CHAPTER 21
AS soon as I could collect my scattered senses, I found myself nearlysuffocated, and grovelling in utter darkness among a quantity of looseearth, which was also falling upon me heavily in every direction,threatening to bury me entirely. Horribly alarmed at this idea, Istruggled to gain my feet, and at last succeeded. I then remainedmotionless for some moments, endeavouring to conceive what had happenedto 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 thename of God. I scrambled one or two paces forward, when I fell directlyover 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 strugglingdesperately to free himself from the pressure. I tore the dirt fromaround him with all the energy I could command, and at length succeededin getting him out.
As soon as we sufficiently recovered from our fright and surprise to becapable of conversing rationally, we both came to the conclusionthat the walls of the fissure in which we had ventured had, by someconvulsion of nature, or probably from their own weight, caved inoverhead, and that we were consequently lost for ever, being thusentombed alive. For a long time we gave up supinely to the most intenseagony and despair, such as cannot be adequately imagined by thosewho have never been in a similar position. I firmly believed that noincident ever occurring in the course of human events is more adapted toinspire the supremeness of mental and bodily distress than a case likeour own, of living inhumation. The blackness of darkness which envelopsthe victim, the terrific oppression of lungs, the stifling fumes fromthe damp earth, unite with the ghastly considerations that we are beyondthe remotest confines of hope, and that such is the allotted portion ofthe dead, to carry into the human heart a degree of appalling awe andhorror not to be tolerated--never to be conceived.
At length Peters proposed that we should endeavour to ascertainprecisely the extent of our calamity, and grope about our prison; itbeing barely possible, he observed, that some opening might yet be leftus for escape. I caught eagerly at this hope, and, arousing myself toexertion, attempted to force my way through the loose earth. Hardly hadI advanced a single step before a glimmer of light became perceptible,enough to convince me that, at all events, we should not immediatelyperish for want of air. We now took some degree of heart, and encouragedeach other to hope for the best. Having scrambled over a bank of rubbishwhich impeded our farther progress in the direction of the light, wefound less difficulty in advancing and also experienced some relief fromthe excessive oppression of lungs which had tormented us. Presently wewere enabled to obtain a glimpse of the objects around, and discoveredthat 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 reachedthe bend, when to our inexpressible joy, there appeared a long seam orcrack extending upward a vast distance, generally at an angle of aboutforty-five degrees, although sometimes much more precipitous. We couldnot see through the whole extent of this opening; but, as a good deal oflight came down it, we had little doubt of finding at the top of it (ifwe 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 fromthe main gorge, and that our companion, Allen, was still missing; wedetermined at once to retrace our steps and look for him. After a longsearch, and much danger from the farther caving in of the earth aboveus, Peters at length cried out to me that he had hold of our companion’sfoot, and that his whole body was deeply buried beneath the rubbishbeyond the possibility of extricating him. I soon found that what hesaid was too true, and that, of course, life had been long extinct. Withsorrowful hearts, therefore, we left the corpse to its fate, and againmade our way to the bend.
The breadth of the seam was barely sufficient to admit us, and, afterone or two ineffectual efforts at getting up, we began once more todespair. I have before said that the chain of hills through whichran the main gorge was composed of a species of soft rock resemblingsoapstone. The sides of the cleft we were now attempting to ascend wereof the same material, and so excessively slippery, being wet, that wecould get but little foothold upon them even in their least precipitousparts; in some places, where the ascent was nearly perpendicular, thedifficulty was, of course, much aggravated; and, indeed, for some timewe thought insurmountable. We took courage, however, from despair, andwhat, 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 ofa harder species of slaty rock which now and then protruded from thegeneral mass, we at length reached a natural platform, from which wasperceptible a patch of blue sky, at the extremity of a thickly-woodedravine. Looking back now, with somewhat more leisure, at the passagethrough which we had thus far proceeded, we clearly saw from theappearance of its sides, that it was of late formation, and we concludedthat the concussion, whatever it was, which had so unexpectedlyoverwhelmed us, had also, at the same moment, laid open this path forescape. Being quite exhausted with exertion, and indeed, so weak that wewere scarcely able to stand or articulate, Peters now proposed that weshould endeavour to bring our companions to the rescue by firing thepistols which still remained in our girdles--the muskets as well ascutlasses had been lost among the loose earth at the bottom of thechasm. Subsequent events proved that, had we fired, we should havesorely repented it, but luckily a half suspicion of foul play had bythis time arisen in my mind, and we forbore to let the savages know ofour whereabouts.
After having reposed for about an hour, we pushed on slowly up theravine, and had gone no great way before we heard a succession oftremendous yells. At length we reached what might be called the surfaceof the ground; for our path hitherto, since leaving the platform, hadlain beneath an archway of high rock and foliage, at a vast distanceoverhead. With great caution we stole to a narrow opening, through whichwe had a clear sight of the surrounding country, when the whole dreadfulsecret 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 highestpeak in the range of the soapstone hills. The gorge in which our partyof 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 wasentirely filled up with the chaotic ruins of more than a million tons ofearth and stone that had been artificially tumbled within it. The meansby which the vast mass had been precipitated were not more simple thanevident, for sure traces of the murderous work were yet remaining. Inseveral spots along the top of the eastern side of the gorge (we werenow 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 wholeextent 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 thedrill of the rock blaster, that stakes similar to those we saw standinghad been inserted, at not more than a yard apart, for the length ofperhaps three hundred feet, and ranging at about ten feet back from theedge of the gulf. Strong cords of grape vine were attached to the stakesstill remaining on the hill, and it was evident that such cords had alsobeen attached to each of the other stakes. I have already spoken of thesingular stratification of these soapstone hills; and the descriptionjust given of the narrow and deep fissure through which we effected ourescape from inhumation will afford a further conception of its nature.This was such that almost every natural convulsion would be sure tosplit the soil into perpendicular layers or ridges running parallel withone another, and a very moderate exertion of art would be sufficientfor effecting the same purpose. Of this stratification the savages hadavailed themselves to accomplish their treacherous ends. There can be nodoubt that, by the continuous line of stakes, a partial rupture of thesoil 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 (thesecords being attached to the tops of the stakes, and extending back fromthe edge of the cliff), a vast leverage power was obtained, capable ofhurling the whole face of the hill, upon a given signal, into the bosomof the abyss below. The fate of our poor companions was no longer amatter of uncertainty. We alone had escaped from the tempest of thatoverwhelming destruction. We were the only living white men upon theisland.