seated one morning on an easy chair in susan quick’s apartment and swinging his little blue legs to and fro in a careless, negligent manner, gillie white announced it as his opinion that mister lewis had gone, or was fast going, mad.
“why do you think so?” asked susan, with a smile, looking up for a moment from some portion of lewis’s nether integuments, which mont blanc had riven almost to shreds.
“w’y do i think so?” repeated gillie; “w’y, cos he’s not content with havin’ busted his boots an’ his clo’se, an’ all but busted hisself, in goin’ to the top o’ mont blang an’ monty rosa, an’ all the other monty-thingumbobs about but he’s agoin’ off to day with that queer fish laycrwa to hunt some where up above the clouds—in among the stars, i fancy—for shamwas.”
“indeed!” said susan, with a neat little laugh.
“yes, indeed. he’s mountain-mad—mad as a swiss march hare, if not madder—by the way, susan, wot d’ee think o’ the french?”
gillie propounded this question with the air of a philosopher.
“d’you mean french people?”
“no; i means the french lingo, as my friend cappen wopper calls it.”
“well, i can’t say that i have thought much about it yet. missis keeps me so busy that i haven’t time.”
“ah!” said gillie, “you’re wastin’ of precious opportoonities, susan. i’ve bin a-studdyin’ of that lingo myself, now, for three weeks—off and on.”
“indeed!” exclaimed susan, with an amused glance, “and what do you think of it?”
“think of it! i think it’s the most outrageous stuff as ever was. the man who first inwented it must ’ave ’ad p’ralersis o’ the brain, besides a bad cold in ’is ’ead, for most o’ the enns an’ gees come tumblin’ through the nose, but only git half out after all, as if the speaker was afraid to let ’em go, lest he shouldn’t git hold of ’em again. there’s that there mountain, now. they can’t call it mont blang, with a good strong out-an’-out bang, like a briton would do, but they catches hold o’ the gee when it’s got about as far as the bridge o’ the nose, half throttles it and shoves it right back, so that you can scarce hear it at all. an’ the best joke is, there ain’t no gee in the word at all!”
“no?” said susan, in surprise.
“no,” repeated gillie. “i’ve bin studdyin’ the spellin’ o’ the words in shop-winders an’ posters, an’, would you b’lieve it, they end the word blang with a c.”
“you don’t say so!”
“yes i do; an’ how d’ee think they spell the name o’ that feller laycrwa?”
“i’m sure i don’t know,” answered susan.
“they spells it,” returned gillie, with a solemn look, “l-e-c-r-o-i-x. now, if i had spelt it that way, i’d have pronounced it laycroiks. wouldn’t you?”
“well, yes, i think i should,” said susan.
“it seems to me,” continued gillie, “that they goes on the plan of spellin’ one way an’ purnouncin’ another—always takin’ care to choose the most difficult way, an’ the most unnatt’ral, so that a feller has no chance to come near it except by corkin’ up one nostril tight, an’ borin’ a small extra hole in the other about half-way up. if you was to mix a sneeze with what you said, an’ paid little or no attention to the sense, p’raps it would be french—but i ain’t sure. i only wish you heard cappen wopper hoistin’ french out of hisself as if he was a wessel short-handed, an’ every word was a heavy bale. he’s werry shy about it, is the cappen, an’ wouldn’t for the world say a word if he thought any one was near; but when he thinks he’s alone with antoine—that’s our guide, you know—he sometimes lets fly a broadside o’ french that well-nigh takes my breath away.”
the urchin broke into a laugh here at the memory of the captain’s efforts to master what he styled a furrin’ tongue, but susan checked him by saying slily, “how could you know, gillie, if the captain was alone with antoine?”
“oh, don’t you know,” replied gillie, trying to recover his gravity, “the cappen he’s wery fond o’ me, and i like to gratify his feelin’s by keepin’ near him. sometimes i keep so near—under the shadow of his huge calf d’ee see—that he don’t observe me on lookin’ round; an’, thinkin’ he’s all alone, lets fly his french broadsides in a way that a’most sends antoine on his beam-ends. but antoine is tough, he is. he gin’rally says, ‘i not un’r’stan’ english ver’ well,’ shakes his head an’ grins, but the cappen never listens to his answers, bein’ too busy loadin’ and primin’ for another broadside.”
the man to whom he referred cut short the conversation at this point by shouting down the stair:—
“hallo! gillie, you powder-monkey, where are my shoes?”
