Show pair lost feet underground escape death with aid of light fx 11 IV k ax r 4 f i 1 t t t P e I 1 T OST ST and rapidly becoming help 10 lo less from cold as they waded in darkness in an icy stream feet underground two young men narrowly escaped death in the caves under lookout mountain tennessee the pair albert hicks and louis 13 tapley both of st elmo tenn were searching for a natural outlet for a portion of the caves known as ruby falls they descended to a depth ot of feet and chose one of the numerous passages that honeycomb the mountain for two hundred yards the going was fairly easy then the ceiling began to get lower finally they had bad to crawl on their stomachs in this way they progressed several hundred feet at this point a carbide light which hicks was wearing on his head bead went out tapley then switched on his flashlight and it was decided to go ahead they believed that they were already through the hardest part of the trip and that it would foolish to turn back they heard a stream of water somewhere ahead and soon came upon it the going was still very rough and the pair bad to cross constantly froin side to side of the stream often swimming the ley icy cur current currean reat we went as far as we could on the left side of the stream tapley said finally we saw a passage where we could easily walk we had started toward this when I 1 slipped and dropped my may flashlight in the water there we were more than two hundred teet feet underground wet getting colder by the minute and no light of any kind i hicks who was rapidly becoming numb pud suddenly denly said besaw be saw a light it was the flashlight I 1 had dropped burning brightly in eight feet ot water 1 I dived several times bafo before re I 1 I 1 finally recovered the light we at once set to retracing our way through the stream and the narrow rock passages because I 1 had put pu fresh batteries in my flashlight it withstood the soaking it got and ensued us to keep going full speed if it had failed or even dimmed it would have left us in our benumbed state without any means of getting out hicks was in such condition I 1 when he emerged from the caves that he contracted pneumonia and was critically ill despite their ex peri ence the boys insist that they are going to lo resume their efforts to find a new entrance to the bavei i t B AAA 3 |