Page:The Galaxy, Volume 5.djvu/777

1868.] two students steadied it over the middle of the fountain by two lines attached to the bow.

The thermometer indicated fifty-five degrees of Fahrenheit, which, they were told, is its uniform temperature at all seasons of the year. The professor had procured a ball of stout hempen twine at Corydon, with which he proceeded to sound the depth of the water. A heavy scale-weight was attached to it, and lowered into the abyss. The line ran out to its full length—a thousand feet and more—but the bottom was not touched. A vial of the water, which the professor brought away and afterward analyzed, was found to contain in solution, large quantities of carbonate and sulphate of lime.

The travellers resumed their journey, and after a walk of five miles along the river bank, arrived at their destination.

The cave, or rather the land on which it opens, is owned by a family named Rothrock, who occupy a large farmhouse near the entrance. The Rothrocks make no effort to attract visitors to the cave, but on the contrary, consider them rather an annoyance. They own about four thousand acres of fine land, a flour and a saw mill, and, satisfied with these, seem quite regardless of the fortune upon which their father stumbled when he discovered the entrance to the cave. A large number of visitors, however, find their way thither, to whose importunity they have long since surrendered, and now welcome all who come.

Our travellers deferred their visit to the cave until morning, as the underground journey is long and laborious, and they were now weary and exhausted with three days' travel.

In front of the Rothrock mansion is a fine lawn surrounded by a huge embankment, overgrown with vines and brush-wood. Several trees of large size are also growing upon it. Within the enclosure stands a conical mound, some fifteen feet in height, also crowned with a clump of trees. The professor pronounced this mound and wall one of the ancient fortifications so frequently seen throughout the valley of the Ohio and Mississippi.

During the afternoon, a party arrived from Leavenworth, composed of three young ladies from the seminary at Bardstown, Kentucky, accompanied by two gentlemen, one simply a friend, the other their cousin, a physician of Leavenworth. Two of the ladies, evidently sisters, were tall, dark, and brilliant; the other was a gentle, dainty, bewitching blonde. Our two students were of course much elated at the prospect of such an attractive addition to their party, and commenced operations at once toward an acquaintance with the fair Kentuckians. While the ladies retired to their rooms to dress for supper, Sylvester approached one of the gentlemen and offered him a cigar. The gentleman accepted the pledge of amity, which is rarely refused by a Western man, and in the course of an hour the two were excellent friends. On hearing the professor's well-known name, the doctor eagerly improved the opportunity for an acquaintance; and the professor was much pleased to find a genial and scholarly companion, well versed in natural science, and thoroughly acquainted with everything of local scientific interest.

After supper, the ladies lingered in the parlor. The mode of making acquaintances at the West is hampered but little by conventional restraints; the professor's name was a sufficient guarantee, and our students were presented in due form. All Americans, meeting as strangers, soon find a basis of acquaintanceship in the possession of common acquaintances and friends. Pauline and Violetta, the two brunettes, had a cousin at college, a classmate of the students. James was well acquainted with two brothers of one of the gen-