thought to ask him about his picture. But when she saw the
look of pain that came into his face at her words, she knew that
he had lost. And she put her arms about his neck and begged
him to forgive her for unwittingly grieving him.
But he only held her more closely, and he told her that though
his picture had not taken a grand prize, he had been able to sell
it for a fabulous sum. And that although he had narrowly lost
one treasure, he had found another far greater. And she, looking
up into his eyes, smiled and was happy.
AN ADVENTURE UNDERGROUND.
(Second Best Story Submitted by a Freshman to the English Department.)
ONE
morning near the first of November I started for a twenty
mile ride down the valley to visit Penn's Cave. The moun-
tains, lying in long, even ranges on both sides, with now and
then a gap cut down to the very base, like a notch in a saw, were
'covered mostly with oak forests; and the leaves, colored by the
autumn frosts, were rich red and brown. Seen at a distance, they
gave the mountains a slight purplish shade. I rode leisurely
through village and country, enjoying the beautiful scenery as
much as the bad condition of the roads would permit, and at
Farmer's Mills turned to the left from my course down the valley
and rode directly towards the mountains. I passed the end of one
high ridge which presented a fine view of its steep sides and soon
came to the Penn's Cave House, where I procured a guide and
started at once for the cavern, a short distance away.
We descended into what appeared to be a very short, deep, little
ravine, by a series of rickety wooden steps. The two sides of this
glen are quite precipitous and covered with low bushes, ferns, and
moss. Opposite the end from which we entered, and but a short
distance from the foot of the stairs, the gorge ends abruptly at a
high limestone cliff. At its base the cliff slopes under and forms
the entrance to the cave. We stood at the bottom of the glen on
a wooden platform in front of the black tunnel into which we
AN ADVENTURE UNDERGROUND
Je .4 vse
R. T. STROHM, '9B.