The horrible conclusion which had been gradually
obtruding itself upon my confused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty.
I was lost, completely, hopelessly lost in the vast and labyrinthine recess
of the Mammoth Cave. Turn as I might, in no direction could my straining
vision seize on any object capable of serving as a guidepost to set me
on the outward path. That nevermore should I behold the blessed light of
day, or scan the pleasant bills and dales of the beautiful world outside,
my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief. Hope had departed.
Yet, indoctrinated as I was by a life of philosophical study, I derived
no small measure of satisfaction from my unimpassioned demeanour; for although
I had frequently read of the wild frenzies into which were thrown the victims
of similar situations, I experienced none of these, but stood quiet as
soon as I clearly realised the loss of my bearings.
Nor did the thought that I had probably wandered beyond the utmost
limits of an ordinary search cause me to abandon my composure even for
a moment. If I must die, I reflected, then was this terrible yet majestic
cavern as welcome a sepulchre as that which any churchyard might afford,
a conception which carried with it more of tranquillity than of despair.
Starving would prove my ultimate fate; of this I was certain. Some,
I knew, had gone mad under circumstances such as these, but I felt that
this end would not be mine. My disaster was the result of no fault save
my own, since unknown to the guide I had separated myself from the regular
party of sightseers; and, wandering for over an hour in forbidden avenues
of the cave, had found myself unable to retrace the devious windings which
I had pursued since forsaking my companions.
Already my torch had begun to expire; soon I would be enveloped by
the total and almost palpable blackness of the bowels of the earth. As
I stood in the waning, unsteady light, I idly wondered over the exact circumstances
of my coming end. I remembered the accounts which I had heard of the colony
of consumptives, who, taking their residence in this gigantic grotto to
find health from the apparently salubrious air of the underground world,
with its steady, uniform temperature, pure air, and peaceful quiet, had
found, instead, death in strange and ghastly form. I had seen the sad remains
of their ill-made cottages as I passed them by with the party, and had
wondered what unnatural influence a long sojourn in this immense and silent
cavern would exert upon one as healthy and vigorous as I. Now, I grimly
told myself, my opportunity for settling this point had arrived, provided
that want of food should not bring me too speedy a departure from this
life.
As the last fitful rays of my torch faded into obscurity, I resolved
to leave no stone unturned, no possible means of escape neglected; so,
summoning all the powers possessed by my lungs, I set up a series of loud
shoutings, in the vain hope of attracting the attention of the guide by
my clamour. Yet, as I called, I believed in my heart that my cries were
to no purpose, and that my voice, magnified and reflected by the numberless
ramparts of the black maze about me, fell upon no ears save my own.
All at once, however, my attention was fixed with a start as I fancied
that I heard the sound of soft approaching steps on the rocky floor of
the cavern.
Was my deliverance about to be accomplished so soon? Had, then, all
my horrible apprehensions been for naught, and was the guide, having marked
my unwarranted absence from the party, following my course and seeking
me out in this limestone labyrinth? Whilst these joyful queries arose in
my brain, I was on the point of renewing my cries, in order that my discovery
might come the sooner, when in an instant my delight was turned to horror
as I listened; for my ever acute ear, now sharpened in even greater degree
by the complete silence of the cave, bore to my benumbed understanding
the unexpected and dreadful knowledge that these footfalls were not
like those of any mortal man. In the unearthly stillness of this subterranean
region, the tread of the booted guide would have sounded like a series
of sharp and incisive blows. These impacts were soft, and stealthy, as
of the paws of some feline. Besides, when I listened carefully, I seemed
to trace the falls of four instead of two feet.
I was now convinced that I had by my own cries aroused and attracted
some wild beast, perhaps a mountain lion which had accidentally strayed
within the cave. Perhaps, I considered, the Almighty had chosen for me
a swifter and more merciful death than that of hunger; yet the instinct
of self-preservation, never wholly dormant, was stirred in my breast, and
though escape from the on-coming peril might but spare me for a sterner
and more lingering end, I determined nevertheless to part with my life
at as high a price as I could command. Strange as it may seem, my mind
conceived of no intent on the part of the visitor save that of hostility.
