their teeth, and springing forward upon the hunter whenever an
opportunity offered. The latter, however, handled his _improvised_
weapon so well, that for a long time he kept the whole pack at bay.
He was growing very tired, and no doubt in a few minutes more would have
been obliged to succumb, when he, as well as the joint of yak-beef,
would soon have disappeared from the world; but, before this terrible
event could happen, the large spotted body of Fritz was seen rushing
into the midst of the crowd. Fritz was followed by his master, Karl,
armed with the double-barrelled gun, which soon opened fire, scattering
the wild pack like a flock of sheep, and laying out more than one of
their number at the feet of Ossaroo.
The scene was soon over after the arrival of Karl and Fritz, and Ossaroo
was delivered from his peril; but if ever a follower of Brahma swore
vengeance against any living creature, Ossaroo did that very thing
against the wild dogs.
CHAPTER FORTY ONE.
OSSAROO'S REVENGE.
So indignant was Ossaroo with these animals that he vowed he would not
lie down till he had taken wholesale revenge, and Karl and Caspar were
curious to know how he intended to take it. They knew the dogs would be
like enough to come round the hut during the night. Indeed, they heard
them yelping not far off at the moment; but for all that how were they
to be killed, for that was the sort of revenge the shikarree meditated
taking? It would never do to expend powder and shot on such worthless
animals; besides firing at them in the darkness would be a very
uncertain mode of killing even a single one of them.
Did Ossaroo intend to sit up all night and shoot at them with his
arrows? The chances were he should not hit one; and from the way
Ossaroo talked he had made up his mind to a whole hetacomb! Certainly
he could not do it with his bow and arrows. How then was he going to
take the wholesale vengeance he had rowed?
They knew of no sort of trap that could be arranged, whereby more than a
single dog might be captured; and it would take some time with such
weapons as they had to construct the rudest kind of trap. True, there
was the "dead-fall" that might be rigged up in a few minutes from logs
that lay near; but that could only fall once, crushing one victim,
unless Ossaroo sat up to rearrange it. Besides, the cunning dogs might
not go under it again, after one of their number had been immolated
before their eyes.
Karl and Caspar could not conceive what plan Ossaroo intended to pursue;
but from experience they knew he had some one; and therefore they asked
him no questions, but watched his proceedings in silence.
The first thing that Ossaroo did was to collect from the antelope all
the tendons or sinews that he could lay his fingers on. Some, also, he
obtained from the barking-deer, which Caspar had killed in the morning;
and others he took from the limbs of the yaks that had been brought home
in their skins. In a short while he had a goodly bunch of these tough
strings; which he first dried before the fire, and then twisted after
his own fashion into slender cords. In all he made more than a score of
them--Karl and Caspar of course acting under his directions, and lending
him all necessary help during the operation. These cords, neatly twined
and dried by the heat, now resembled strings of coarse catgut; and it
only remained for Ossaroo to knot and loop them, and form them into
snares.
Of course Karl and Caspar now knew what Ossaroo purposed--to snare the
dogs of course. Yet how the snares were to be set, or how a wild dog
could be captured with a piece of catgut, was more than they could
comprehend. Surely, thought they, the dogs will gnaw such a string to
pieces in half a minute, and set themselves free again? So it would
have appeared, and so they would doubtless have done had the snares been
set for them in the ordinary manner. But Ossaroo had a plan of his own
for setting snares, and it was by this plan he intended to succeed in
capturing the dogs.
The next thing Ossaroo did was to provide himself with an equal number
of stoutish thongs, which his knife and the numerous raw hides that lay
about soon enabled him to do. When these were all prepared, about
twenty small skewer-like rods were obtained from the bushes and
sharpened at one end. Then a like number of "griskins" were cut from
the antelope venison--it being esteemed of least value; and thus
provided, Ossaroo started forth to set his snares.
Karl and Caspar of course accompanied him, the latter limping on one
leg, and carrying a large pine-torch--for as the moon had gone down, and
it was now quite dark, they required a light to do the work. Karl was
loaded with the thongs, skewers, and griskins, while Ossaroo himself was
in charge of the snares.
Now it so happened that not far from the hut, and all around it, there
grew numbers of low trees, with long branches that extended horizontally
outward. They were a species of the _pyrus_, or mountain-ash, sometimes
known as "witch hazel." The branches, though long, were thin, tough,
and elastic, and not much burdened with either branchlets or leaves.
They were the very things for Ossaroo's purpose, and he had observed
this before it had become quite dark, and while he was meditating upon
some plan to get square with the wild dogs. Upon these branches he was
now to operate.
Reaching up he caught one of them in his hand, drew it downwards, and
then suddenly let it go again, in order to try the "spring" of it. It
appeared to satisfy him; and, once more laying hold of it, he stripped
off its leaves and twigs, and then tied the rawhide thong to its upper
end. To the other end of the string was next adjusted the skewer-like
rod, and this last was fastened in the ground in such a way as to hold
the branch bent downward with considerable force, while a very slight
jerk upon the pin itself would set the former free. The shikarree now
arranged his piece of venison for a bait, fixing it so that it could not
possibly be dragged away or even slightly tugged without setting free
the rod-trigger, and consequently the bent branch. Last of all, was
arranged the snare, and this was placed in such a position with regard
to the bait, that any animal attempting to seize the latter must
necessarily have the whole or part of its body encircled by the ready
running noose.
When all these matters were arranged to his satisfaction, Ossaroo
proceeded to another tree, and went through a similar process of
snare-setting; and then to another, and so on till the whole of his
snares were disposed of, when the party returned to the hut.
They sat for half-an-hour longer, listening in hopes that before
retiring they might enjoy the sport of seeing a wild dog snared.
