Chapter 21

As soon as I could collect my scattered senses, I found myself
nearly suffocated, and grovelling in utter darkness among a
quantity of loose earth, which was also falling upon me heavily
in every direction, threatening to bury me entirely. Horribly
alarmed at this idea, I struggled to gain my feet, and at last
succeeded. I then remained motionless for some moments,
endeavouring to conceive what had happened to me, and where I
was. Presently I heard a deep groan just at my ear, and afterward
the smothered voice of Peters calling to me for aid in the name
of God. I scrambled one or two paces forward, when I fell
directly over the head and shoulders of my companion, who, I soon
discovered, was buried in a loose mass of earth as far as his
middle, and struggling desperately to free himself from the
pressure. 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. The means by which the
vast mass had been precipitated were not more simple than
evident, for sure traces of the murderous work were yet
remaining. In several spots along the top of the eastern side of
the gorge (we were now on the western) might be seen stakes of
wood driven into the earth. In these spots the earth had not
given way, but throughout the whole extent of the face of the
precipice from which the mass had fallen, it was clear, from
marks left in the soil resembling those made by the drill of the
rock blaster, that stakes similar to those we saw standing had
been inserted, at not more than a yard apart, for the length of
perhaps three hundred feet, and ranging at about ten feet back
from the edge of the gulf. Strong cords of grape vine were
attached to the stakes still remaining on the hill, and it was
evident that such cords had also been attached to each of the
other stakes. I have already spoken of the singular
stratification of these soapstone hills; and the description just
given of the narrow and deep fissure through which we effected
our escape from inhumation will afford a further conception of
its nature. This was such that almost every natural convulsion
would be sure to split the soil into perpendicular layers or
ridges running parallel with one another, and a very moderate
exertion of art would be sufficient for effecting the same
purpose. Of this stratification the savages had availed
themselves to accomplish their treacherous ends. There can be no
doubt that, by the continuous line of stakes, a partial rupture
of the soil had been brought about probably to the depth of one
or two feet, when by means of a savage pulling at the end of each
of the cords (these cords being attached to the tops of the
stakes, and extending back from the edge of the cliff), a vast
leverage power was obtained, capable of hurling the whole face of
the hill, upon a given signal, into the bosom of the abyss below.
The fate of our poor companions was no longer a matter of
uncertainty. We alone had escaped from the tempest of that
overwhelming destruction. We were the only living white men upon
the island.