Need we say that the younger of our adventurers--for such they may truly
be styled--felt a tendency to "spin yarns," as Captain Wopper expressed
it, till a late hour that night, as they sat round the fire at the
Grands Mulets?
During this enjoyable period, Lawrence and Lewis made themselves better
acquainted with Baptist Le Croix, the chamois-hunter, whose quiet,
gentle, and unobtrusive manner was very attractive to them. Many an
anecdote did he relate of adventures among the Alpine peaks and passes
while pursuing the chamois, or guiding travellers on their way, and it
is probable that he might have roamed in spirit among his beloved
haunts--eagerly followed in spirit by the young men--if he had not been
called to order by the guide, who, remembering the hard work that lay
before them on the morrow, suggested repose. The profound silence that
soon reigned in the hut was broken only by an occasional long-drawn
sigh. Even Captain Wopper was quiet, having been so powerfully
influenced by fresh mountain air and exercise as to have forgotten or
foregone his ordinary and inveterate snore.
There is something peculiarly disagreeable in being awakened, when one
is very tired and sleepy, about two minutes after one has dropped into a
profound refreshing slumber; and the annoyance is severely aggravated
when it is caused by the wanton act of one of whom we had expected
better things.
So, in a hazy way, thought Lewis Stoutley when he felt a hand laid on
his shoulder, and heard the voice of Antoine Grennon.
"Monsieur! Monsieur!" said the guide.
"G-t--long. D-n borer me," murmured Lewis, in tones so sleepy that the
dash of crossness was barely perceptible.
"It is time to rise, sir," persisted Antoine.
"'Mposs'ble--'v jus' b'n two min'ts sl-e--"
A profound sigh formed an eloquent peroration to the sentence.
A loud laugh from his companions, who were already up and getting ready,
did more than the guide's powers of suasion to arouse the heavy sleeper.
He started to a sitting posture, stared with imbecile surprise at the
candle which dimly lighted the cabin, and yawned vociferously.
"What a sleeper you are, Lewie!" said Lawrence, with a laugh, as, on his
knees before the fire, he busied himself in preparing coffee for the
party.
"And such a growler, too, when any one touches you," observed Slingsby,
buttoning on his leggings.
"Sleeper! growler!" groaned Lewis, "you've only given me five minutes in
which to sleep or growl."
"Ah, the happy obliviousness of youth!" said the Professor, assisting
one of the porters to strap up the scientific instruments, "you have
been asleep four hours at least. It is now past one. We must start in
less than an hour, so bestir yourself--and pray, Dr Lawrence, make
haste with that coffee."
The doctor was by no means slow in his operations, but the difficulties
in his way delayed him. At such a height, and in such a frozen region,
the only mode of procuring water was to place a panful of snow on the
fire; and, no matter how full the pan might be stuffed with it, this
snow, when melted, was reduced to only a very small quantity of water;
more snow had, therefore, to be added and melted, so that much time was
spent before the boiling point was reached. Patience, however, was at
last rewarded with a steaming draught, which, with bread and ham, did
more than fire towards warming their chill bodies.
Outside, the scene was still exquisitely calm and beautiful. The stars
appeared to have gathered fresh brilliancy and to have increased in
number during the night. Those of them near the horizon, as the
Professor pointed out, twinkled energetically, as if they had just
risen, and, like Lewis, were sleepy, while those in the zenith shone
with steady lustre, as if particularly wide awake to the doings of the
presumptuous men who were climbing so much nearer than usual to their
habitation in the sky. One star in particular gleamed with a sheen that
was pre-eminently glorious--now it was ruby red, now metallic blue, anon
emerald green. Of course, no sunlight would tinge the horizon for
several hours, but the bright moon, which had just risen, rolled floods
of silver over the snowy wastes, rendering unnecessary the lantern which
had been provided to illumine their upward path.
