134 THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 



ill adjusted around hivS body, gave him the most 

 excruciating pain. But soon his pain was for- 

 gotten in a new and dreadful peril. 



"When he was ninety feet from the mouth 

 of the pit, and one hundred from the bottom, 

 swaying and swinging in mid-air, he heard rapid 

 and excited words of horror and alarm above, 

 and soon learned that the rope by which he was 

 upheld had taken fire from the friction of the 

 timber over which It passed. Several moments 

 of awful suspense to those above, and still more 

 awful to him below, ensued. To them and to 

 him a fatal and instant catastrophe seemed in- 

 evitable. But the fire was extinguished with a 

 bottle of water belonging to himself, and then 

 the party above, though almost exhausted by 

 their labors, succeeded in drawing him to the 

 top. He was as calm and self-possessed as upon 

 his entrance into the pit; but all of his com- 

 panions, overcome by fatigue, sank down upon 

 the ground, and his friend. Professor Wright, 

 from overexertion and excitement, fainted, and 

 remained for some time insensible. 



" The young adventurer left his name carved 

 in the depths of the Maelstrom — the name of 

 the first and only person that ever gazed upon 

 its mysteries." 



