Volume I Part 47 (2/2)
Like all the wooden inns in the higher Alps, which are situated in the rocky and bare gorges which intersect the white summits of the e for travelers who are crossing the Gemmi
It remains open for six months in the year, and is inhabited by the fains to fall, and fills the valley so as to make the road down to Loeche io away, and leave the house in charge of the old guide, Gaspard Hari, with the young guide, Ulrich Kunzi, and Sa re before their eyes except the immense, white slopes of the Bal summits, and shut up, blocked up and buried by the snohich rose around them, and which enveloped, bound and crushed the little house, which lay piled on the roof, reached to the s and blocked up the door
It was the day on which the Hauser fa, and the descent was becoe and led by the three sons Then the hter Louise mounted a fourth mule, and set off in their turn, and the father followed thee, ere to escort the family as far as the brow of the descent First of all they passed round the small lake, which was now frozen over, at the bottom of the mass of rocks which stretched in front of the inn, and then they followed the valley, which was dominated on all sides by the snow covered sulistening, frozen desert, and illu appeared a more in this immeasurable solitude, and no noise disturbed the profound silence
By degrees the young guide Ulrich Kunzi, a tall, long legged Swiss, left daddy Hauser and old Gaspard behind, in order to catch up to the er one looked at hi hiirl, whose milk white cheeks and pale hair looked as if they had lost their color by their long abode aot up with the animal which carried them, he put his hand on the crupper, and relaxed his speed Mother Hauser began to talk to him, and enumerated with thethe winter It was the first ti to stop up there, while old Hari had already spent fourteen winters amidst the snow, at the inn of Schwarenbach
Ulrich Kunzi listened, without appearing to understand, and looked incessantly at the girl Frohts seemed far away, and his calm features remained unmoved
They reached Lake Daube, whose broad, frozen surface extended to the bottoht, the Daubenhorn showed its black rocks, rising up in a peak above the enorlacier, which rose above the Wildstrubel As they approached the neck of the Geins, they suddenly beheld the immense horizon of the Alps of the Valais, from which the broad, deep valley of the Rhone separated theroup of white, unequal flat or pointed listened in the sun; the Mischabel with its two peaks, the huge group of the Weisshorn, the heavy Brunegghorn, the lofty and formidable pyramid of Mont Cervin, that slayer of men, and the Dent-Blanche, that terrible coquette
Then, beneath them, in a tremendous hole, at the bottom of a terrible abyss, they perceived Loeche, where houses looked as grains of sand which had been thrown in that enormous crevice, which finishes and closes the Gemmi, and which opens, down below, onto the Rhone
Theand twisting continually, and which co the side of the e at its feet The women jumped into the snow, and the two old ood-bye, and keep up your spirits till next year, my friends,” and old Hari replied: ”Till next year”
They embraced each other, and then Madairl did the same
When Ulrich Kunzi's turn caet those up yonder,” and she replied: ”no,” in such a low voice, that he guessed what she had said, without hearing it ”Well, adieu,”
Jean Hauser repeated, ”and don't fall ill” And going before the tomen, he commenced the descent, and soon all three disappeared at the first turn in the road, while the two men returned to the inn at Schwarenbach
They walked slowly, side by side, without speaking It was over, and they would be alone together for four or five an to relate his life last winter He had remained with Michael Canol, as too old now to stand it; for an accidentsolitude They had not been dull, however; the only thing was to make up one's mind to it from the first, and in the end one would find plenty of distraction, ga away the tiround, for in his thoughts he was following those ere descending to the village They soon caht of the inn, which was, however, scarcely visible, so small did it look, a black speck at the foot of that enorreat curly dog, began to romp round them
”Come, et our own dinner ready Go and peel the potatoes” And they both sat down on wooden stools, and began to put the bread into the soup
The nextto Kunzi Old Hari s man looked out of theat the snow-covered mountain opposite the house
In the afternoon he went out, and going over yesterday's ground again, he looked for the traces of the mule that had carried the tomen; then when he had reached the neck of the Gemmi, he laid himself down on his stoe, in its rocky pit, was not yet buried under the snow, although it came quite close to it, but it was stopped short by the pine woods which protected it Its low houses looked like paving stones in a large hter was there now, in one of those gray colored houses In which? Ulrich Kunzi was too far away to be able to o dohile he was yet able!
But the sun had disappeared behind the lofty crest of the Wildstrubel, and the young , and when he saw his ame of cards to him, and they sat down opposite each other, on either side of the table They played for a long tiame called _brisque_, and then they had supper and went to bed
The following days were like the first, bright and cold, without anythe eagles and other rare birds which ventured onto those frozen heights, while Ulrich returned regularly to the neck of the Gee Then they played at cards, dice or dominoes, and lost and won a trifle, just to create an interest in the ga Hari, as up first, called his coht cloud of white spray was falling on the them under a thick, dark coverlet of foahts It was necessary to free the door and the s, to dig out a passage and to cut steps to get over this frozen powder, which a twelve hours frost had ranite of the moraines
They lived like prisoners, and did not venture outside their abode They had divided their duties, which they perfor, washi+ng, and everything that belonged to cleanliness He also chopped up the wood, while Gaspard Hari did the cooking and attended to the fire Their regular and ames at cards or dice, and they never quarreled, but were always calm and placid They were never even impatient or ill-humored, nor did they ever use hard words, for they had laid in a stock of patience for their wintering on the top of the mountain
Sometimes old Gaspard took his rifle and went after chamois, and occasionally he killed one Then there was a feast in the inn at Schwarenbach, and they reveled in freshhe went out as usual The therrees of frost, and as the sun had not yet risen, the hunter hoped to surprise the ani alone, remained in bed until ten o'clock He was of a sleepy nature, but he would not have dared to give way like that to his inclination in the presence of the old guide, as ever an early riser He breakfasted leisurely with Sa in front of the fire; then he felt low-spirited and even frightened at the solitude, and was seized by a longing for his daily game of cards, as one is by the desire of an invincible habit, and so he went out to meet his companion, as to return at four o'clock
The snow had leveled the whole deep valley, filled up the _crevasses_, obliterated all signs of the two lakes and covered the rocks, so that between the high suular, dazzling and frozen surface For three weeks, Ulrich had not been to the edge of the precipice, froe, and he wanted to go there before cli the slopes which led to Wildstrubel Loeche was now also covered by the snow, and the houses could scarcely be distinguished, covered as they were by that white cloak
Then turning to the right, he reached the La strides, striking the snohich was as hard as a rock, with his iron-shod stick, and with his piercing eyes, he looked for the little black,speck in the distance, on that enormous, white expanse