The party, having been tied together with a rope as on the previous day,
set forth in line over the snow, each following the other, and soon they
were doing battle with the deep crevasses. The nature of the ice
varied, of course, with the form of the mountain, sometimes presenting
rugged and difficult places, in which, as the Captain put it, they got
among breakers and had to steer with caution, at other times presenting
comparatively level plains of snow over which all was "plain sailing,"
but the movement was upwards--ever upwards--and, as the day advanced,
felt so prolonged that, at last, as Slingsby said, the climbing motion
grew into a confirmed habit. Meanwhile the old world sank steadily
below them, and, seen from such an elevation in the pale moonlight, lost
much of its familiar look.
Even sounds appeared gradually to die out of that mysterious region, for
when they chanced to pause for a moment to recover breath, or to gaze
downward, each appeared unwilling to break the excessive stillness, and
all seemed to listen intently, as it were, to the soundlessness around--
hearing nought, however, save the beating of their own pulsations. In
such a spot, if unaccompanied by guide or friend, one might perhaps
realise, more than in other parts of earth, the significance of the
phrase, "Alone with God."
As dawn approached, Lewis, who had taken care to have himself placed
next to Baptist Le Croix, renewed his converse in reference to
chamois-hunting, and made arrangements to accompany the hunter on one of
his expeditions.
"Is that your sole occupation?" he asked, as the party entered upon a
somewhat level snow-field.
"That and assisting travellers," answered Baptist.
"By the way," said Lewis, in a careless tone, "they tell me that gold is
to be found in some parts of these mountains. Is that true?"
If the youth's back had not been towards the hunter, who walked behind
him, he might have seen that this question was received with a startled
look, and that a strange gleam shot from the man's eyes. The question
was repeated before he answered it.
"Yes," said he, in a low voice, "they say it is to be found--but I have
never found it."
"Have you sought much for it?"
"I have sought for it."
The answer was not given promptly, and Lewis found, with some surprise,
that the subject appeared to be distasteful to the hunter. He therefore
dropped it and walked on in silence.
Walking at the time was comparatively easy, for a sharp frost had
hardened the surface of the snow, and the gem-like lights of heaven
enabled them to traverse valleys of ice, clamber up snow-slopes and
cross crevasses without danger, except in one or two places, where the
natural snow-bridges were frail and the chasms unusually wide.
At one of these crevasses they were brought to a complete standstill.
It was too wide to be leaped, and no bridge was to be found. The
movements of a glacier cause the continual shifting of its parts, so
that, although rugged or smooth spots are always sure to be found at the
same parts of the glacier each year, there is, nevertheless, annual
variety in minute detail. Hence the most expert guides are sometimes
puzzled as to routes.
The crevasse in question was a new one, and it was Antoine's first
ascent of Mont Blanc for that year, so that he had to explore for a
passage just as if he had never been there before. The party turned to
the left and marched along the edge of the chasm some distance, but no
bridge could be found. The ice became more broken up, smaller crevasses
intersected the large one, and at last a place was reached where the
chaos of dislocation rendered further advance impossible.
"Lost your bearin's, Antoine?" asked Captain Wopper.
"No; I have only got into difficulties," replied the guide, with a quiet
smile.
"Just so--breakers ahead. Well, I suppose you'll 'bout ship an' run
along the coast till we find a channel."
This was precisely what Antoine meant to do, and did, but it was not
until more than an hour had been lost that a safe bridge was found.
When they had crossed, the configuration of the ice forced them to adopt
a route which they would willingly have avoided. A steep incline of
snow rose on their right, on the heights above which loose ice-grags
were poised as if on the point of falling. Indeed, two or three tracks
were passed, down which, probably at no distant period, some of these
avalanches had shot. It was nervous work passing under them. Even
Antoine looked up at them with a grave, inquiring glance, and hastened
his pace as much as was consistent with comfort and dignity.
Soon after this the sun began to rise, and the upper portions of the
snow were irradiated with pink splendour, but to our travellers he had
not yet risen, owing to the intervening peaks of the Aiguille du Midi.
