TIMELY a.s.sISTANCE--DYING FROM HUNGER--CONSEQUENCES OF SHELTERING A RUNAWAY SLAVE--OUR TUTOR TURNS NURSE--CHANCES OF DISCOVERY--WE PART COMPANY--A MID-DAY HALT--AN UNPLEASANT MEETING--THE BULLY RECEIVES A LESSON--OUR MARCH HOMEWARDS--THE WAY DAN KEPT WATCH--WE REACH THE FARM.
We had been living at Uphill for some years, the wilderness had been changed into a smiling garden, though I will not say a perfect paradise, for I am very sure that no such spot exists on earth. Our education had not been neglected, for my father had engaged a tutor for Dan and me, when we grew too old for the instruction our mother could give us. Our father was too much engaged to attend regularly to our studies, though very well able himself to teach us. Mr Mark Tidey, our tutor, was a character; he was fond of field-sports, but fonder still of books, and had an apt.i.tude for teaching which many professed tutors do not possess.
For the sake of indulging in both his fancies, he undertook to instruct us at a very moderate stipend. My father had found him during one of his journeys eastward at a wayside store--which he had visited for the purpose of obtaining a supply of powder and shot--without a cent in his pocket to pay for it. He had been endeavouring to persuade the storekeeper that he would return in the course of a week with a number of skins amply sufficient to pay his debts; but the wary trader, looking at his ungainly figure and discovering that he was a ”Britisher,” was unwilling to trust him. Finding that all his arguments were useless, taking a book from his pocket, he had sat down in a corner of the store, philosophically to console himself by its perusal. My father entering found him thus engaged, and glancing his eye on the book, his surprise was considerable to find that it was a copy of one of the Greek cla.s.sics. My father addressed the stranger, and soon discovered that he was a well-informed man. After some further conversation, he was pretty well satisfied that he was also an honest one. Mr Tidey, finding a person who could sympathise with him, poured forth the history of his adventures and misfortunes. He had come over to America with the intention of establis.h.i.+ng a school, but his slender means had been almost exhausted before he could obtain any pupils, his attainments indeed being at that time such as were not generally required in the States. Believing that he could replenish his exhausted exchequer more satisfactorily by means of his gun than in any other way, he had come westward; but the game of which he was in search he found had been driven further into the wilderness than he had expected, and an illness of some weeks' duration had entirely emptied his purse. He had notwithstanding, trudged boldly forward, though the game he killed had been barely sufficient to supply himself with the necessaries of life.
From several letters and other doc.u.ments which he exhibited, my father, being convinced that Mr Tidey had given a true account of himself, invited him to Uphill farm. The poor man jumped at the offer.
”With all the pleasure in the world, my dear sir,” he answered, the tears starting to his eyes. ”You have boys to teach, I'll teach them.
If you've game to be shot, I'll shoot it. If you've accounts to be kept, I'll keep them. If you've any other work to be performed, which a gentleman and a man of honour can perform, I'll undertake it. You would not ask me, I am sure, to do anything derogatory to my character.”
My father, however, did not accept his offer at once, wis.h.i.+ng to see more of the stranger before he confided us to his care.