University of Virginia Library

21. CHAPTER XXI.

As soon as I could collect my scattered senses, I found
myself nearly suffocated, and grovelling in utter darkness
among a quantity of loose earth, which was also
falling upon me heavily in every direction, threatening
to bury me entirely. Horribly alarmed at this idea,
I struggled to gain my feet, and at length succeeded. I
then remained motionless for some moments, endeavouring
to conceive what had happened to me, and where I
was. Presently I heard a deep groan just at my ear, and
afterward the smothered voice of Peters calling to me
for aid in the name of God. I scrambled one or two
paces forward, when I fell directly over the head and
shoulders of my companion, who, I soon discovered, was
buried in a loose mass of earth as far as his middle, and
struggling desperately to free himself from the pressure.
I tore the dirt from around him with all the energy I could
command, and at length succeeded in getting him out.

As soon as we sufficiently recovered from our fright and
surprise to be capable of conversing rationally, we both
came to the conclusion that the walls of the fissure in
which we had ventured had, by some convulsion of nature,
or probably from their own weight, caved in overhead,
and that we were consequently lost for ever, being
thus entombed alive. For a long time we gave up supinely
to the most intense agony and despair, such as
cannot be adequately imagined by those who have never
been in a similar situation. I firmly believe that no incident
ever occurring in the course of human events is

more adapted to inspire the supremeness of mental and
bodily distress than a case like our own, of living inhumation.
The blackness of darkness which envelops
the victim, the terrific oppression of lungs, the stifling
fumes from the damp earth, unite with the ghastly considerations
that we are beyond the remotest confines of
hope, and that such is the allotted portion of the dead, to
carry into the human heart a degree of appalling awe and
horror not to be tolerated—never to be conceived.

At length Peters proposed that we should endeavour
to ascertain precisely the extent of our calamity, and
grope about our prison; it being barely possible, he observed,
that some opening might be yet left us for escape.
I caught eagerly at this hope, and, arousing myself to exertion,
attempted to force my way through the loose earth.
Hardly had I advanced a single step before a glimmer of
light became perceptible, enough to convince me that, at
all events, we should not immediately perish for want of
air. We now took some degree of heart, and encouraged
each other to hope for the best. Having scrambled over
a bank of rubbish which impeded our farther progress
in the direction of the light, we found less difficulty in advancing,
and also experienced some relief from the excessive
oppression of lungs which had tormented us.
Presently we were enabled to obtain a glimpse of the objects
around, and discovered that we were near the
extremity of the straight portion of the fissure, where it
made a turn to the left. A few struggles more, and
we reached the bend, when, to our inexpressible joy, there
appeared a long seam or crack extending upward a vast
distance, generally at an angle of about forty-five degrees,
although sometimes much more precipitous. We could
not see through the whole extent of this opening; but, as
a good deal of light came down it, we had little doubt of
finding at the top of it (if we could by any means reach
the top) a clear passage into the open air.

I now called to mind that three of us had entered the
fissure from the main gorge, and that our companion,
Allen, was still missing; we determined at once to retrace
our steps and look for him. After a long search,

and much danger from the farther caving in of the earth
above us, Peters at length cried out to me that he had
hold of our companion's foot, and that his whole body
was deeply buried beneath the rubbish, beyond a possibility
of extricating him. I soon found that what he said
was too true, and that, of course, life had been long extinct.
With sorrowful hearts, therefore, we left the
corpse to its fate, and again made our way to the bend.

The breadth of the seam was barely sufficient to admit
us, and, after one or two ineffectual efforts at getting
up, we began once more to despair. I have before said
that the chain of hills through which ran the main gorge
was composed of a species of soft rock resembling soapstone.
The sides of the cleft we were now attempting to
ascend were of the same material, and so excessively
slippery, being wet, that we could get but little foothold
upon them even in their least precipitous parts; in some
places, where the ascent was nearly perpendicular, the
difficulty was, of course, much aggravated; and, indeed,
for some time we thought it insurmountable. We took
courage, however, from despair; and what, by dint of cutting
steps in the soft stone with our Bowie knives, and
swinging, at the risk of our lives, to small projecting
points of a harder species of slaty rock which now and
then protruded from the general mass, we at length
reached a natural platform, from which was perceptible
a patch of blue sky, at the extremity of a thickly-wooded
ravine. Looking back now, with somewhat more leisure,
at the passage through which we had thus far proceeded,
we clearly saw, from the appearance of its sides, that it
was of late formation, and we concluded that the concussion,
whatever it was, which had so unexpectedly
overwhelmed us, had also, at the same moment, laid
open this path for escape. Being quite exhausted with
exertion, and, indeed, so weak that we were scarcely
able to stand or articulate, Peters now proposed that we
should endeavour to bring our companions to the rescue
by firing the pistols which still remained in our girdles—
the muskets as well as cutlasses had been lost among
the loose earth at the bottom of the chasm. Subsequent

events proved that, had we fired, we should have sorely
repented it; but, luckily, a half suspicion of foul play
had by this time arisen in my mind, and we forbore to
let the savages know of our whereabouts.

After having reposed for about an hour, we pushed on
slowly up the ravine, and had gone no great way before
we heard a succession of tremendous yells. At length
we reached what might be called the surface of the
ground; for our path hitherto, since leaving the platform,
had lain beneath an archway of high rock and foliage,
at a vast distance overhead. With great caution we
stole to a narrow opening, through which we had a clear
sight of the surrounding country, when the whole dreadful
secret of the concussion broke upon us in one moment
and at one view.

The spot from which we looked was not far from the
summit of the highest peak in the range of the soapstone
hills. The gorge in which our party of thirty-two had
entered ran within fifty feet to the left of us. But, for
at least one hundred yards, the channel or bed of this
gorge was entirely filled up with the chaotic ruins of
more than a million tons of earth and stone that had
been artificially tumbled within it. The means by which
the vast mass had been precipitated were not more simple
than evident, for sure traces of the murderous work
were yet remaining. In several spots along the top of the
eastern side of the gorge (we were now on the western)
might be seen stakes of wood driven into the earth. In
these spots the earth had not given way; but throughout
the whole extent of the face of the precipice from which
the mass had fallen, it was clear, from marks left in the
soil resembling those made by the drill of the rock-blaster,
that stakes similar to those we saw standing
had been inserted, at not more than a yard apart, for the
length of perhaps three hundred feet, and ranging at about
ten feet back from the edge of the gulf. Strong cords
of grape vine were attached to the stakes still remaining
on the hill, and it was evident that such cords had also
been attached to each of the other stakes. I have already
spoken of the singular stratification of these soapstone

hills; and the description just given of the narrow
and deep fissure through which we effected our escape
from inhumation will afford a further conception of its
nature. This was such that almost every natural convulsion
would be sure to split the soil into perpendicular
layers or ridges running parallel with one another; and
a very moderate exertion of art would be sufficient for
effecting the same purpose. Of this stratification the
savages had availed themselves to accomplish their
treacherous ends. There can be no doubt that, by the
continuous line of stakes, a partial rupture of the soil
had been brought about, probably to the depth of one or
two feet, when, by means of a savage pulling at the end
of each of the cords (these cords being attached to the
tops of the stakes, and extending back from the edge of
the cliff), a vast leverage power was obtained, capable of
hurling the whole face of the hill, upon a given signal,
into the bosom of the abyss below. The fate of our
poor companions was no longer a matter of uncertainty.
We alone had escaped from the tempest of that overwhelming
destruction. We were the only living white
men upon the island.