In the brightening light they emerged upon a plain named the Petit
Plateau, which forms a reservoir for the avalanches of the Dome du
Goute. Above them rose the mountain-crest in three grand masses,
divided from each other by rents, which exposed that peculiar stratified
form of the glacier caused by the annual bedding of the snow. From the
heights, innumerable avalanches had descended, strewing the spot where
they stood with huge blocks of ice and masses of rock.
Threading their way through these impediments was a matter not only of
time, but of difficulty, for in some parts the spaces between the
boulders and blocks were hollow, and covered with thin crusts of snow,
which gave way the instant a foot was set on them, plunging up to their
waists the unfortunates who trod there, with a shock which usually
called forth shouts of astonishment not unmingled with consternation.
"Here, then, we draw near to the grand summit," said the Professor,
pointing to the snow-cliffs on the right, "whence originates the
ice-fountain that supplies such mighty ice-rivers as the Glacier des
Bossons and the Mer de Glace."
"Oui, Monsieur," replied Antoine, smiling, "we _draw_ near, but we are
not yet near."
"We are nearer to the summit however, than we are to the plain,"
retorted the Professor.
"Truly, yes," assented the guide.
"I should think no one could doubt that," observed Slingsby, looking
upwards.
"It looks quite near now," said Lewis.
"Not so near, however, as you think, and as you shall find," rejoined
the guide, as they resumed their upward march.
This was indeed true. Nothing is more deceptive to an inexperienced eye
than the apparent distance of a high mountain-top. When you imagine
that the plain below is miles and miles away, and the peak above close
at hand, you find, perhaps, on consulting your watch, that the plain
cannot be very far distant, and that the greater part of your work still
lies before you. It requires no small amount of resolution to bear up
against the depression of spirit caused by frequent mistakes in this
matter.
Owing to the increasing height and power of the sun, the snow beyond the
Petit Plateau soon became soft, and the steepness of the ascent
increasing, their advance became slower, and their work much more
laborious. A pleasant break was, however, at hand, for, on reaching the
Grand Plateau, they were cheered by the sun's rays beaming directly on
them, and by the information that they had at length reached their
breakfast-point.
It may not be a very romantic, but it is an interesting fact, that the
joys connected with intellectual and material food are intimately
blended. Man, without intellectual food, becomes a "lower animal."
What intellectual man is without material food, even for part of a day,
let those testify who have had the misfortune to go on a pic-nic, and
discover that an essential element of diet had been forgotten. It is
not merely that food is necessary to maintain our strength; were that
so, a five minutes' pause, or ten at the outside, would suffice, in
Captain Wopper's phraseology, to take in cargo, or coal the human
engine; but we "_rejoice_ in food," and we believe that none enjoy it so
much as those whose intellectual appetite is strong. If any doubters of
these truths had witnessed the Professor and his friends at breakfast
that morning on the Grand Plateau, they must have infallibly been
convinced.
"What a gourmand he is!" whispered Lewis to the Captain, in reference to
the man of science, "and such a genial outflow of wit to correspond with
his amazing indraught of wittles."
The Captain's teeth were at the moment fixed with almost tigerish
ferocity in a chicken drumstick, but the humour and the amazing
novelty--to say nothing of the truth--of Lewis's remark made him remove
the drumstick, and give vent to a roar of laughter that shook the very
summit of Mont Blanc--at all events the Professor said it did, and he
was a man who weighed his words and considered well his sentiments.
"Do not imagine that I exaggerate," he said, as distinctly as was
compatible with a very large mouthful of ham and bread, "sound is a
motion of vibration, not of translation. That delightfully sonorous
laugh emitted by Captain Wopper (pass the wine, Slingsby--thanks) was an
impulse or push delivered by his organs of respiration to the particles
of air in immediate contact with his magnificent beard. The impulse
thus given to the air was re-delivered or passed on, not as I pass the
mutton to Dr Lawrence (whose plate is almost empty), but by each
particle of air passing the impulse to its neighbour; thus creating an
aerial wave, or multitude of waves, which rolled away into space. Those
of the waves which rolled in the direction of Mont Blanc communicated
their vibrations to the more solid atoms of the mountain, these passed
the motion on to each other, of course with slight--inconceivably
slight--but actual force, and thus the tremor passed entirely through
the mountain, out on the other side, greatly diminished in power no
doubt, and right on throughout space.--Hand me the bread, Lewis, and
don't sit grinning there like a Cheshire cat with tic-douloureux in its
tail."
