The horrible
conclusion which had been gradually intruding 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 suddensound 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!!!