“here they are, cappen, all ready; fit to do dooty as a lookin’-glass to shave yerself,” cried the “powder-monkey,” leaping up and leaving the room abruptly.
gillie’s opinion in regard to the madness of lewis was shared by several of his friends above stairs. doctor lawrence, especially, felt much anxiety about him, having overheard one or two conversations held by the guides on the subject of the young englishman’s recklessness.
“really, lewis,” said the doctor, on one occasion, “you must listen to a lecture from me, because you are in a measure under my charge.”
“i’m all attention, sir,” said lewis meekly, as he sat down on the edge of his bed and folded his hands in his lap.
“well then, to begin,” said the doctor, with a half-serious smile, “i won’t trouble you with my own opinion, to which you attach no weight—”
“pardon me, lawrence, i attach great weight to it—or, rather, it has so much weight that i can scarcely bear it.”
“just so, and therefore you shan’t have it. but you must admit that the opinion of a good guide is worth something. now, i heard antoine grennon the other day laying down some unquestionable principles to the professor—”
“what! lecturing the professor?” interrupted lewis, “how very presumptuous.”
“he said,” continued the doctor, “that the dangers connected with the ascent of these swiss mountains are real, and, unless properly provided against, may become terrible, if not fatal. he instanced your own tendency to go roving about among the glaciers alone. with a comrade or a guide attached to you by a rope there is no danger worth speaking of, but it must be as clear to you as it is to me that it when out on the mountains alone, you step on a snow-covered crevasse and break through, your instant death is inevitable.”
“yes, but,” objected lewis, with that unwillingness to be convinced which is one of the chief characteristics of youth, “i always walk, when alone on the glaciers, with the utmost caution, sounding the snow in front of me with the long handle of my axe at every step as i go.”
“if the guides do not find this always a sufficient protection for themselves, by what amazing power of self-sufficiency do you persuade yourself that it is sufficient for you?” demanded lawrence.
“your question suffices, doctor,” said lewis, laughing; “go on with your lecture, i’m all attention and, and humility.”
“not my lecture,” retorted lawrence, “the guide’s. he was very strong, i assure you, on the subject of men going on the high glaciers without a rope, or, which comes to the same thing, alone, and he was not less severe on those who are so foolhardy, or so ignorant, as to cross steep slopes of ice on new-fallen snow. nothing is easier, the new snow affording such good foothold, as you told us the other day when describing your adventures under the cliffs of monte rosa, and yet nothing is more dangerous, says antoine, for if the snow were to slip, as it is very apt to do, you would be smothered in it, or swept into a crevasse by it. lives are lost in the alps every year, i am told, owing to indifference to these two points. the guides say—and their opinions are corroborated by men of science and alpine experience—that it is dangerous to meddle with any slope exceeding 30 degrees for several days after a heavy fall, and yet it is certain that slopes exceeding this angle are traversed annually by travellers who are ignorant, or reckless, or both. did you not say that the slope which you crossed the other day was a steeper angle than this, and the snow on it not more than twenty-four hours’ old?”
“guilty!” exclaimed lewis, with a sigh.
“i condemn you, then,” said lawrence, with a smile, “to a continuation of this lecture, and, be assured, the punishment is much lighter than you deserve. listen:— there are three unavoidable dangers in alpine climbing—”
“please don’t be long on each head,” pleaded lewis, throwing himself back in his bed, while his friend placed the point of each finger of his right hand on a corresponding point of the left, and crossed his legs.
“i won’t. i shall be brief—brief as your life is likely to be if you don’t attend to me. the three dangers are, as i have said, unavoidable; but two of them may be guarded against; the other cannot. first, there is danger from falling rocks. this danger may be styled positive. it hangs over the head like the sword of damocles. there is no avoiding it except by not climbing at all, for boulders and ice-blocks are perched here, and there, and everywhere, and no one can tell the moment when they shall fall. secondly, there is danger from crevasses—the danger of tumbling into one when crossing a bridge of snow, and the danger of breaking through a crust of snow which conceals one. this may be called a negative danger. it is reduced to almost nothing if you are tied to your comrade by a rope, and if the leader sounds with his staff as he walks along; but it changes from a negative to a positive danger to the man who is so mad as to go out alone. thirdly, there is danger from new snow on steep slopes, which is positive if you step on it when recently fallen, and when the slope is very steep; but is negative when you allow sufficient time for it to harden. while, however, it is certain that many deaths occur from these three dangers being neglected, it is equally true that the largest number of accidents which occur in the alps arise chiefly from momentary indiscretions, from false steps, the result of carelessness or self-confidence, and from men attempting to do what is beyond their powers. men who are too old for such fatigue, and men who, though young, are not sufficiently strong, usually come to grief. i close my lecture with a quotation from the writings of a celebrated mountaineer—‘in all cases the man rather than the mountain is at fault.’”
