Part 26 (2/2)
”Well done!” cried Dale: ”you are getting quite at home at it. Right!”
he shouted to Melchior, whose two legs appeared directly after, then his body, and he slid down rapidly, as if it were one of the most simple things in the world--as it really was, save that, instead of being close to the level, it was twelve thousand feet above.
As Melchior joined them, he rapidly untwisted the rope, held the two ends apart, and, as he drew with his left, he sent a wave along from his right, and threw the end up, with the result that the rope came away easily, and was rapidly coiled up.
The mists were collecting on the summit as they reached the snow bed, but they followed their old track easily enough; and when at last, in what seemed to be a surprisingly short s.p.a.ce of time, they came to the head of the arete, the white, spectral looking fog was creeping down in long-drawn wreaths, toward which Melchior kept turning his eyes.
”Look as if they will catch us soon,” said Dale quietly.
”Pray Heaven they may not till we are clear of this ridge, herr!” said the guide piously. ”Now, quick--the rope! You will go first.”
The rope was rapidly attached, and, as Dale started to descend, it seemed to Saxe that he was disappearing over the edge of a precipice; and as this was repeated again and again while they reversed the way by which they had ascended, the guide sitting fast and holding on till they were down, the place seemed far more terrible, and the snow slopes on either side almost perpendicular.
They made good way, however, Melchior keeping on inciting them to fresh exertion.
”Go on, gentlemen--go on!” he said. ”I have you safe. The rope is good. Go on, herrs--go on!”
But the descent over those rugged knife-edged ridges was so perilous, that Dale went slowly and cautiously; and when he reached each stopping-place he held on till Saxe had pa.s.sed down to him. Once the boy seemed to totter as he was pa.s.sing from one of the rocks to the other, over a patch of snow between them; but the firm strain upon the rope gave him support, and he reached the rock and began to lower himself.
In spite of their hastening, that which Melchior had apprehended happened: a cloud of mist suddenly started in advance of the rest, which had formed upward, and now completely veiled the summit. This mist-cloud rolled rapidly down when the party were about two-thirds of the way down the ridge, and just as Saxe was being lowered down.
An e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n from the guide made the lad look up; and he saw the stern, earnest face for a moment, then the fog rolled over it, and the guide's voice sounded strange as he shouted:
”Go on, young herr; and directly you reach Mr Dale sit fast. Don't move.”
Five minutes later Melchior was with them, and they crouched together, partly on rock, partly in snow.
”We must not move, herr,” said Melchior. ”It is unfortunate, but I was rather afraid. If it had held off for another quarter of an hour, I should not have cared.”
”Will it last long?” asked Saxe.
”Who can say, herr! Perhaps for days. In the mountains, when the weather is bad, we can only wait and hope.”
”Had we not better try to get down off this edge?”
”As a last resource, if the mist does not lift, herr. But not yet.”
Dale uttered an impatient e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n; but the guide filled and lit his pipe, settling himself down quite in the snow.
”Wind may come later on,” he said, ”and then perhaps we can get down.
It is a pity, for this is the worst place in the whole descent. But there: the mountains are mountains, and anything is better than an icy wind, that numbs you so that you cannot stir.”
He was scarcely visible, close as he was; but he had hardly finished speaking when Saxe saw his head, at first faintly, then clearly--for the cloud of mist had been still descending, and literally rolled down past them, Saxe himself standing out clear, then Dale, and the rocks below them one by one as far as the curve permitted them to see.
It was bright suns.h.i.+ne now once more, and as the rays from the west shot by, it was between two strata of clouds, glorifying that which was below and lighting up that above.
”Quick, herr!” said Melchior, in an authoritative tone. ”We have this bad piece to finish, if we can, before another cloud rolls down.”
The descent was continued, seeming to Saxe almost interminable. Then they were hurrying along over the snow, after pa.s.sing the morning's resting-place, and on and on till the shelf was reached with the precipice running down so steeply, just as mist came rolling down from above and also up from the depths below, meeting just where the party stood roping themselves together.
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