At this Slingsby laughed and shook the mountain again, besides
overturning a bottle of water, and upsetting the gravity of Antoine
Grennon, who chanced to be looking at him; for the artist's mouth, being
large, and also queerly shaped, appeared to the guide somewhat
ludicrous. Sympathy, like waves of sound, is easily transmitted. Thus,
on the Captain making to Antoine the very simple remark that the
"mootong was mannyfeek," there was a general roar that ought to have
brought Mont Blanc down about their ears. But it didn't--it only shook
him. Laughter and sympathy combined improve digestion and strengthen
appetite. Thus the Professor's brilliant coruscations, and the
appreciative condition of his audience, created an enjoyment of that
morning's meal which was remembered with pleasure long after the event,
and induced an excessive consumption of food, which called forth the
remonstrances of the guide, who had to remind his uproarious flock that
a portion must be reserved for the descent. To the propriety of this
Lewis not only assented, but said that he meant to continue the ascent,
and rose for that purpose, whereupon the Doctor said that he dissented
entirely from the notion that bad puns increased the hilarity of a
party, and the Captain, giving an impulse to the atmosphere with his
respiratory organs, produced the sound "Avast!" and advised them to clap
a stopper in their potato-traps.
Even at these sallies they all laughed--proving, among other things,
that mountain air and exercise, combined with intellectual and physical
food, are conducive to easy-going good humour.
It is not impossible that the tremors to which Mont Blanc had been
subjected that morning had put him a little out of humour, for our
mountaineers had scarcely recommenced their upward toil when he shrouded
his summit in a few fleecy clouds. The guide shook his head at this.
"I fear the weather won't hold," he said.
"Won't hold!" exclaimed the Captain, "why, it's holdin' now as hard as
it can grip."
"True," observed the Professor; "but weather in these regions is apt to
change its mood rather suddenly."
"Yet there seems to me no sign of an unfavourable change," said
Lawrence, looking up at the blue and almost cloudless sky.
"Fleecy clouds are fleeting at times," returned the Professor, pointing
to the summit which again showed its cap of clear dazzling white, "but
at other times they are indicative of conditions that tend to storm.
However, we must push on and hope for the best."
They did push on accordingly, and all, except the guide, had no
difficulty in "hoping." As they passed over the Plateau the sun poured
floods of light on the snow, from the little crystals of which it shone
with prismatic colours, as though the place had been strewn with
diamonds. The spirit of levity was put to flight by this splendid
spectacle, and the feelings of the travellers were deepened to solemnity
when the guide pointed to a yawning crevasse into which, he said, three
guides were hurled by an avalanche in the year 1820. He also related
how, on one occasion, a party of eleven tourists perished, not far from
where they then stood, during a terrible storm, and how an English lady
and her guide were, at another time, lost in a neighbouring crevasse.
By this time all except the chief among the surrounding heights were
beginning to look insignificant by comparison, and the country assumed a
sort of rugged flatness in consequence of being looked down upon from
such an elevation. Passing the Grand Plateau they reached a steep
incline, which rose towards a tremendous ice-precipice. From the upper
edge of this there hung gigantic icicles. Up the incline they went
slowly, for the crust of the snow broke down at every step, and the
Captain, being heavy, began to show symptoms of excessive heat and
labouring breath, but he grew comparatively cool on coming to a
snow-bridge which had to be passed in order to get over a crevasse.
"It'll never bear my weight," he said, looking doubtfully at the frail
bridge, and at the blue gulf, which appeared to be a bottomless pit.