“there is truth in what you say,” observed lewis, rising, with a yawn.
“nay, but,” returned his friend, seriously, “your mother, who is made very anxious by your reckless expeditions, begged me to impress these truths on you. will you promise me, like a good fellow, to consider them?”
“i promise,” said lewis, becoming serious in his turn, and taking his friend’s hand; “but you must not expect sudden perfection to be exemplified in me.—come, let’s go have a talk with le croix about his projected expedition after the chamois.”
up in the mountains now,—above some of the clouds undoubtedly, almost ’mong the stars, as gillie put it,—lewis wanders in company with baptist le croix, half-forgetful of his promise to lawrence. below them lies a world of hills and valleys; above towers a fairy-land of ice, cliff, and cloud. no human habitation is near. the only indications of man’s existence are so faint, and so far off in the plains below, that houses are barely visible, and villages look like toys. a sea of cloud floats beneath them, and it is only through gaps in this sea that the terrestrial world is seen. piercing through it are the more prominent of the alpine peaks—the dark tremendous obelisk of the matterhorn towering in one direction, the not less tremendous and far grander head of mont blanc looming in another. the sun shines brightly over all, piercing and rendering semi-transparent some of the clouds, gilding the edges and deepening the shadows of others.
“do you see anything, le croix?” asked lewis, as he reclined on a narrow ledge of rock recovering breath after a fatiguing climb, while his comrade peered intently through a telescope into the recesses of a dark mountain gorge that lay a little below them.
for some moments the hunter made no reply. presently he closed the glass, and, with an air of satisfaction, said, “chamois!”
“where?” asked lewis, rising eagerly and taking the glass.
le croix carefully pointed out the spot but no effort on the part of the inexperienced youth could bring anything resembling the light and graceful form of a chamois into the field of vision.
“never mind, le croix,” he said, quickly returning the glass and picking up his rifle; “come along, let’s have at them.”
“softly,” returned the hunter; “we must get well to leeward of them before we can venture to approach.”
“lead where you will; you’ll find me a quiet and unquestioning follower.”
the hunter at once turned, and, descending the mountain by a precipice which was so steep that they had in some places to drop from ledge to ledge, at last gained a position where the light air, that floated but scarce moved the clouds, came direct from the spot where the chamois lay. he then turned and made straight towards them. as they advanced the ground became more rugged and precipitous, so that their progress was unavoidably slow, and rendered more so by the necessity that lay on them of approaching their game without noise.
when they had reached a spot where a sheer precipice appeared to render further progress impossible, the hunter stopped and said in a low tone, “look, they are too far off; a bullet could not reach them.”
lewis craned his neck over the cliff, and saw the chamois grazing quietly on a small patch of green that lay among brown rocks below.
“what’s to be done?” he asked anxiously. “couldn’t we try a long shot?”
“useless. your eyes are inexperienced. the distance is greater than you think.”
“what, then, shall we do?”
le croix did not answer. he appeared to be revolving some plan in his mind. turning at last to his companion, he said—
“i counsel that you remain here. it is a place near to which they must pass if driven by some one from below. i will descend.”
“but how descend?” asked lewis. “i see no path by which even a goat could get down.”
“leave that to me,” replied the hunter. “keep perfectly still till you see them within range. have your rifle ready; do not fire in haste; there will be time for a slow and sure aim. most bad hunters owe their ill-luck to haste.”
with this advice le croix crept quietly round a projecting rock, and, dropping apparently over the precipice, disappeared.
solitude is suggestive. as long as his companion was with him, lewis felt careless and easy in mind, but now that he was left alone in one of the wildest and grandest scenes he had yet beheld, he became solemnised, and could not help feeling, that without his guide he would be very helpless in such a place. being alone in the mountains was not indeed new to him. as we have already said, he had acquired the character of being much too reckless in wandering about by himself; but there was a vast difference between going alone over ground which he had traversed several times with guides in the immediate neighbourhood of chamouni, and being left in a region to which he had been conducted by paths so intricate, tortuous, and difficult, that the mere effort to trace back in memory even the last few miles of the route confused him.
there was a mysterious stillness, too, about everything around him; and the fogs, which floated in heavy masses above and below, gave a character of changeful wildness to the scenery.
