The track for some distance up the valley was so rugged and narrow that
the little party had to go in single file; but after a time they came
upon a more open part, less encumbered with rock, and, with the lad on
ahead, Richard Dale strode up abreast of the guide, and, taking out his
case, lit a cigar, and offered one to the Swiss.
The guide shook his head.
"No, thank you, herr," he said; "I seldom smoke anything but my pipe."
They went on for a while in silence, the only sound falling upon their
ears being the continuous roar of the torrent-like river which rushed
down the valley in a narrow chasm far below their feet--one series of
thundering cascades, all foam and milky glacier water.
Patches of pine forest, with the trees crowded close together, every
stem straight as an arrow, ran for some distance up the sides of the
vale; but there was no sign or note of bird. All was solemn and still,
save that deep-toned roar.
Saxe stopped suddenly, waited till they came near, and held up his hand.
"What is it?" said Dale.
"Isn't it wonderful, Mr Dale? Only two days ago in London, and here we
are in this wild place! Why, you can't hear a sound but the water!"
Almost as he spoke he bounded from the spot where he was standing, and
ran a few yards in alarm.
For from somewhere unseen and high above, there was a sudden roar, a
terrific crash, then a rushing sound, followed by a dead silence of a
few seconds, and then the earth seemed to receive a quivering blow,
resulting in a boom like that of some monstrous gun, and the noise now
ran up the valley, vibrating from side to side, till it died away in a
low moan.
The boy looked wildly from one to the other, to see that his uncle was
quite unmoved and that the guide was smiling at him.
"Then that was thunder?" he said inquiringly.
"No; a big piece of rock split off and fell," replied the guide.
"Is there no danger?"
"It would have been dangerous if we had been there."
"But where is `there'?"
"Up yonder," said the guide, pointing over the pine-wood toward the top
of the wall of rock, a perpendicular precipice fully three thousand feet
in height. "The rock split off up the mountain somewhere, rushed down,
and then fell."
"Can we see?"
"Oh yes; I could find the place," said the guide, looking at Dale.
"No, no: we will go on," said the latter. "It would take us two or
three hours. That sort of thing is often going on out here, Saxe."
"But why did it fall? Is any one blasting rock over there?"
"Yes, Nature: blasting with cold and heat."
Saxe looked at him inquiringly.
"You'll soon understand all this, my lad," said Dale. "The rocks high
up the mountains are always crumbling down."
"Crumbling? I don't call that crumbling."
"Call it what you like; but that was a crumb which fell down here, my
lad. You see the snow and ice over yonder?"
"Yes."
"Well, of course that means that there is constant freezing going on
there, except when the sun is blazing down at midday."
"Yes, I understand that," said Saxe.
"Well, the rock gets its veins charged with water from the melting of
the snow in the daytime, and at night it freezes again; the water
expands in freezing, and splits the rock away, but it does not slip,
because it is kept in position by the ice. By-and-by, on an extra hot
day, that ice melts, and, there being nothing to support it, the mass of
rock falls, and drives more with it, perhaps, and the whole comes
thundering down."
"I should like to see how big the piece was," said Saxe; "it must have
been close here."
"No," said the guide; "perhaps two miles away."
Dale made a sign, and they went on again.
"Wait a bit, Saxe, and you'll see plenty of falling rock. I dare say we
shall be cannonaded by stones some day."
"But shall we see an avalanche!"
"It's a great chance if we see one of the great falls which fill valleys
and bury villages; but if you keep your eyes open I dare say we shall
see several small ones to-day."
The lad glanced quickly up, and the meaning of that look was read
directly.
"No," said Dale quietly, "I am not joking, but speaking frankly to one
whom I have chosen as my companion in this enterprise. Come, Saxe, you
and I must now be more like helpmates--I mean, less of man and boy, more
like two men who trust each other."
"I shall be very glad," said the boy eagerly.
"Then we start so from this moment. We'll forget you are only sixteen
or seventeen."
"Nearly seventeen."
"Yes. For, without being gloomy, we must be serious. As Melchior says,
`the mountains are solemn in their greatness.' Look!"
They had just turned the corner of a huge buttress of rock, and Dale
pointed up the valley to the wonderful panorama of mountain and glacier
which suddenly burst upon their view. Snowy peak rising behind green
alps dotted with cattle, and beyond the glittering peak other pyramids
and spires of ice with cols and hollows full of unsullied snow, like
huge waves suddenly frozen, with their ridges, ripples, and curves
preserved.
"It is grand!" cried the boy, gazing excitedly before him at the most
wondrous picture that had ever met his eyes.
"Yes," said Dale; "and it has the advantage that every step we take
brings us to something grander. That is only your first peep into
Nature's wilds, some of which are as awful as they are vast. There goes
one of the inhabitants."
