7
William was still very much alive. In total darkness, his body traveled through the cavern like sewer waste in a pipe. His body cold in the frigid water barely felt the slamming of the rocks as he traveled downward with the rushing water. William’s mind was telling him that this would soon be over, that the purpose of his regression in time must have a superior meaning than to die in a watery hole never to be found again.
Finally, William’s body dropped down a last sliding path, landing on his side with water still gushing around him. As he lifted his head, he could see light reflecting on the wet rocks above him. He could hear the faint echoing of ricocheting voices.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please be careful as you follow me in this direction,” instructed John Spencer, in the slightly pompous tone adopted by tour operators of every era.
“Watch your step. The decline toward the Natural Bridge Caverns is very steep. And if any of your candles should become extinguished in the draft, please turn to your fellow man… or lady,” Mr. Spencer said, bowing to the four daring women who had joined the twenty gregarious men on one of the cavern’s first tours.
“Col. Henry Parsons himself asked me to caution you, to tell you to always be aware of who is in front of and behind you at all times. We don’t want anyone getting lost down here. The colonel spent nearly two years exploring the tunnels down here, but even he is not familiar with every twist and turn,” he said, directing the group deeper into the cavern and closer to its walls.
The visitors were spending scant attention to their tour guide. They were too enthralled with stalactites and stalagmites that were new to their eyes but had taken hundreds of thousands of years to form. This was hardly an exploration for the timid. It took a gregarious man, and a daring woman, to risk entrapment inside caves that had been buried for hundreds of thousands of years, dug out fewer than three years earlier, in 1889.
Mr. Spencer’s warnings, however, were not completely disregarded. A few visitors held a little more tightly onto their candle-holders, which had been specially designed to reflect light forward.
“In front of you, ladies and gentlemen, is Dead-man’s Drop.” The guide stopped to look at the faces of his group. Seeing the usual reaction to his announcement, he resumed.
“If you look closely, you can see three levels, an underground stream flows at the bottom, some of us have been down to the first and second levels, placing the candles which illuminate the emptiness below, but the third level is much too dangerous a climb. No one really knows where the water in the stream comes from or where it eventually ends up…”
“Oh my God!”
One of the ladies was screaming at the top of her lungs. Everyone else now was puzzled and reacting to her scream.
“What is it, miss?” asked the guide.
“A man! I saw a man move in the stream below.”
Some of the others in the group were now seeing the mysterious figure, wearing a strange suit with reflective stripes, its movements now catching and reflecting the candlelight. The suit, made out of a material they did not recognize, was visible to those looking closely into the deep hole.
“Please remain calm, it is impossible for anybody to be down there.”
“It may be impossible, Mr. Spencer, but I believe I saw something move as well.”
“I did as well, we’d better help whoever is down there!”
Those in the group closest to the wall looking directly into the hole reached a consensus that they had all seen someone or something.
“Please move aside. I need to see what all of this concern is about.” Mr. Spencer moved through the crowd, pushing his way to the front.
“There he is again!”
“Let me through, please, I don’t believe there is… Oh my God!” Mr. Spencer yelled out in disbelief.
“There is someone down there. I must inform the Colonel. I have no idea how this can be.” Mr. Spencer ran from the group, breaking the first rule in his profession:
“No matter what happens, never leave our guests alone in the caverns,” Col. Parsons had intoned on his first day of hire. “This will be the golden rule in keeping your job… and the caverns available to the public. If anything goes wrong, there won’t be another private citizen permitted in the caverns during my lifetime…”
Mr. Spencer was well aware of the rules, the Colonel had repeated them almost daily but there was nothing in his instructions that included the circumstances he now found himself in. He hurried off to seek Col. Parsons’s help in rescuing the mysterious stranger.
This left the tour group with no one acting as their leader. For a short minute they did nothing but stare into the hole, pointing candlelight in the direction of the brightly colored clothing. Finally, one of the taller, well-dressed men of the group spoke out.
“Hello, down there, can you hear me? Are you all right?”
William, hearing this seemingly friendly voice, reached upward and replied in a weak voice barely audible to those above.
“Help!” One loudly shouted word was all he could manage in his condition. Under his breath, he added: “Can you please help me?”
“Hold on, sir, we will try to reach you.”
By now Thomas Byronville was removing his overcoat.
“Rachel, please hold my torch and overcoat. I am going to attempt to reach this poor soul.”
“But Thomas, please wait for Mr. Spencer to return with help.”
“It may be too late by the time that brain-dead excuse for a guide returns. Besides, for all we know, in his panic he may even lose himself in these caverns, and we will be rescuing him next.”
Thomas Byronville lowered himself toward the first level. He could see the candles placed below. The first level was easy to reach, but Thomas’s descent toward the second level appeared more challenging as the rocks became more cold and slippery. Slowly he climbed downward, and in a few minutes he found himself on the ledge of the second level. The group above all gathered around the opening of the hole, positioning themselves in shifting motions on tip-toes to get a better glimpse at the proceedings below.
“Sir, are you hurt?” Thomas asked William in a lower tone than earlier.
“Just superficially, I think nothing is broken.”
As Thomas positioned himself to descend to the narrower and less visible path to the third level where William still lay on his side, he continued to familiarize himself with his new friend’s situation.