“what a place to get lost in and benighted!” he thought. then his mind, with that curious capacity for sudden flight, which is one of the chief characteristics of thought, leaped down the precipices, up which he had toiled so slowly, sped away over hill and dale, and landed him in chamouni at the feet of nita horetzki. once there, he had no desire to move. he kept looking steadily in her pretty face, speculated as to the nature of the charm that rendered it so sweet, wondered what was the cause of the lines of care that at times rippled her smooth white brow, longed to become the sharer of her grief, and her comforter, and pondered the improbability of his ever being in a position to call her nita—darling nita—sweetest nita—exquisite nita! he was still engaged in creating adjectives at chamouni when he was brought suddenly back to the alpine heights by the sound of a shot. it was repeated in a hundred echoes by the surrounding cliffs, as he seized his rifle and gazed over the precipice.
a puff of smoke, hanging like a cloudlet, guided his eyes. not far in front of it he saw the fawn-like form of a chamois stretched in death upon the ground, while two others were seen bounding with amazing precision and elasticity over the rocks towards him.
he turned at once to an opening among the rocks at his right, for, even to his unpractised eye, it was obviously impossible that anything without wings could approach him in front or at his left.
coolness and promptitude were characteristics of the youth; so that he sat crouching with the rifle, resting in the palm of his left hand, over one knee, as motionless as if he had been chiselled from the rock against which he leaned; but his natural coolness of deportment could not prevent, though it concealed, a throbbing of anxiety lest the game should pass out of reach, or behind rocks, which would prevent his seeing it. for an instant he half-rose, intending to rush to some more commanding elevation, but remembering the parting advice of le croix, he sank down again and remained steady.
scarcely had he done so when the clatter of bounding hoofs was heard. he knew well that the open space, across which he now felt sure the chamois must pass, was only broad enough to afford the briefest possible time for an aim. he raised the rifle more than half-way to the shoulder. another instant and a chamois appeared like an arrow shooting athwart the hill-side before him. he fired, and missed! the bullet, however, which had been destined for the heart of the first animal, was caught in the brain of that which followed. it sprang high into the air, and, rolling over several times, lay stretched at full length on the rocks.
we need not pause to describe the rejoicing of the young sportsman over his first chamois, or to detail lecroix’s complimentary observations thereon.
having deposited their game in a place of safety, the hunter suggested that, as there was no chance of their seeing any more in that locality, it would be well to devote the remainder of the day to exploring the higher slopes of a neighbouring glacier, for, familiar as he was with all the grander features of the region, there were some of the minuter details, he said, with which he was unacquainted.
lewis was a little surprised at the proposal, but, being quite satisfied with his success, and not unwilling to join in anything that smacked of exploration, he readily assented; and, ere long, the two aspiring spirits were high above the spot where the chamois had fallen, and struggling with the difficulties of couloir and crevasse.
before quitting the lower ground, they had deposited their game and rifles in a cave well known to le croix, in which they intended to pass the night, and they now advanced armed only with their long-handled alpine hatchets, without which implements it is impossible to travel over glaciers.
being both of them strong in wind and limb, they did not pause often to rest, though lewis occasionally called a momentary halt to enjoy the magnificent prospect. during one of these pauses a dark object was seen moving over the ice far below them.
le croix pointed to it, and said that it approached them.
“what is it—a crow?” asked lewis.
“more like a man; but it is neither,” returned the hunter, adjusting his telescope; “yes, it is, as i fancied, a chamois.”
“then it cannot have seen us,” said lewis, “else it would not approach.”