Accordingly, I became very quiet, in the hope that the unknown beast would,
in the absence of a guiding sound, lose its direction as had I, and thus
pass me by. But this hope was not destined for realisation, for the strange
footfalls steadily advanced, the animal evidently having obtained my scent,
which in an atmosphere so absolutely free from all distracting influences
as is that of the cave, could doubtless be followed at great distance.
Seeing therefore that I must be armed for defense against an uncanny
and unseen attack in the dark, I groped about me the largest of the fragments
of rock which were strewn upon all parts of the floor of the cavern in
the vicinity, and grasping one in each hand for immediate use, awaited
with resignation the inevitable result. Meanwhile the hideous pattering
of the paws drew near. Certainly, the conduct of the creature was exceedingly
strange. Most of the time, the tread seemed to be that of a quadruped,
walking with a singular lack of unison betwixt hind and fore feet,
yet at brief and infrequent intervals I fancied that but two feet were
engaged in the process of locomotion. I wondered what species of animal
was to confront me; it must, I thought, be some unfortunate beast who had
paid for its curiosity to investigate one of the entrances of the fearful
grotto with a life-long confinement in its interminable recesses. It doubtless
obtained as food the eyeless fish, bats and rats of the cave, as well as
some of the ordinary fish that are wafted in at every freshet of Green
River, which communicates in some occult manner with the waters of the
cave. I occupied my terrible vigil with grotesque conjectures of what alteration
cave life might have wrought in the physical structure of the beast, remembering
the awful appearances ascribed by local tradition to the consumptives who
had died after long residence in the cave. Then I remembered with a start
that, even should I succeed in felling my antagonist, I should never
behold its form, as my torch had long since been extinct, and I was
entirely unprovided with matches. The tension on my brain now became frightful.
My disordered fancy conjured up hideous and fearsome shapes from the sinister
darkness that surrounded me, and that actually seemed to press upon my
body. Nearer, nearer, the dreadful footfalls approached. It seemed that
I must give vent to a piercing scream, yet had I been sufficiently irresolute
to attempt such a thing, my voice could scarce have responded. I was petrified,
rooted to the spot. I doubted if my right arm would allow me to hurl its
missile at the oncoming thing when the crucial moment should arrive. Now
the steady pat, pat, of the steps was close at hand; now very
close. I could hear the laboured breathing of the animal, and terror-struck
as I was, I realised that it must have come from a considerable distance,
and was correspondingly fatigued. Suddenly the spell broke. My right hand,
guided by my ever trustworthy sense of hearing, threw with full force the
sharp-angled bit of limestone which it contained, toward that point in
the darkness from which emanated the breathing and pattering, and, wonderful
to relate, it nearly reached its goal, for I heard the thing jump, landing
at a distance away, where it seemed to pause.
Having readjusted my aim, I discharged my second missile, this time
most effectively, for with a flood of joy I listened as the creature fell
in what sounded like a complete collapse and evidently remained prone and
unmoving. Almost overpowered by the great relief which rushed over me,
I reeled back against the wall. The breathing continued, in heavy, gasping
inhalations and expirations, whence I realised that I had no more than
wounded the creature. And now all desire to examine the thing ceased.
At last something allied to groundless, superstitious fear had entered
my brain, and I did not approach the body, nor did I continue to cast stones
at it in order to complete the extinction of its life. Instead, I ran at
full speed in what was, as nearly as I could estimate in my frenzied condition,
the direction from which I had come. Suddenly I heard a sound or rather,
a regular succession of sounds. In another Instant they had resolved themselves
into a series of sharp, metallic clicks. This time there was no doubt.
