CHAPTER XX.
A TRIP TO MAMMOTH CAVE.
One evening, shortly after the examination, Fannie said to her father:"Papa, I want to invite the club for a last meeting before Ernestineleaves us. I wish I could have something in the way of a treat differentfrom anything we have had."
"I don't know about that. Your mother is so busy getting ready for thesummer, and we are going away so soon, that I hardly see how we canarrange it."
Fannie looked at her father in blank dismay. But he went on unmoved:
"In fact, Fannie, I have been thinking that these meetings, as you callthem, are becoming somewhat monotonous." (Fannie's eyes opened wide.)"No, I don't think we can have it at all."
This was too much, and Fannie's speechless indignation found voice:"Papa Allen, I didn't think this of you!" Then, seeing the well-knowntwinkle in his eyes, she perched herself on his knee and said, "Now,papa, what are you up to?"
"Well, as the immortal Peter Pindar says, as reported by McGuffey,'I love to please good children,' and as you have all been 'kind andcivil,' I have concluded to give you what I call a grand treat. Soprepare for a shock."
"Go ahead, papa. I'm not afraid of it at all; what I was afraid ofwas--none."
"Well, what do you say to my taking all of you, the whole company ofwarriors, to Mammoth Cave?"
Fannie sprang from his knee and fairly danced around the room for joy.Then she quieted herself and said, "When, papa?"
"Just before the Fourth, I think. Your mother and I will go, andpossibly Ernestine's uncle, who will be here by that time; and I thoughtwe might invite 'Miss Kitty,' of whom I have heard so much."
So it came about that on a warm afternoon in July, a party of eight,escorted to the boat by several friends, ascended the narrow staircaseof the steamboat, and made themselves comfortable on deck until the"All aboard!" was heard, when the escort hurried down the stairs to thewharf.
When the boat had floated entirely out of sight of the wavinghandkerchiefs of their friends, the party, taking their hand luggage,went into the cabin to find their staterooms and deposit theirbelongings. They had four staterooms in all. Fannie and Miriam occupiedone communicating with that of Fannie's parents; and Ernestine, Gretta,Winnie and her Aunt Kitty had another similar suite. This duty over,they went on deck to enjoy the sweet, fresh air from the river and thebeautiful scenery along its banks.
Just after the short landing which had been made at Lawrenceburg, supperwas called, and they were all ready to respond. The colored waiters weredelighted to find such a party of young girls, and served them with theutmost alacrity, anticipating every want in a delightful manner.
After supper they sat on deck till long after dark. Mr. Allen and Mr.Van Orten were exchanging reminiscences of their college days; andlater, joined by Mrs. Allen, of summers passed at beautiful Lake Georgeand in the White Mountains. To all of this the remainder of the partylistened with absorbing interest. However, the air, which had firstgiven them so good an appetite for supper, now made them sleepy, so thatby ten o'clock the girls had all climbed into their narrow berths andwere soon sound asleep.
They had breakfast on the boat, so were ready to continue theirjourney by rail without interruption. After a pleasant ride through apicturesque country they reached Cave City, where they were transferredto a tram--an engine and one coach--which took them first up and thendown hill over a road cut right through the woods, so that in someplaces the trees almost interlaced over the top of the coach. It wasmost delightful to all the party, and would have been only too short hadit not been for what was to follow. It formed a fit introduction to thesublime and wonderful results of Nature's long and patient work whichthey were to see. Therefore, in spite of the novelty and beauty, theywere glad to reach the hotel, a long, rambling, wooden building, sounlike anything the girls had ever before seen that the short staywithin its quaint rooms, with their bare floors and whitewashed walls,was in itself an experience long to be remembered.
After a night's refreshing sleep they were ready to start out brightand early for the first day's adventures. With many girlish giggles theyarrayed themselves in the costumes provided by the Cave management--theshort woolen skirts and loose blouses carrying with them a delightfullyfree and unconventional feeling--and then, at the sound of the gong,set forth with their guide; Mr. and Mrs. Allen in the lead, close behindthem Miss Kitty and Miriam, next Fannie and Gretta, then Ernestinewith one hand locked in that of her uncle and the other tightly holdingWinnie's fingers, while the interesting and friendly dog, "Brigham,"--socalled, the guide explained, because he was no longer young--divided hisattentions between them, but seemed most inclined to make friends withMiss Kitty, who was accused of having a piece of meat in her pocket asthe only way to account for her mysterious fascination for his dogship.
They had a short but beautiful walk through the fern-decorated woods,down a steep path, over a little bridge, till they found themselves ona stone platform directly in front of an enormous opening in the hill, anatural arch overhung with trees, rocks, ferns and wild-flowers--a sightnever to be forgotten, so wonderfully beautiful and grand was it--andthe party stepped back to admire it.
