Part 5 (1/2)

”Like to go in any farther, Saxe?” said Dale.

”Yes, much--very much,” said the lad, in a low voice, ”just because I don't want to.”

”What do you mean?”

”Well, I can't exactly explain it, because the place makes me feel nervous and a little shrinking, but I want to try and get over it.”

”Better not stay any longer, herr,” said the guide; ”you are hot with walking, and the place is damp and cold.”

”Yes, it would be wiser to go out in the suns.h.i.+ne again. I should like to explore this, though, with a lantern and candles.”

”Whenever the herr likes,” said the guide quietly. And they pa.s.sed out again, the icy arch above them looking exquisitely beautiful with its blue tints, some of which were of the delicious brilliancy to be seen in some of our precious stones.

It was a wonderful change from the cool gloom of the cavern to the glaring suns.h.i.+ne outside, where the heat was reflected from the ice and glistening rocks; and now, striking up to the right, Melchior made for where the ice ended and the steep slope-up of the valley side began.

Here with a little difficulty they mounted--sometimes the rock growing too steep and the ice appearing the easier path, then the reverse, till at last they stood well up on the surface of the frozen river and began its toilsome ascent.

”Now you'll find the advantage of your big-nailed boots, Saxe,” said his leader merrily. ”Go cautiously, my lad; we mustn't spoil our explorations by getting sprained ankles.”

The warning was necessary, for the ice surface was broken up into ruts, hollows, folds, and crags that required great caution, and proved to be laborious in the extreme to surmount.

”Is there much more of this rough stuff?” said Saxe, after half an hour's climbing.

The guide smiled.

”The ice gets bigger and wilder higher up,” he replied. ”There are smooth patches, but it is broken up into crags and seracs.”

This was another surprise to Saxe, to whom the surface of the glacier, when seen from above on the bluff, had looked fairly smooth--just, in fact, one great winding ma.s.s of ice flowing down in a curve to the foot.

He was not prepared for the chaos of worn, tumbled and crushed-up ma.s.ses, among which the guide led the way. Some parts that were smoother were worn and channelled by the running water, which rushed in all directions, mostly off the roughly curved centre to the sides, where it made its way to the river beneath.

It was quite a wonderland to the boy fresh from town, entering the icy strongholds of nature; for, after ascending a little farther, their way was barred by jagged and pinnacled ma.s.ses heaped together in the wildest confusion, many of the fragments being thirty, even forty feet high.

”Have we got to climb those?” said Saxe, in dismay.

The guide shook his head.

”No, herr: it would be madness to try. Some of them would give way at the least touch. Stand back a little, and I'll show you why it is dangerous to climb among the seracs.”

He stepped aside, and, using his axe, deftly chipped off a piece of ice from a block--a fragment about as large as an ordinary paving-stone.

”Hold my axe, sir,” he said; and on Saxe taking it, the man picked up the block he had chipped off, walked a little way from them, and, after looking about a little, signed to them to watch, as he hurled the lump from him, after raising it above his head. As he threw it, he ran back toward them, and the piece fell with a crash between two spires which projected from the icy barrier.

There was a crash, and then the effect was startling. Both the spires, whose bases must have been worn nearly through by the action of sun and water, came down with a roar, bringing other fragments with them, and leaving more looking as if they were tottering to their fall.

Then up rose what seemed to be a cloud of diamond dust, glittering in the bright suns.h.i.+ne, a faint echo or two came from high up the rocky face of the valley, and then all was silent once more.

”You see?” said Melchior. ”Why, often a touch of a hand, or even a shout, will bring them tumbling down. Always keep away from the seracs.”

He led them now at a safe distance across the glacier to the left, till a wide opening presented itself, through which they pa.s.sed on to comparatively smooth ice; but even this was all piled together, wedged in blocks, which made the party seem, as Saxe said, like so many ants walking about in a barrel of loaf sugar.