“nay, it approaches because it has seen us. it mistakes us for relatives. let us sit down to deceive it a little.”
they crouched beside a piece of ice, and the chamois advanced, until its pretty form became recognisable by the naked eye. its motions, however, were irregular. it was evidently timid. sometimes it came on at full gallop, then paused to look, and uttered a loud piping sound, advancing a few paces with caution, and pausing to gaze again. le croix replied with an imitative whistle to its call. it immediately bounded forward with pleasure, but soon again hesitated, and stopped. at last it seemed to become aware of its mistake, for, turning at a tangent, it scoured away over the ice like wind swooping down from the mountain-summits, bounded over the crevasses like an india-rubber ball, and was quickly out of sight.
while gazing with profound interest at this graceful creature, the explorers were not at first aware that a dark mass of inky cloud was rapidly bearing down on them, and that one of those wild storms which sweep frequently over the high alps seemed to be gathering.
“we must make haste, if we would gain the shelter of our cave,” said le croix, rising.
as he spoke, a low rumbling sound was heard behind them. they turned just in time to see a small avalanche of rocks hopping down the cliffs towards them. it was so far off, and looked such an innocent rolling of pebbles, that lewis regarded it as an insignificant phenomenon. his companion formed a better estimate of its character, but being at least five hundred yards to one side of the couloir or snow-slope, down which it rushed, he judged that they were safe. he was mistaken. some of the largest stones flew past quite near them, several striking the glacier as they passed, and sending clouds of ice-dust over them, and one, as large as a hogshead, bounding, with awful force, straight over their heads.
they turned instantly to hasten from so dangerous a spot, but were arrested by another and much louder rumbling sound.
“quick, fly, monsieur!” exclaimed le croix, setting his young companion the example.
truly there was cause for haste. a sub-glacial lake among the heights above had burst its icy barriers, and, down the same couloir from which the smaller avalanche had sprung, a very ocean of boulders, mud, ice, and débris came crashing and roaring with a noise like the loudest thunder, with this difference, that there was no intermission of the roar for full quarter of an hour; only, at frequent intervals, a series of pre-eminent peals were heard, when boulders, from six to ten feet in diameter, met with obstacles, and dashed them aside, or broke themselves into atoms.
our hunters fled for their lives, and barely gained the shelter of a giant boulder, when the skirts of the hideous torrent roared past leaped over an ice-cliff, and was swallowed up by the insatiable crevasses of the glacier below. for several minutes after they had reached, and stood panting in, a position of safety, they listened to the thunderous roar of alpine artillery, until it died slowly away—as if unwillingly—in the light pattering of pebbles.
gratitude to the almighty for deliverance from a great danger was the strongest feeling in the heart of the chamois-hunter. profound astonishment and joy at having witnessed such an amazing sight, quickened the pulse of lewis.
“that was a narrow escape, le croix?”
“it was. i never see such a sight without a shudder, because i lost a brother in such an avalanche. it was on the slopes of the jungfrau. he was literally broken to fragments by it.”
lewis expressed sympathy, and his feelings were somewhat solemnised by the graphic recital of the details of the sad incident with which the hunter entertained him, as they descended the mountain rapidly.
in order to escape an impending storm, which was evidently brewing in the clouds above, lewis suggested that they should diverge from the route by which they had ascended, and attempt a short cut by a steeper part of the mountains.
le croix looked round and pondered. “i don’t like diverging into unknown parts when in a hurry, and with the day far spent,” he said. “one never knows when a sheer precipice will shut up the way in places like this.”
the youth, however, was confident, and the man of experience was too amiable and yielding. there was also urgent reason for haste. it was therefore decided that the steeper slopes should be attempted.
they began with a glissade. a very steep snow-slope happened to be close at hand. it stretched uninterruptedly down several hundred feet to one of the terraces, into which the precipitous mountainside at that place was cut.
“will you try?” asked le croix, looking doubtfully at his companion.
“of course i will,” replied lewis, shortly. “where you choose to go i will follow.”
“have you ever done such work before?”
“yes, often, though never on quite so steep or long a slope.”
le croix was apparently satisfied. he sat down on the summit of the slope, fixed the spiked end of his axe in the snow, resting heavily on the handle, in order to check his descent, and hitched himself forward.
“keep steady and don’t roll over,” he cried, as he shot away. the snow rose and trailed like a white tail behind him. his speed increased almost to that of an avalanche, and in a few seconds he was at the bottom.
lewis seated himself in precisely the same manner, but overbalanced himself when halfway down, swung round, lost self-command, let slip his axe, and finally went head over heels, with legs and arms flying wildly.
le croix, half-expecting something of the kind, was prepared. he had re-ascended the slope a short way, and received the human avalanche on his right shoulder, was knocked down violently as a matter of course, and the two went spinning in a heap together to the bottom.