When they went forward again in order to enter, they saw that what wasan arch above was a gaping chasm below, which looked ready to swallowthem, and down which there seemed no way to go except to fall headlong.Their guide watched their dismay with amusement, but presently Miriamdiscovered a narrow flight of steps cut out of the solid rock. Downthese they went, shaded by the trees, under the sparkling cascade,beneath the black, overhanging rock, winding their way along to wherethe last bit of daylight is swallowed up, and then, with various kindsof sensations, watched the guide unlock the iron gate through which theywere to pass on their way to the mysterious region of the nether world.As they took their lamps and the gate closed behind them with a clang,Miriam confided to Miss Kitty that she felt little shivers running upand down her back.
As the darkness became more intense, Winnie slipped away from Ernestineto her Aunt Kitty, whose hand she seized with a breath of relief, as iffeeling safer there; and Gretta and Fannie clung closely together.
As they advanced, the sense of mystery increased, and for a minutethe girls huddled together in a bunch. Brigham, however, sniffed oncemore--a little contemptuously, according to Miss Kitty--and then ranahead on side trips of his own, returning to the party from time totime as if to reassure them that everything was all right and theymight place implicit confidence in his knowledge of the Cave and hisfriendship for them.
Their first stop was made in the Rotunda in order to examine thesaltpeter vats, in which Ernestine, in keeping with her liking forhistory, was much interested when she heard that the saltpeter made herewas taken to Philadelphia to be used in the manufacture of gunpowderduring the war of 1812.
Presently they entered Methodist Hall--so named, as they were assuredby their guide, "because it's a heap too dry for the Baptis'." In thisplace was the natural pulpit from which--so tradition says--Booth oncedelivered Hamlet's soliloquy.
Next they came to Gothic Avenue, where their way lay along piles ofstone erected by admirers of famous men, States, and so on. There wasone little pile which seemed to have been neglected, and Miss Kittyasked whose it was. On being told that it was the Old Maid's Monument,she exclaimed: "I shall find nothing nearer my heart!" and, picking up astone, carefully balanced it on the top of the pile. But in spite of hercare, it rolled off. "That's a shore sign, Miss, that you ain't gwine tobe a ole maid."
"Can it be!" she said, as the elders of the company laughinglycongratulated her. "Once more I feel a breath of hope."
By and by they reached Register Hall, which has been aptly described asa huge autograph album, for on its ceiling, smoked by burning candles,can be found names and addresses from all parts of the world, whileaddress cards are placed in numberless nooks and crevices. Here Grettasat in the arm-chair in which, so it is said, Jenny Lind once sat andsang.
The next thing which pleased al
l of them, and particularly Fannie, wasthe water clock--a tick-tock sound made by the dropping of a littlestream of water into a pool below--and they all laughed at William whenhe said, "But it ain't a eight-day clock, because it runs down everytwenty-four hours."
When they saw the Giant's Coffin they looked upon it with awe--for itwas a gruesome sight enough--until Mr. Allen said in a loud aside to Mr.Van Orten:
"This is the coffin in which the Warrior Maidens deposit the bodies oftheir victims."
Mrs. Allen smiled faintly, but Miss Kitty--more at Mr. Van Orten'spuzzled expression than at the speech itself--laughed outright. Winnieand Ernestine had not heard, and Gretta hardly knew whether to laugh orbe offended, until Fannie and Miriam, catching the joke, re-echoed MissKitty's laugh.
From a crevice behind the Giant's Coffin they went slipping and slidingdown an incline, and then up and down, till they came to a small, roundopening in what seemed to be a solid wall. "Stay here," said the guide;and he disappeared through the hole with his lights. Then he called tothem, and, peering through the aperture, they found it to be a naturalwindow opening into a great, beautiful chamber--Gorin's Dome, consideredby many, said the guide, to be the finest room in the Cave, with itsimmense extent, measuring two hundred feet from floor to ceiling, andcovering an entire acre of space.
From here they went to the pits, and, standing on the Bridge of Sighs, alowered ball of flame showed them that they were directly suspended overthe deepest, known as the Bottomless Pit. Winnie and Gretta caughttheir breath quickly, and Ernestine's hand tightened on her uncle's arm;indeed, the whole party was glad to get away from that dangerous spot.
The next place visited, however, made up to them for any amount of hardtravel or moment of terror. Having retraced their steps till they cameto the original passage, they went on for some distance until told bytheir guide to rest for a moment on a convenient stone seat, and waitthere until he called to them. He then took away all of their lamps anddisappeared. For a moment they felt the darkness something frightful,but before it had lasted long enough to be painful, they saw a visionoverhead of numberless stars shining down upon them from a cloudlessdome.
That which for one moment in the darkness had almost provoked a cry ofterror from more than one of the party, became a cry of delight; andthen Mrs. Allen wondered aloud how they could see the stars so far belowthe surface of the earth. But even as she spoke, the scene changed.They no longer saw a clear sky, but the stars disappeared behind heavyclouds, and then they were again in that indescribably awful darkness.But gradually a soft light was seen, and they heard the bleatingof sheep and the lowing of cattle as they wake in the early dawn."Beautiful! Beautiful!" they said, and were almost sorry when they foundout that these sounds were produced by their guide, who turned out to besomething of a ventriloquist, and that the stars and rosy dawn are butoptical illusions called forth by skillful manipulation of the lightthrown on the crystals which sparkle in the dome with its coating ofblack oxide of manganese.