It
was the guide. And then I shouted, yelled, screamed, even shrieked
with joy as I beheld in the vaulted arches above the faint and glimmering
effulgence which I knew to be the reflected light of an approaching torch.
I ran to meet the flare, and before I could completely understand what
had occurred, was lying upon the ground at the feet of the guide, embracing
his boots and gibbering. despite my boasted reserve, in a most meaningless
and idiotic manner, pouring out my terrible story, and at the same time
overwhelming my auditor with protestations of gratitude. At length, I awoke
to something like my normal consciousness. The guide had noted my absence
upon the arrival of the party at the entrance of the cave, and had, from
his own intuitive sense of direction, proceeded to make a thorough canvass
of by-passages just ahead of where he had last spoken to me, locating my
whereabouts after a quest of about four hours.
By the time he had related this to me, I, emboldened by his torch
and his company, began to reflect upon the strange beast which I had wounded
but a short distance back in the darkness, and suggested that we ascertain,
by the flashlight's aid, what manner of creature was my victim. Accordingly
I retraced my steps, this time with a courage born of companionship, to
the scene of my terrible experience. Soon we descried a white object upon
the floor, an object whiter even than the gleaming limestone itself. Cautiously
advancing, we gave vent to a simultaneous ejaculation of wonderment, for
of all the unnatural monsters either of us had in our lifetimes beheld,
this was in surpassing degree the strangest. It appeared to be an anthropoid
ape of large proportions, escaped, perhaps, from some itinerant menagerie.
Its hair was snow-white, a thing due no doubt to the bleaching action of
a long existence within the inky confines of the cave, but it was also
surprisingly thin, being indeed largely absent save on the head, where
it was of such length and abundance that it fell over the shoulders in
considerable profusion. The face was turned away from us, as the creature
lay almost directly upon it. The inclination of the limbs was very singular,
explaining, however, the alternation in their use which I bad before noted,
whereby the beast used sometimes all four, and on other occasions but two
for its progress. From the tips of the fingers or toes, long rat-like claws
extended. The hands or feet were not prehensile, a fact that I ascribed
to that long residence in the cave which, as I before mentioned, seemed
evident from the all-pervading and almost unearthly whiteness so characteristic
of the whole anatomy. No tail seemed to be present.
The respiration had now grown very feeble, and the guide had drawn
his pistol with the evident intent of despatching the creature, when a
sudden sound emitted by the latter caused the weapon to fall unused.
The sound was of a nature difficult to describe. It was not like the normal
note of any known species of simian, and I wonder if this unnatural quality
were not the result of a long continued and complete silence, broken by
the sensations produced by the advent of the light, a thing which the beast
could not have seen since its first entrance into the cave. The sound,
which I might feebly attempt to classify as a kind of deep-tone chattering,
was faintly continued.
All at once a fleeting spasm of energy seemed to pass through the
frame of the beast. The paws went through a convulsive motion, and the
limbs contracted. With a jerk, the white body rolled over so that its face
was turned in our direction. For a moment I was so struck with horror at
the eyes thus revealed that I noted nothing else. They were black, those
eyes, deep jetty black, in hideous contrast to the snow-white hair and
flesh. Like those of other cave denizens, they were deeply sunken in their
orbits, and were entirely destitute of iris. As I looked more closely,
I saw that they were set in a face less prognathous than that of the average
ape, and infinitely less hairy. The nose was quite distinct. As we gazed
upon the uncanny sight presented to our vision, the thick lips opened,
and several sounds issued from them, after which the thing
relaxed in death.
The guide clutched my coat sleeve and trembled so violently that
the light shook fitfully, casting weird moving shadows on the walls.
I made no motion, but stood rigidly still, my horrified eyes fixed
upon the floor ahead.
The fear left, and wonder, awe, compassion, and reverence succeeded
in its place, for the sounds uttered by the stricken figure that
lay stretched out on the limestone had told us the awesome truth. The creature
I had killed, the strange beast of the unfathomed cave, was, or had at
one time been a MAN!!!
...