Antoine, however, thought it might prove strong enough. He patted the
snow gently, as on previous occasions of a similar kind, and advanced
with caution, while his followers fixed their heels in the snow, and
held tight to the rope to save him if he should break through. He
passed in safety, and the others followed, but new difficulties awaited
them on the other side. Just beyond this bridge they came to a slope
from which the snow had been completely swept, leaving the surface of
hard ice exposed. It was so steep that walking on it was impossible.
Antoine, therefore, proceeded to cut steps along its face. Two swings
of his ponderous mountain-axe were sufficient to cut each step in the
brittle ice, and in a few minutes the whole party were on the slope,
every man having a coil of the rope round his waist, while, with the
spike of his alpenstock driven firmly into the ice, he steadied himself
before taking each successive step.
There would have been no difficulty in crossing such a slope if its base
had terminated in snow, but as it went straight down to the brow of an
ice-precipice, and then abruptly terminated in a cornice, from which the
giant icicles, before mentioned, hung down into an unfathomable abyss,
each man knew that a false step, a slip, or the loss of balance, might
result in the instant destruction of the whole party. They moved
therefore very slowly, keeping their eyes steadily fixed on their feet.
The mercurial temperament of Mr Slingsby was severely tried at this
point. His desire to look up and revel in the beauties of nature around
him proved too strong a temptation. While gazing with feelings of awe
at the terrible edge or cornice below he became, for the first time,
fully alive to his situation,--the smallness of the step of ice on which
he stood, the exceeding steepness of the glassy slope below, the dread
abyss beyond! He shut his eyes; a giddy feeling came over him--a rush
of horror.
"Take care, Monsieur!" was uttered in a quick, deep tone, behind him.
It was the warning voice of Le Croix, who observed his condition.
The warning came too late. Slingsby wavered, threw up his arms,
slipped, and fell with an appalling shriek.
Le Croix, however, was prepared. In an instant he had fixed his staff
and heels firmly, and had leaned well back to resist the pull. The
porter in front was not less prompt; the stout rope stood the strain;
and in another moment the artist was restored to his position, panting,
pale, and humbled.
A few minutes sufficed to restore his confidence sufficiently to admit
of his proceeding, and, with many warnings to be more cautious, the
advance was continued.
Up to this point the weather had favoured them, but now Mont Blanc
seemed as if inclined to resent the free and easy way in which these men
of mingled muscle and science had attacked his crown. He drew several
ominous clouds around him, and shook out a flood of hoary locks from his
white head, which, caught up by a blast, created apparently for the
purpose, were whirled aloft in wild confusion, and swooped down upon the
mountaineers with bitter emphasis, in the form of snow-drift, as if they
had come direct from Captain Wopper's favourite place of reference,--
Nova Zembla. Coats, which had hitherto been carried on the arm or
thrown open, were put on and buttoned, and heads were bent to meet the
blast and repel the snow-drift. Little was said, save a murmured doubt
by Antoine as to the possibility of gaining the summit, even although
they were now so near it, for the day was far spent by that time, and
the rugged nature of the route over they had passed, precluded the
possibility of a rapid return to the hut at the Grands Mulets. They
pushed steadily on, however, for the Professor was anxious to bury his
thermometer in the snow at the top; the guide was anxious to maintain
his credit for perseverance; and the others were anxious to be able to
say they had reached the highest height in Europe.
In any weather the ascent of Mont Blanc requires somewhat more than the
average share of physical vigour and perseverance; in bad weather it
demands unusual strength and resolution. When, therefore, a severe
storm of wind arose, most of the party began to show symptoms of
distress. The labour of ascending, being coupled with that of forcing
way against the blast, was very exhausting to the muscles, while the
extreme cold reduced the physical energy and cooled the most sanguine
spirit. Antoine alone seemed to be proof against all influences, but
the responsibility lying on him clouded his usually open countenance
with a careworn expression. Prudence counselled immediate return.
Ambition, as they were now so near the top, urged prolonged effort. The
guide expressed his anxieties, but meeting with no response, followed
the dictates of his feelings, and pushed on.
