The colors were in a class by themselves. We saw all the colors of the rainbow, from pale pinks to deep maroon—from pale sky blue to dark purple. Many had a softness which no artist could duplicate. Others were as bright as a Mexican cafe, and the Mexican members of our party took an extreme delight in seeing these vivid hues. Apparently they had missed, in America, the bright colors which are so abundant in their homeland.
Almost any formation known to man could be seen as we inched our way along. Castles, monuments, animals of all sorts, a gremlin, the devil, a bridal veil, totem poles, all of these and hundreds more were easy to visualize everywhere around us. And with but a little Imagination we could see many more.
It was time to turn back, and I could feel the reluctance of the men in the party to do so, but if we did not arrive back at our appointed time a search party would start after us, and I saw no reason to create false fears with those on the outside.
The return trip was much faster than our trip in, simply because we knew what to expect. Also, we did not stop so long to look at the magnificent splendor, and also because the candles and string told us exactly where the trail led.
It was interesting to note, however, that as we would enter a room from the opposite direction from which we had originally entered it, it appeared much different, sometimes so much so that we thought we had not entered it previously. Of course, the candles and string proved we were wrong, but the difference in perspective was amazing.
When we finally arrived back at the entrance the members of the party spent hours telling the others what we had seen. It was interesting to hear the different descriptions from the men and to see how each man had noted something different yet of course we had all been along the same route.
After this we often took trips into the cave and would explore different rooms and tunnels which we hadn't seen before. It seemed that there was no end to this maze of underground caverns.
Accidents were relatively few on all of these trips, and I think it was because the fellows all realized that if any of them got hurt it could be serious. The trip back would be a hardship on those who might be required to carry an injured man back to the entrance.
When my young son, Jodie, (Joe N. Long), was about 5 years old, he began to take quite an interest in our conversations in which we would describe the many incidents that took place daily in the Big Cave.
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| Abijah Long | Joe N. (Jodie) and Andrew B. Long Long | |
| (Taken about 1904) | ||