For at that moment, soaring high above the valley, a huge bird floated
between them and the intensely blue sky.
"An eagle!"
"Yes; the lammergeyer--the Alpine eagle."
"But what a name!" said Saxe.
"Suitable enough," said Dale quietly. "We call our little bird of prey
a sparrow-hawk. Well, this bird--lammergeyer--is the one which preys on
lambs."
The eagle soared higher and higher till it was well above the
perpendicular wall of rock on their left, and then glided onward toward
the snow, rapidly passing out of sight; while the trio tramped on,
passing a chalet here and another there, with its wooden shingled roof
laden with great stones to keep all intact against the terrific winds
which at times sweep down the valley from the ice ahead. Now their way
lay down by the foaming torrent, half choked with ragged pine trunks,
torn out of their birthplaces by tempests, or swept away by downfalls of
snow or rock; then they panted up some zigzag, faintly marked, where it
was impossible to follow the bed of the stream; and as they climbed
higher fresh visions of grandeur opened out before them, though the path
was so rugged that much of the view was lost in the attention that had
to be given to where they placed their feet. But from time to time a
halt was called, a geological hammer produced, and a piece of the rock,
that had come bounding down from half a mile above them, was shifted and
examined--pure limestone, now granite of some form, or hornblende, while
the guide rested upon the head of his axe, and looked on.
"You English are a wonderful people," he said at last.
"Why?" said Saxe.
"A Frenchman would come up here--no, he would not: this would be too
difficult and rough; he would get hot and tired, and pick his way for
fear of hurting his shiny boots. But if he did he would seek two or
three bright flowers to wear in his coat, he would look at the
mountains, and then sit down idle."
"And the English?" said Saxe.
"Ah, yes, you English! Nothing escapes you, nor the Americans. You are
always looking for something to turn into money."
"Which we are not doing now," said Dale quietly. "But very few people
come up here."
"Very few, but those who have cows or goats up on the green alps."
"And you think this is one of the grandest and wildest valleys you
know?"
"It is small," said the guide, "but it is the most solitary, and leads
into the wildest parts. See: in a short time we shall reach the
glacier, and then always ice, snow, and rock too steep for the snow to
stand, and beyond that the eternal silence of the never-ending winter."
Two hours' climb more than walk, with the sun coming down with scorching
power; but in spite of the labour, no weariness assailing the
travellers, for the air seemed to give new life and strength at every
breath they drew. But now, in place of the view being more grand, as
they climbed higher the valley grew narrow, the scarped rocks on either
side towered aloft and shut out the snowy peaks, and at last their path
led them amongst a dense forest of pines, through whose summits the wind
sighed and the roaring torrent's sound was diminished to a murmur.
This proved to be a harder climb than any they had yet undertaken, the
slope being very steep, and the way encumbered by masses of rock which
had fallen from above and become wedged in among the pine trunks.
"Tired, Saxe?" said Dale, after a time.
"I don't know, sir. That is, my legs are tired, but I'm not so upward.
I want to go on."
"In half an hour we shall be through," said Melchior; "then there are no
more trees--only a green matt, with a chalet and goats and cows."
"That means milk," said Saxe eagerly.
"Yes, and bread and cheese," said Melchior, smiling.
"Then I'm not tired. I'm sure of it now, sir," said Saxe merrily; and
the next half-hour was passed in a steady tramp, the guide leading as
surely as if he had passed all his days in that gloomy patch of forest,
never hesitating for a moment, but winding in and out to avoid the
innumerable blocks which must have lain there before the pines had
sprung up and grown for perhaps a hundred years.
Then there was bright daylight ahead, and in a few more strides the last
trees were passed, and they came out suddenly in an amphitheatre of bare
rocks, almost elliptical, but coming together at the head, and bending
away like a comma turned upside down.
At the moment they stepped on to the green stunted pasture, dotted with
flowers, the roar of the torrent came up from a gash in the rocks far
below, and to right and left, from at least three hundred feet up, the
waters of no less than five streams glided softly over the rocks, and
fell slowly in silvery foam, to form so many tributaries of the torrent
far below.
The effect of those falls was wonderful, and for the first few minutes
it seemed as if the water had just awakened at its various sources, and
was in no hurry to join the mad, impetuous stream below, so slowly it
dropped, turning into spray, which grew more and more misty as it
descended, while every now and then a jet as of silver rockets shot over
from the top, head and tail being exactly defined, but of course in
water instead of sparks.
"Will this do, Saxe?" said Dale, smiling.
"Do! Oh, come on. I want to get close up to those falls."
"Aren't you tired?"
"Tired!" cried Saxe. "What fellow could feel tired in a place like
this!"