I tore the dirt from around him with all the energy I
      could command, and at length succeeded in getting him out. As soon as we sufficiently recovered from our fright and surprise
      to be capable of conversing rationally, we both came to the
      conclusion that the walls of the fissure in which we had ventured
      had, by some convulsion of nature, or probably from their own
      weight, caved in overhead, and that we were consequently lost for
      ever, being thus entombed alive. For a long time we gave up
      supinely to the most intense agony and despair, such as cannot be
      adequately imagined by those who have never been in a similar
      position. I firmly believed that no incident ever occurring in
      the course of human events is more adapted to inspire the
      supremeness of mental and bodily distress than a case like our
      own, of living inhumation. The blackness of darkness which
      envelops the victim, the terrific oppression of lungs, the
      stifling fumes from the damp earth, unite with the ghastly
      considerations that we are beyond the remotest confines of hope,
      and that such is the allotted portion of the dead, to carry into
      the human heart a degree of appalling awe and horror not to be
      tolerated—never to be conceived. At length Peters proposed that we should endeavour to ascertain
      precisely the extent of our calamity, and grope about our prison;
      it being barely possible, he observed, that some opening might
      yet be left us for escape. I caught eagerly at this hope, and,
      arousing myself to exertion, attempted to force my way through
      the loose earth. Hardly had I advanced a single step before a
      glimmer of light became perceptible, enough to convince me that,
      at all events, we should not immediately perish for want of air. We now took some degree of heart, and encouraged each other to
      hope for the best. Having scrambled over a bank of rubbish which
      impeded our farther progress in the direction of the light, we
      found less difficulty in advancing and also experienced some
      relief from the excessive oppression of lungs which had tormented
      us. Presently we were enabled to obtain a glimpse of the objects
      around, and discovered that 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 reached the bend, when to our
      inexpressible joy, there appeared a long seam or crack extending
      upward a vast distance, generally at an angle of about forty-five
      degrees, although sometimes much more precipitous. We could not
      see through the whole extent of this opening; but, as a good deal
      of light came down it, we had little doubt of finding at the top
      of it (if we 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
      from the main gorge, and that our companion, Allen, was still
      missing; we determined at once to retrace our steps and look for
      him. After a long search, and much danger from the farther caving
      in of the earth above us, Peters at length cried out to me that
      he had hold of our companion’s foot, and that his whole body was
      deeply buried beneath the rubbish beyond the possibility of
      extricating him. I soon found that what he said was too true, and
      that, of course, life had been long extinct. With sorrowful
      hearts, therefore, we left the corpse to its fate, and again made
      our way to the bend. The breadth of the seam was barely sufficient to admit us, and,
      after one or two ineffectual efforts at getting up, we began once
      more to despair. I have before said that the chain of hills
      through which ran the main gorge was composed of a species of
      soft rock resembling soapstone. The sides of the cleft we were
      now attempting to ascend were of the same material, and so
      excessively slippery, being wet, that we could get but little
      foothold upon them even in their least precipitous parts; in some
      places, where the ascent was nearly perpendicular, the difficulty
      was, of course, much aggravated; and, indeed, for some time we
      thought insurmountable. We took courage, however, from despair,
      and what, 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 of a harder species of slaty rock which now and
      then protruded from the general mass, we at length reached a
      natural platform, from which was perceptible a patch of blue sky,
      at the extremity of a thickly-wooded ravine. Looking back now,
      with somewhat more leisure, at the passage through which we had
      thus far proceeded, we clearly saw from the appearance of its
      sides, that it was of late formation, and we concluded that the
      concussion, whatever it was, which had so unexpectedly
      overwhelmed us, had also, at the same moment, laid open this path
      for escape. Being quite exhausted with exertion, and indeed, so
      weak that we were scarcely able to stand or articulate, Peters
      now proposed that we should endeavour to bring our companions to
      the rescue by firing the pistols which still remained in our
      girdles—the muskets as well as cutlasses had been lost among the
      loose earth at the bottom of the chasm. Subsequent events proved
      that, had we fired, we should have sorely repented it, but
      luckily a half suspicion of foul play had by this time arisen in
      my mind, and we forbore to let the savages know of our
      whereabouts. After having reposed for about an hour, we pushed on slowly up
      the ravine, and had gone no great way before we heard a
      succession of tremendous yells. At length we reached what might
      be called the surface of the ground; for our path hitherto, since
      leaving the platform, had lain beneath an archway of high rock
      and foliage, at a vast distance overhead. With great caution we
      stole to a narrow opening, through which we had a clear sight of
      the surrounding country, when the whole dreadful secret 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
      highest peak in the range of the soapstone hills. The gorge in
      which our party of 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 was entirely filled up with the
      chaotic ruins of more than a million tons of earth and stone that
      had been artificially tumbled within it.