20 DAYS IN DOVE 



I felt bound to ascend that terrible height, 

 and be swallowed up by that fearful, widely- 

 gaping mouth. 



I scrambled up on my hands and knees, 

 holding on now by tufts of grass, now by 

 jutting rocks, until at length, breathless and 

 exhausted, I tumbled headlong into that fearful 

 monster's jaws ! 



After a lapse of 'time I know not how 

 long I recovered my breath, and, looking 

 round, it did not seem to me so grim a place as 

 my excited imagination had painted it. 



I observed here and there the ends of smoked 

 cigars, fragments of tobacco pipes, and other 

 mundane things, which sufficiently assured me 

 that I was not " the first that ever burst " into 

 that silent cave. 



In my case, comparatively speaking, it had 

 been " facilis ^census Averni," but how to get 

 down again " hoc opus, hie labor, est ! " That 

 was really a trying time for me, for, remember, 

 I was alone. 



I felt it was an easy matter to break my 

 bones in scrambling down those slippery stones ; 

 so I looked upwards and around, and at length 

 I spied a side path which seemed to lead 