“Are you able to move toward me?”
“Yes, I think I should be able to climb toward you.”
“How is it that you find yourself stranded in this part of the cavern?”
“My friend, I would like the answer to that myself.”
It has been quite some time since anyone spoke to Thomas with such confidence. Thomas Byronville did not have many true friends; this was due to his stature and wealth and not his demeanor. Most people Thomas associated with did not match his education, wit or position in society. For the most part, people were intimidated, but this individual in need seemed different.
William had come up farther than Thomas expected. Thomas was impressed with William’s handling of the jagged slippery rocks. One more step for both of them and they would be able to touch the other’s hand.
“Take my hand!”
“Thank you, I know that at this point I could not make it up alone.”
The candlelight from the second level was reaching the face of William. Thomas moved toward William; he moved down to reach out for his hand and froze in a statuesque pose. His face was alarmed. Thomas, with as little light as was available, realized that he was staring at almost a twin of himself.
“Is something wrong? I will need you to lean forward just a few more inches.”
Thomas knew that with the light behind him, his face was not visible to his new similar-looking friend. “No, nothing is wrong. Your attire startled me that’s all.”
Their hands met, William reacted to this contact with a shock similar to that of Thomas’s reaction a few moments before. William always played an almost subconscious game whenever he grasped the hand of someone new. William knew he had a sixth sense that told him a great deal about the character of a person by the feel of their hand. The strength of a handshake’s grip, the texture of the skin, and warmth of the touch revealed to William a person’s sincerity. William, for the first time in his life, felt a hand square-on that was similar to his own.
The need to get out of danger overcame both men’s curiosity about each other’s origins. Thomas pulled himself back and drew with him the weight of William. Both men were now settling on the second level, positioning themselves to catch their breath.
“Thomas, are you both okay?” A woman’s voice that sounded familiar to Thomas boomed down from the awaiting audience above.
“Yes, Rachel, please throw down my overcoat.” Thomas realized he could wait until they reached the top to clad his new friend in warm clothing but his intent to cover him sooner was motivated by another reason. Thomas was certain that if the small crowd above was to see this stranger in his odd clothing it would be detrimental to the man’s well-being.
William now was staring at this new friend’s features. The man before him appeared to be William’s age and to have the same color hair (although of different length). His nose, eyes and ears also bore a resemblance to William’s features. The coat was flung down and immediately pulled over William’s wet and cold body. William noticed the quality of the fine wool coat and was surprised by the perfect fit over his broad shoulders.
Instinctively, Thomas reached forward to button up the front of his own coat now on a stranger for whom he was feeling a certain concern.
“My name is William Monterey, I would like to thank you for risking your life to rescue me.”
“I have confidence that the risk will prove itself to be a worthwhile investment. My name is Thomas Byronville. I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Monterey.”
“Thomas, please call me William.”
Thomas brought his left hand over William’s right hand already in his.
“William, let’s proceed up to join my sister and the others above. I am very anxious to learn more about you!”
Both men turned and resumed climbing upward; they had very little problem reaching the next level.
As the two men reached the top, other men in the group joined in to help pull Thomas and William out of the remaining few feet of the hole. Thomas knew that the brief words he and William had shared in the cavern below were not audible to the crowd, so the next statement he made in the form of an announcement shocked his sister Rachel.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is my cousin. He joined our group late and straggled on his own, he did not see this hole before him and fell in. He was waiting for us to come up to this point when he passed out. I am very grateful to the young lady who took notice of him. Now if you will excuse my sister and me, we will be taking him home to recover from this ordeal.”
Thomas grabbed Rachel’s arm and that of William and commenced walking in the direction of the exit. Both Rachel and William followed Thomas’s lead with complete confidence in his plan, whatever it may be. Those in the crowd who saw both Thomas and William together found the claim Thomas made very easy to believe. The two men could have passed for twins; they must have certainly been related. As the candles only provided light from the waist up, William’s white leather track shoes were not noticed. The rest of the crowd had seen enough for one day and almost on cue decided to follow them out.
John Spencer was now on his way back with three other men in tow. Thomas could see the approaching candlelight and anticipated the confrontation with the returning guide.
“Where are you all going? I specifically asked that no one move until I returned.”
“Mr. Spencer, these two members of my family and myself are sick of this tour and experience. We are leaving forthwith! Your Colonel will hear from us in writing with regard to the maltreatment we received today. I suggest you see to the remainder of the group to ensure they all get out unharmed.”
Thomas did not wait for a reply from Spencer. He pushed through them and vigorously continued forward. Spencer realized this man was superior in education and stature to him and proceeded to challenge the group approaching.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please stop until everyone is together. Then I will escort all of you safely out. You two men proceed to Dead-man’s Drop and check out who is down at the third level.”
“Mr. Spencer, the man in the cavern was pulled out by the couple ahead of us,” the lady who first noticed William volunteered.
John Spencer did not know which way to turn. If he didn’t sort this out properly, he knew he would most likely lose his job as a guide. At this point his hesitation was causing those people who remained in the caverns to disperse in every direction. To Spencer, it was his worst nightmare come true, and he spent the next hour clearing up the chaos left behind by Thomas Byronville and William Monterey.