“not hurt, i hope?” cried lewis, jumping up and looking at his comrade with some anxiety.
“no, monsieur,” replied le croix, quietly, as he shook the snow from his garments—“and you?”
“oh! i’m all right. that was a splendid beginning. we shall get down to our cave in no time at this rate.”
the hunter shook his head. “it is not all glissading,” he said, as they continued the descent by clambering down the face of a precipice.
some thousands of feet below them lay the tortuous surface of a glacier, on which they hoped to be able to walk towards their intended night-bivouac, but the cliffs leading to this grew steeper as they proceeded. some hours’ work was before them ere the glacier could be reached, and the day was already drawing towards its close. a feeling of anxiety kept them both silent as they pushed on with the utmost possible speed, save when it was necessary for one to direct the other as to his foothold.
on gaining each successive ledge of the terraced hill-side, they walked along it in the hope of reaching better ground, or another snow-slope; but each ledge ended in a precipice, so that there was no resource left but to scramble down to the ledge below to find a similar disappointment. the slopes also increased, rather than decreased, in steepness, yet so gradually, that the mountaineers at last went dropping from point to point down the sheer cliffs without fully realising the danger of their position. at a certain point they came to the head of a slope so steep, that the snow had been unable to lie on it, and it was impossible to glissade on the pure ice. it was quite possible, however, to cut foot-holes down. le croix had with him a stout manilla rope of about three hundred feet in length. with this tied round his waist, and lewis, firmly planted, holding on to it, he commenced the staircase. two blows sufficed for each step, yet two hours were consumed before the work was finished. re-ascending, he tied the rope round lewis, and thus enabled him to descend with a degree of confidence which he could not have felt if unattached. le croix himself descended without this moral support, but, being as sure-footed as a chamois, it mattered little.
pretty well exhausted by their exertions, they now found themselves at the summit of a precipice so perpendicular and unbroken, that a single glance sufficed to convince them of the utter impossibility of further descent in that quarter. the ledge on which they stood was not more than three feet broad. below them the glacier appeared in the fading light to be as far off as ever. above, the cliffs frowned like inaccessible battlements. they were indeed like flies clinging to a wall, and, to add to their difficulties, the storm which had threatened now began in earnest.
a cloud as black as pitch hung in front of them. suddenly, from its heart, there gushed a blinding flash of lightning, followed, almost without interval, by a crash of thunder. the echoes took up the sounds, hurling them back and forward among the cliffs as if cyclopean mountain spirits were playing tennis with boulders. rain also descended in torrents, and for some time the whole scene became as dark as if overspread with the wing of night.
crouching under a slight projection of rock, the explorers remained until the first fury of the squall was over. fortunately, it was as short-lived as violent, but its effects were disagreeable, for cataracts now poured on them as they hurried along the top of the precipice vainly looking for a way of escape. at last, on coming to one of those checks which had so often met them that day, le croix turned and said—
“there is no help for it, monsieur, we must spend the night here.”
“here!” exclaimed lewis, glancing at the cliffs above and the gulf below.
“it is not a pleasant resting-place,” replied the hunter, with a sad smile, “but we cannot go on. it will be quite dark in half an hour, when an effort to advance would insure our destruction. the little light that remains must be spent in seeking out a place to lie on.”
the two men, who were thrown thus together in such perilous circumstances, were possessed of more than average courage, yet it would be false to say that fear found no place in their breasts. on the contrary, each confessed to the other the following day that his heart had sunk within him as he thought of the tremendous cliffs against which they were stuck, with descent and ascent equally impossible, a narrow ledge on the precipice-edge for their bed, and a long, wild night before them. cowardice does not consist in simple fear. it consists in the fear of trifles; in unreasonable fear, and in such fear as incapacitates a man for action. the situation of our explorers was not one of slight danger. they had the best of reason for anxiety, because they knew not whether escape, even in daylight, were possible. as to incapacity for action, the best proof that fear had not brought them to that condition lay in the fact, that they set about preparations for spending the night with a degree of vigour amounting almost to cheerfulness.
