-
Articles/Ads
Article Untitled Article ← Page 3 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
in the blackness beneath . The second guide began now to take the downward course ; and , arriving at the same state of progression therein as his forerunner , called upon me to advance . " The lady , " he said , " must clasp her arms firmly around my neck . " Were there no means of compromise ? Yes—I would grasp his shoulders—I would sit behind him . About to adopt this middle course , I felt my arms forcibly drawn into a close embrace of the grimy being before me ! A whirling
of the brain—a rapid descending motion—and for one little moment followed blissful unconsciousness . But such a boon was to pass well nigh with the coming—down , down we went , deeper and deeper still . " The lady must keep her head strait , and sit close , or she will be killed . " "With such a powerful incentive to presence of mind , I held myself up , resigning all delicacy on the point of the embrace , until a sudden jar announced our arrival upon terra firma .
The remainder of our party having joined us after the same manner , we proceeded on our way , and soon found ourselves in a huge dark cavern . No visible walls marked its extent , and by the light alone of a dull lamp or two , suspended , it seemed , in mid air , we perceived before us a Stygian pool , a
" Sluggish water , black as ink , " upon whose murky unruffled surface lay a raft , our means of transit to the opposite shore . Neither pike nor oar was used to forward our course . Noiselessly , sluggishly , we glided onward : above , the rocky ceiling , red with the light from our torches ; below , the Styxlike water picturing , as mingling with the lurid fire it reflected , our strange , unearthly figures . Had the time of retribution arrivedwere we indeed among the condemned ? Alas for the mystic !—we were simply crossing a brine reservoir , and to us , as yet , Vinferno
remained " to be or not to be . " Having gained our landing-place , we proceeded as heretofore , twice again repeating the sliding process , whereby we penetrated six hundred feet deeper into earth's hidden chambers . Awaiting us at the terminus of our last descent was a machine , resembling somewhat one of those long frames wherein one occasionally sees , arranged in single file , a number of street lamps en route to final establishment , with the exception , that the vehicle in question was furnished
with wheels and set upon a narrow tramway . Upon this each person had to seat himself as on horseback , the ladies , by the bye , not assuming their usual attitude in the saddle . Feminine grace , however , having been laid aside by us for some little time past as inconvenient under existing circumstances , we resigned ourselves to our present position with perhaps less repugnance than was quite becoming . Under directions neither to bend to the right or left , we
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
in the blackness beneath . The second guide began now to take the downward course ; and , arriving at the same state of progression therein as his forerunner , called upon me to advance . " The lady , " he said , " must clasp her arms firmly around my neck . " Were there no means of compromise ? Yes—I would grasp his shoulders—I would sit behind him . About to adopt this middle course , I felt my arms forcibly drawn into a close embrace of the grimy being before me ! A whirling
of the brain—a rapid descending motion—and for one little moment followed blissful unconsciousness . But such a boon was to pass well nigh with the coming—down , down we went , deeper and deeper still . " The lady must keep her head strait , and sit close , or she will be killed . " "With such a powerful incentive to presence of mind , I held myself up , resigning all delicacy on the point of the embrace , until a sudden jar announced our arrival upon terra firma .
The remainder of our party having joined us after the same manner , we proceeded on our way , and soon found ourselves in a huge dark cavern . No visible walls marked its extent , and by the light alone of a dull lamp or two , suspended , it seemed , in mid air , we perceived before us a Stygian pool , a
" Sluggish water , black as ink , " upon whose murky unruffled surface lay a raft , our means of transit to the opposite shore . Neither pike nor oar was used to forward our course . Noiselessly , sluggishly , we glided onward : above , the rocky ceiling , red with the light from our torches ; below , the Styxlike water picturing , as mingling with the lurid fire it reflected , our strange , unearthly figures . Had the time of retribution arrivedwere we indeed among the condemned ? Alas for the mystic !—we were simply crossing a brine reservoir , and to us , as yet , Vinferno
remained " to be or not to be . " Having gained our landing-place , we proceeded as heretofore , twice again repeating the sliding process , whereby we penetrated six hundred feet deeper into earth's hidden chambers . Awaiting us at the terminus of our last descent was a machine , resembling somewhat one of those long frames wherein one occasionally sees , arranged in single file , a number of street lamps en route to final establishment , with the exception , that the vehicle in question was furnished
with wheels and set upon a narrow tramway . Upon this each person had to seat himself as on horseback , the ladies , by the bye , not assuming their usual attitude in the saddle . Feminine grace , however , having been laid aside by us for some little time past as inconvenient under existing circumstances , we resigned ourselves to our present position with perhaps less repugnance than was quite becoming . Under directions neither to bend to the right or left , we