Like pillars of living snow they toiled patiently upwards. Breath
became too precious to waste in words. They advanced in silence. The
wind howled around them, and the snow circled in mad evolutions, as if
the demon of wintry storms dwelt there, and meant to defend his citadel
to the "bitter end." There are two rocks near the summit, which crop
through the ice like rugged jewels in the monarch's diadem. The lower
is named the Petits Mulets, the upper the Derniers Roches. On reaching
the latter of these they paused a few moments to rest. A feeling of
certainty that the end would be gained now began to prevail, but the
guide was a little alarmed, and the Professor horrified, on looking at
their companions' faces, to observe that they were pinched, haggard, and
old-looking, as if they all had aged somewhat during the last few hours!
Captain Wopper's rubicund visage was pale, and his nose blue; the face
of Lewis was white all over, and drawn, as if he were suffering pain;
Dr Lawrence's countenance was yellow, and Slingsby's was green. The
Professor himself was as bad as his comrades, and the porters were no
better.
"We shan't be beaten now," said the man of science, with a ghastly
smile.
"Go 'head! nev'r s'die s'l'ng's th'r's shot 'n th' locker!" replied the
Captain, in the tone of a man who would rather avoid speaking, if
possible.
"What a face you've got, Stoutley!" said the artist.
"You're another!" replied Lewis, with a horrible grin.
"Allons!" exclaimed the guide, bending once more against the storm.
Once, for a few minutes, the wind ceased and the clouds lifted. Captain
Wopper uttered a cheer, and rushed forward in advance of the guide, took
off his hat and threw it into the air. They had reached the round
summit without being aware of it. They stood 15,781 feet above the
sea-level! No envious peak rose above their heads. The whole world lay
below them, bathed, too, in bright sunshine, for the storm, which had so
suddenly swooped upon them, was confined, like an elemental body-guard,
to the head of the mountain-king. But, clear though it was at the
moment, they were too high in the air to see anything quite distinctly,
yet this hazy aspect had a charm of its own, for it increased the
feeling and idea of vastness in connection with surrounding space.
Around, and now beneath, stood the mountain nobility of the land,
looking, however, somewhat reduced in size and majesty, as seen from the
royal presence.
Scarcely had the mountaineers assembled and glanced at the wondrous
panorama, when the envious clouds swooped down again and mingled with
the snow-drift which once more rose to meet them.
"We must be quick, Monsieur," said Antoine, taking a shovel from one of
the porters, while Le Croix grasped another. "Where shall we dig?"
The Professor fixed on a spot, and, while the grave of the thermometer
was being dug, a plaid was set up on a couple of alpenstocks, in the
shelter of which the others consumed the bread and wine that had been
saved from breakfast. It did them little good, however; the cold was
too intense. The Captain's beard was already fringed with icicles, and
the whiskers of those who had them were covered with hoar-frost, while
the breath issued from their mouths like steam. Before the thermometer
was buried all had risen, and were endeavouring to recover heat by
rubbing their hands, beating their arms across their breasts, and
stamping violently.
"Come," said the Professor, quickly, when the work was done, "we must
start at once."
"Oui, Monsieur," assented the guide, and, without more words, the whole
party began to descend the mountain at a run.
There was cause for haste. Not only did the storm increase in violence,
but evening drew on apace, and all of them were more or less exhausted
by prolonged muscular exertion and exposure to severe cold.
Suddenly, having gone a considerable way down the mountain, they emerged
from fog and snow-drift into blazing sunshine! The strife of elements
was confined entirely to the summit. The inferior ice-slopes and the
valleys far below were bathed in the golden glories of a magnificent
sunset and, before they reached the huts at the Grands Mulets, they had
passed from a condition of excessive cold to one of extreme heat,
insomuch that the Captain and Professor were compelled to walk with
their coats slung over their shoulders, while perspiration streamed from
their bare brows.
That night the party slept again at the Grands Mulets, and next day they
reached Chamouni, fagged, no doubt, and bearing marks of mountaineering
in the shape of sun-burnt cheeks and peeled noses, but hearty,
nevertheless, and not a little elated with their success in having
scaled the mighty sides and the hoary summit of Mont Blanc.