From here they wended their way back, followed by Brigham, who hadwaited for them on the road to the Star Chamber, feeling that they hadexperienced and seen enough for one day.
They rested all that day and the next, doing nothing that required moreexertion than short walks through the woods or promenades along the widegalleries which surrounded both stories of the hotel. Here they swunghammocks, and rested in the open air between their little walks.
But on the third day all the members of the party again set out forthe Cave, starting in the morning, for they were warned that going andreturning it would be a sixteen-mile walk. Presently they found thatthe road they had taken on the previous day diverged, and soon they weregoing through the Valley of Humility leading into Fat Man's Misery, aplace but eighteen inches wide, five feet high, and changing directioneight times. Through the one hundred and five yards of this place theytwisted and crawled, until they reached Great Relief. Here they stoppedto congratulate Mrs. Allen, the stoutest of the party, and Mr. VanOrten, the tallest, on having successfully passed this ordeal.
On again, now ascending a flight of stairs to a higher gallery, nowdescending to one below, always surprised at finding the immense columnspiercing through from the highest galleries down to the very lowest ofthe five levels of the Cave. They passed through Bacon Chamber--whichWinnie did not think at all "romantic"--and through various windingpassages, to River Hall, where all the waters of the Cave collect, andwhere they gazed with awe on the deep lakes. Then they came to theDead Sea, surrounded on all sides by massive cliffs, from which theydescended by means of a stairway to the banks of the River Styx, whichthe party crossed by a natural bridge to Lake Lethe; then along theGreat Walk, with its fine, yellow sand, to Echo River. Here they found aboat waiting for them, and, embarking, were paddled along over the clearwater--thirty feet deep--singing, whistling, and shouting to waken theechoes from the rocky walls on either side, until it seemed--so MissKitty said--as if "Echo had been transferred from her former mountainhome, with all her nymphs."
But no, it was not the Mountain Echo, but her unknown sister who dweltin these underground regions, as their guide proved to them by strikingthe long vault with his cane; for it had its own keynote, which excitedharmonies of wonderful depth and sweetness, each sound being prolongedmany seconds.
Here, too, they saw the eyeless fish, and Gretta even went the lengthof pitying them, until Miss Kitty told her that, as they were not "fishwith little lanterns on their tails,"--which she had once heard given asan explanation of some phosphorescent phenomenon on an ocean trip--andso could not see in those dark waters even if they had eyes, she neednot waste her pity.
Soon they reached Washington Hall, and perceived a waiter, who had beenfollowing them at a distance, emerge from the gloom, bringing with hima great basket of lunch. This was a pleasant surprise, and theypartook heartily of the generous repast, unmoved for the time by theirgnome-like surroundings in the semi-darkness of this great chamber, sodimly lighted by the various lanterns and torches.
Beyond this place they found the crystalline gardens, where the crystalstake the form of flowers and vines, and even grapes--as in Mary'sVineyard--and later they came upon a snowstorm in a chamber so thicklycovered with snowy crystals that they were made to fall like flakes by aloud concussion of the air.
And so they proceeded on their journey and came to the Corkscrew. Aftera brief consultation, they decided to take this short cut out of theCave, instead of going over what is now somewhat familiar ground. So upthey climbed, partly by means of the three ladders, now through cracks,again over huge boulders scattered here and there in wild confusion, nowtwisting up through round holes--five hundred feet of climbing, althoughthey were assured by their guide that the vertical distance was only onehundred and fifty feet.
At last they emerged on the edge of a cliff just over the main cave,and, as they stopped to take breath, wondered for a moment if they werein another Star Chamber, for the stars were shining bright above them!But no; this time it was no illusion, for though they had left thebright sunlight behind them when they made the descent into thelantern-lighted darkness, they had been all day in the cave, and wereindeed glad that they had saved the mile and a half walk by their ascentthrough the Corkscrew.
Altogether it was a trip long to be remembered; the more so that, at itsclose, when they were all back in "dear, old, smoky Cincinnati," asMiss Kitty fondly called it, came the first parting of the ways for theWarrior Maidens. Not the ordinary summer parting, but one which entirelychanged the parallel grooves in which their lives had been running, atleast for one of them, for Ernestine was to go home with her uncle toNew York. The whole Burton family had become so attached to her thatthey would gladly have kept her with them as a much-loved memberof their circle, necessary not only to their happiness but to theircomfort, and Ralph expressed his opinion that Ernie's uncle was a bad,bad man.
But, while in compliance with his sister's wish, expressed to Mr. Allenon that day on which Mrs. Alroy had sent fo
r him, he had waited for theend of the school year before coming for his niece, he was now only tooimpatient to take to her kindred the lovely child--the last living linkbetween their family and the sister whom he and his brothers had soloved and so mourned.
And so, one bright morning in July, the little company, each wearing herbadge of warriorhood, went to the station to see their dear friend starton her journey. There were tearful faces on the outside of the car, anda pale but earnest and loving face hidden behind a handkerchief on theinside, as the train slowly moved out of the station.