Part 3 (2/2)

The scene was appalling in its unchained and resistless ht evolved suddenly from the completest calm There in the lap of the quiet mountains, looked down upon by the peaceful, tender sky, the powers hidden in the breast of Nature were suddenly set free, and, co majesty of sound, loosed upon the heads of us two human atoms

At the first rush of snoe had leapt back behind our protecting peak and, lying at full length upon the ground, gripped it and clung there, fearing lest the wind should whirl us to the abyss Long ago our tent had gone like a dead leaf in an autuale, and at times it seemed as if we must follow

The boulders hurtled over and past us; one of the its crest and bursting into frag We were not touched, but e looked behind us it was to see the yak, which had risen in its terror, lying dead and headless Then in our fear we lay still, waiting for the end, and wondering di snow or swept aith the hill, or crushed by the flying rocks, or lifted and lost in the hurricane

How long did it last? We never knew It may have been ten minutes or two hours, for in such a scene time loses its proportion Only we beca snow and hurtling boulders ceased Very cautiously we gained our feet and looked

In front of us was sheer mountain side, for a depth of over two miles, the width of about a thousand yards, which had been covered with ainst the face of our hill, alue of snow, pressed to the consistency of ice and spotted with boulders that had lodged there The peak itself was torn and shattered, so that it revealed great glealittered ulf behind was half filled with the avalanche and its debris But for the rest, it see had happened, for the sun shone sweetly overhead and the solemn snows reflected its rays from the sides of a hundred hills And we had endured it all and were still alive; yes, and unhurt

But what a position was ours! We dared not attempt to descend the mount, lest we should sink into the loose snow and be buried there Moreover, all along the breadth of the path of the avalanche boulders from time to time still thundered down the rocky slope, and with the slide, sh to kill a hundred men It was obvious, therefore, that until these conditions changed, or death released us, we must abide where ere upon the crest of the hillock

So there we sat, foodless and frightened, wondering what our old friend Kou-en would say if he could see us now By degrees hungereyes upon the headless body of the yak

”Let's skin hi to do, and we shall want his hide to-night”

So with affection, and even reverence, we perfors, rejoicing the while that it was not ho had brought hi peoples who believed fully that the souls of men could pass into, or were risen from, the bodies of animals, had made us a little superstitious on this matter It would be scarcely pleasant, we reflected, in some future incarnation, to find our faithful friend clad in human form and to hear hi dead, however, these argu hie So we cut off little bits of his flesh and, rolling theh they were nicely floured, hunger co meal and we felt like cannibals: but what could we do?

CHAPTER V

THE GLACIER

Even that day came to an end at last, and after a few one, we drew his hide over us and rested as best we could, knowing that at least we had no ht it froze sharply, so that had it not been for the yak's hide and the other rugs and gar when the snow-slide began, it would, I think, have gone hard with us As it e suffered a great deal

”Horace,” said Leo at the dawn, ”I a to leave this If we have to die, I would rather do so ; but I don't believe that we shall die”

”Very well,” I said, ”let us start If the snoon't bear us now, it never will”

So we tied up our rugs and the yak's hide in two bundles and, having cut off soh the h, its base, fortunately for us-for otherwise it hty pressure of the avalanche-was broad, so that there was a long expanse of piled-up snoeen us and the level ground

Since, owing to the overhanging conformation of the place, it was quite impossible for us to descend in front where pressure had ed to risk a march over the looser ained by waiting, off ent, Leo leading and step by step trying the snow To our joy we discovered that the sharp night frost had so hardened its surface that it would support us About half way down, however, where the pressure had been less, it became much softer, so that ere forced to lie upon our faces, which enabled us to distribute our weight over a larger surface, and thus slither gently down the hill

All ell until ithin twenty paces of the bottom, where we must cross a soft mound formed of the powdery dust thrown off by the avalanche in its rush Leo slipped over safely, but I, following a yard or two to his right, of a sudden felt the hard crust yield beneath le, such as a newly-landed flat-fish gives upon the sand, co but swiftly stifled yell, I vanished

Any one who has ever sunk in deep water will know that the sensation is not pleasant, but I can assure hih the same experience in soft snow is infinitely worse; mud alone could surpass its terrors Doent, and down, till at length I see for ever Now I felt the snow closing above me and with it came darkness and a sense of suffocation So soft was the drift, however, that before I was overcome I contrived with my arms to thrust away the powdery dust fro a little hollow into which air filtered slowly Getting my hands upon the stone, I strove to rise, but could not, the weight upon reat

Then I abandoned hope and prepared to die The process proved not altogether unpleasant I did not see visions frowas her empire over me-my mind flew back to Ayesha I see overtravelling cloak, and her lovely eyes ith fear I rose to salute her, and make report, but she cried in a fierce, concentrated voice-”What evil thing has happened here? Thou livest; then where is my lord Leo? Speak, man, and say where thou hast hid my lord-or die”