after the most careful survey, only one spot was found wider than the rest of the ledge, and it was not more than four feet wide, the difference being caused by a slight hollow under the rock, which thus might overhang them—one of them at least—and form a sensation of canopy. at its best, a bed only four feet wide is esteemed narrow enough for one, and quite inadequate for two, but when it is considered that the bed now selected was of hard granite, rather round-backed than flat, with a sheer precipice descending a thousand feet, more or less, on one side of it, and a slope in that direction, there will be no difficulty in conceiving something of the state of mind in which lewis stoutley and baptist le croix lay down to repose till morning in wet garments, with the thermometer somewhere between thirty-two and zero, fahrenheit.
to prevent their rolling off the ledge when asleep, they built on the edge of the cliff a wall of the largest loose stones they could find. it was but an imaginary protection at best, for the slightest push sent some of the stones toppling over, and it necessarily curtailed the available space. no provisions, save one small piece of bread, had been brought, as they had intended returning to their cave to feast luxuriously. having eaten the bread, they prepared to lie down.
it was agreed that only one at a time should sleep; the other was to remain awake, to prevent the sleeper from inadvertently moving. it was also arranged, that he whose turn it was to sleep should lie on the inner side. but here arose a difference. le croix insisted that lewis should have the first sleep. lewis, on the other hand, declared that he was not sleepy; that the attempt to sleep would only waste the time of both, and that therefore le croix should have the first.
the contention was pretty sharp for a time, but the obstinacy of the englishman prevailed. the hunter gave in, and at once lay down straight out with his face to the cliff, and as close to it as he could squeeze. lewis immediately lay down outside of him, and, throwing one arm over his lecroix’s broad chest gave him a half-jocular hug that a bear might have enjoyed, and told him to go to sleep. in doing this he dislodged a stone from the outer wall, which went clattering down into the dark gulf.
almost immediately the deep, regular breathing of the wearied hunter told that he was already in the land of nod.
it was a strange, romantic position; and lewis rejoiced, in the midst of his anxieties, as he lay there wakefully guarding the chamois-hunter while he slept. it appeared to lewis that his companion felt the need of a guardian, for he grasped with both hands the arm which he had thrown round him.
how greatly he wished that his friends at chamouni could have even a faint conception of his position that night! what would lawrence have thought of it? and the captain,—how would he have conducted himself in the circumstances? his mother, emma, the count, antoine, gillie, susan—every one had a share in his thoughts, as he lay wakeful and watching on the giddy ledge—and nita, as a great under-current like the sub-glacial rivers, kept flowing continually, and twining herself through all. mingled with these thoughts was the sound of avalanches, which ever and anon broke in upon the still night with a muttering like distant thunder, or with a startling roar as masses of ice tottered over the brinks of the cascades, or boulders loosened by the recent rain lost their hold and involved a host of smaller fry in their fall. twining and tying these thoughts together into a wild entanglement quite in keeping with the place, the youth never for one moment lost the sense of an ever present and imminent danger—he scarce knew what—and the necessity for watchfulness. this feeling culminated when he beheld nita horetzki suddenly appear standing close above him on a most dangerous-looking ledge of rock!
uttering a loud cry of alarm he sought to start up, and in so doing sent three-quarters of the protecting wall down the precipice with an appalling rush and rumble. unquestionably he would have followed it if he had not been held by the wrist as if by a vice!
“hallo! take care, monsieur,” cried le croix, in a quick anxious tone, still holding tightly to his companion’s arm.
“why! what? le croix—i saw—i—i—saw—well, well—i do really believe i have been—i’m ashamed to say—”
“yes, monsieur, you’ve been asleep,” said the hunter, with a quiet laugh, gently letting go his hold of the arm as he became fully persuaded that lewis was by that time quite awake and able to take care of himself.
“have you been asleep too?” asked lewis.
“truly, no!” replied the hunter, rising with care, “but you have had full three hours of it, so it’s my turn now.”
“you don’t say so!” exclaimed lewis.
“indeed i do; and now, please, get next the cliff and let me lie outside, so that i may rest with an easy mind.”
lewis opposed him no longer. he rose, and they both stood up to stamp their feet and belabour their chests for some time—the cold at such a height being intense, while their wet garments and want of covering rendered them peculiarly unfitted to withstand it. the effort was not very successful. the darkness of the night, the narrowness of their ledge, and the sleepiness of their spirits rendering extreme caution necessary.
at last the languid blood began to flow; a moderate degree of warmth was restored, and, lying down again side by side in the new position, the hunter and the student sought and found repose.
