descending nothing is touched until the floor is reached, one hundred
feet beneath the surface; consequently the only danger to be apprehended
is a fall.

Each of the three men present kindly offered to go down and make the
exploration with me, but that would have left only two at the windlass,
and for a man's weight, safety requires four. Should an accident occur,
assistance would be necessary, and some time lost in finding it; so, to
the undisguised satisfaction of one and equally evident relief of the
others, it was reluctantly decided that the trip must be given up, and
therefore we are indebted to the kindness of Captain Powell[3] for the
following description of Fairy Cave:

"The Cave referred to is situated in Section 24, Township 23, Range
23, in Stone County, Missouri, and is on the homestead of one of
three brothers named Irwin.

"It was accidentally discovered in the year 1895 and up to the time
of this writing (June 1896) only six persons have ever entered it.
It is in a point or spur of the Ozark Mountains which runs to the
east from the great Wilderness Ridge, and is three miles distant
from the Marble Cave. Having been one of the first to enter the
Cave, being called by the owner as a sort of cave expert, I will
attempt to describe both the adventure and the cave just as they
were. The measurements are simply estimated, though by long
practice I have become expert in that line also, but the longest
measurement here was correctly taken by the rope used.

"Having been invited by the Irwin brothers to come and examine and
explore a new cave they had found but had only entered and not