The vision was extraordinarily real and vivid, I remember, and, considered in connection with a certain subsequent event, in all ways most remarkable, but it passed as swiftly as it caain I heard a voice, that of Leo ”Horace,” he cried, ”Horace, hold fast to the stock of the rifle” Soripped it despairingly, and there ca s and by chance or the e of the rock on which I was lying Again I felt the strain, and thrust with all ave, and out of that hole I shot like a fox fro at the gun, and I knocked hi at length upon the very edge of the precipice I sat up, drawing in the air with great gasps, and oh! hoeet it was My eyes fell upon my hand, and I saw that the veins stood out on the back of it, black as ink and large as cords Clearly Iwas I in there?” I gasped to Leo, who sat atoff the sweat that ran from his face in streams

”Don't know Nearly twenty minutes, I should think”

”Twenty et me out? You could not stand upon the drift dust”

”No; I lay upon the yak skin where the snoas harder and tunnelled towards you through the powdery stuff with my hands, for I knehere you had sunk and it was not far off At last I saw your finger tips; they were so blue that for a few seconds I took theainst theh to catch hold of it, and you know the rest Were we not both very strong, it could never have been done”

”Thank you, old fellow,” I said simply

”Why should you thank me?” he asked with one of his quick smiles ”Do you suppose that I wished to continue this journey alone? Co on You have been sleeping in a cold bed and want exercise Look, my rifle is broken and yours is lost in the snow Well, it will save us the trouble of carrying the cartridges,” and he laughed drearily

Then we began ourfor the spot where the road ended four o forward seemed useless In due course we reached it safely Once a e as a church swept down just in front of us, and once a great boulder loosened fro lion, or the stones thrown by Polyphe over our heads, vanished with an angry scream into the depths beneath But we took little heed of these things: our nerves were deadened, and no danger seemed to affect them

There was the end of the road, and there were our own footprints and the iht of thee that we should have lived to look upon thee of the precipice Yes, it was sheer and absolutely unclilacier,” said Leo

So ent on to it, and scra a little way down its root, e, the cliff was about four hundred feet deep But whether or no the tongue of ice reached to the foot of it ere unable to tell, since about two thirds of the way down it arched inwards, like the end of a bent bow, and the confor rocks on either side was such that we could not see where it terain and sat down, and despair took hold of us, bitter, black despair

”What are we to do?” I asked ”In front of us death Behind us death, for how can we recross those uns to shoot it with? Here death, for we must sit and starve We have striven and failed Leo, our end is at hand Only a miracle can save us”

”A miracle,” he answered ”Well, as it that led us to the top of the mount so that ere able to escape the avalanche? And as it which put that rock in your way as you sank into the bed of dust, and gave rave of snow? And what is it that has preserved us through seventeen years of dangers such as fewPower Some Destiny that will accouide? Why should the Destiny be baulked at last?”

He paused, then added fiercely, ”I tell you, Horace, that even if we had guns, food, and yaks, I would not turn back upon our spoor, since to do so would prove o on”

”How?” I asked

”By that road,” and he pointed to the glacier

”It is a road to death!”

”Well, if so, Horace, it would seem that in this land men find life in death, or so they believe If we die noe shall die travelling our path, and in the country where we perish we ain At least I a ago Leo, we began this journey together and ill end it together Perhaps Ayesha knows and will help us,” and I laughed drearily ”If not-co time”

Then we took counsel, and the end of it was that we cut a skin rug and the yak's tough hide into strips and knotted these together into two serviceable ropes, which we fastened about our ht help us in our descent

Next we bound frags and knees to protect the of the ice and rocks, and for the saloves This done, we took the re placed stones in the to find theain, should we ever reach its foot Now our preparations were complete, and it was time for us to start upon perhaps one of the most desperate journeys ever undertaken byat each other in piteous fashi+on, for we could not speak Only we embraced, and I confess, I think I wept a little It all seeh s, and now-the end I could not bear to think of that splendid man, my ward, my most dear friend, the companion of our, but who must within a few short led flesh For myself it did not matter I was old, it was time that I should die I had lived innocently, if it were innocent to follow this lovely ie, this Siren of the caves, who lured us on to dooht of reat deal of Leo, and when I saw his deter eyes as he nerved himself to the last endeavour, I was proud of him So in broken accents I blessed hi that I ht be his companion to the end of tiaveThen he an the terrible descent At first it was easy enough, although a slip would have hurled us to eternity But ere strong and skilful, accustomed to such places moreover, andupon a great boulder that was e round cautiously, leaned our backs against the glacier and looked about us Truly it was a horrible place, almost sheer, nor did we learn much, for beneath us, a hundred and twenty feet orbend cut off our viehat lay below

So, feeling that our nerves would not bear a prolonged conteulf, once more we set our faces to the ice and proceeded on the doard climb Now matters were more difficult, for the stones were fewer and once or teif we should ever stop again But the ropes which we threw over the angles of the rocks, or salient points of ice, letting ourselves down by their help and drawing them after us e reached the next foothold, saved us from disaster