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knew of the diabolical plans of my captors. Dowling said I was to remain a prisoner till they were cleat away, and that they would tie me with the very rope I had brought. I pleaded with them not to do this cruel wrong, but the wretches were relentless. I determined to resist them, even if I lost my life in the attempt, but was not prepared for their well-laid scheme. Suddenly one light was put out, a pistol was held against my brow, I felt a rope round my waist, and in less than half a minute was securely tied to the column against which I had placed myself.
I saw them leaving me, and for a few moments was speechless from the suddenness of the act and 'my exertions whilst resisting. I saw their lights dying away in the distance. Suddenly they disappeared, and I was in Egyptian darkness. I called as loudly as I could, and asked them not to leave me bound in the horrid place, but they heeded not my cry. I heard their retreating steps fainter and fainter. Now they had died away—and I was alone, and fast bound, in a chamber of death!
In my struggles to release myself, I felt the column to which I was bound jagged at several points. Against these I rubbed the rope up and down with all the energy of despair. It was giving way! A few minutes later the ends fell apart, and I was free I—but, in my joy, forgot I was as one blind. I stretched out my hands and felt all around, crawled along the ground, feeling my way till I came to the side of the cave, and then reached up as high as I could. Then I walked around it, still feeling my way by touching the wall and floor alternately. But I was absolutely lost, and did not know whether I was going towards the entrance or still retreating further in. A column intercepted me, and in getting around it I fell into an opening in the floor as far as my armpits. Oh, horrors! I could hear the stones I had loosened striking the sides of the chasm, then a splash! as they fell into the water, as it were a hundred feet below. With a desperate effort I scrambled out, and sank exhausted on the ground.
When consciousness returned I remember calling as loudly as I could for help, but could only hear the faint, hollow echo of my own voice, reverberating through the vaulted chamber. How horrible my position! All was still as death, and black as if in the darkest dungeon. Only the heavy throbbing of my own heart could I hear. Fear and grief now took possession of me. Great drops of perspiration ran down my face, and a cold, chilly, deathly feeling came over me. Thoughts of home, of my father and mother, of my past life, all vividly flashed across my mind. Higher thoughts came. A passage from the "Good Old Book" I had learned when a boy came as an inspiration. I prayed to God for deliverance, for was I not in trouble? I vowed that if I escaped my future life and wealth should be devoted to "God and humanity." With such thoughts as these crowding on my mind—fearing to move lest I fell again—with limbs sore and stiff, and with that horrible blackness and stillness around me I fell upon the ground, and gave myself up as lost.