Whether it was that the torch-light had frightened them off for a while,
or from some other cause, neither yelp, nor growl, nor noise of any
kind, gratified the ears of the listeners; so they gave it up, and,
shutting the rude door of the hut, one and all of them went soundly to
sleep.
The fact is, the day's work had been one of the hardest of their lives.
All were as tired as hod-carriers; and they were glad to stretch
themselves once more on the fragrant leaves of the rhododendrons.
Had they not slept so soundly, they might have heard a considerable
confusion of noises throughout the night. What with barking and
growling, and yelping and howling, and snapping and snarling, and the
creaking of branches and the rattling of twigs, there was a constant
medley, that ought to have awakened the three sleepers long before
daylight. It did awake them, however, at last; and as the light
streamed through the apertures of the hut, all three sprang to their
feet and rushed out into the open air. It was still only grey light;
but as soon as they had rubbed their eyes clear of sleep, a sight was
before them that caused Karl and Caspar to break out into loud laughter,
while Ossaroo jumped about vociferating his delight in wild yells of
triumph. Nearly every snare they had set had caught its victim--nearly
every tree around the hut carried a dog swinging to its branches--some
by the neck hanged quite dead--some round the body alive and
struggling--while there were others suspended by a single leg, their
snouts almost touching the earth, and their tongues hanging from their
frothy jaws!
It was the strangest of all scenes; and Ossaroo had, as he had vowed, a
full measure of vengeance--which he now carried to its completion, by
seizing his long spear, and putting an end to the struggles of the
hideous brutes.
CHAPTER FORTY TWO.
THE CREVASSE BRIDGED.
Young reader, I shall not weary you by relating every little
circumstance which occurred during the time that the bridge was being
constructed. Suffice it to say, that all hands were busy,--both night
and day, I might almost say,--until it was finished. Although they were
in no want of any thing, and might have lived their lives out in this
place, yet the thought that they were imprisoned--cut off from all
fellowship with mankind--weighed heavily upon their spirits, and not an
hour was wasted in idle amusement. The whole of their time was given up
to that which engrossed all their thoughts--the construction of the
bridge--that link, which was wanting to unite them once more with the
world, and free them from their lonely captivity.
They were a whole month in getting their bridge ready; which, after all,
consisted only of a single pole of about six inches in diameter, and
better than a hundred feet in length. It was nothing more than two
slender pine-trees spliced together by means of rawhide thongs. But
then these trees had to be shaved down to a nearly uniform thickness,
and this had to be done with the small hatchet and knives; and the wood
had to be charred by fire until it was quite dry and light; and the
splicing had to be made with the greatest neatness and strength, so that
there would be no danger of its yielding under a weight; and, moreover,
a great many ropes had to be twisted, and many animals had to be
captured and killed, to obtain the materials for these ropes; and other
apparatus had to be made--so that the getting that bridge ready was a
good month's work for all hands.
At the end of a month it was ready; and now behold it in the gorge of
the glacier, and lying along the snowy surface of the ice, one end of it
within a few feet of the crevasse! Thither they have transported it,
and are just preparing to put it in its place.
The first thought that will strike you, will be how that piece of timber
is to be placed across that yawning chasm. It is quite long enough to
reach across--for they calculated that before making it--and there are
several feet to lap over at each end; but how on earth is it to be
extended across? If any one of the party was upon the opposite side,
and had a rope attached to the end of the pole, then it would be easy
enough to manage it. But as there could be nothing of this kind, how
did they intend acting? It is evident they could not push it across
before them; the end of such a long pole would naturally sink below the
horizontal line before reaching the opposite side; and how was it to be
raised up? In fact, as soon as they should push it a little more than
half its length outward, its own weight would overbalance their united
strength, and it would be likely to escape from their hands and drop to
the bottom of the cleft--whence, of course, they could not recover it.
This would be a sad result, after the trouble they had had in
constructing that well-balanced piece of timber.
Ah! they were not such simpletons as to have worked a whole month
without first having settled all these matters. Karl was too good an
engineer to have gone on thus far, without a proper design of how his
bridge was to be thrown across. If you look at the objects lying
around, you will perceive the evidence of that design. You will
understand how the difficulty is to be got over.
You will see there a ladder nearly fifty feet in length--several days
were expended in the making of this; you will see a strong pulley, with
block-wheels and shears--this cost no little time in the construction;
and you will see several coils of stout rawhide rope. No wonder a month
was expended in the preparation of the bridge!
And now to throw it across the chasm! For that purpose they were upon
the ground, and all their apparatus with them. Without farther delay
the work commenced.
The ladder was placed against the cliff, with its lower end resting upon
the glacier, and as close to the edge of the crevasse as was reckoned
safe.
We have said that the ladder was fifty feet in length; and consequently
it reached to a point on the face of the cliff nearly fifty feet above
the surface of the glacier. At this height there chanced to be a slight
flaw in the rock--a sort of seam in the granite--where a hole could
easily be pierced with an iron instrument.
To make this hole a foot or more in depth was the work of an hour. It
was done by means of the hatchet, and the iron point of Ossaroo's
boar-spear.
A strong wooden stake was next inserted into this hole, fitting it as
nearly as possible; but, in order to make it perfectly tight and firm,
hard wooden wedges were hammered in all around it.
When driven home, the end of this stake protruded a foot or more from
the wall of the cliff; and, by means of notches cut in the wood, and
rawhide thongs, the pulley was securely rigged on to it.
The pulley had been made with two wheels; each of them with axles strong
enough to bear the weight of several hundreds. Both had been well
tested before this time.
Another stake was now inserted into the cliff, within a few feet of the
surface of the glacier. This was simply to be used as a belaying-pin,
to which the ends of the pulley-ropes could be fastened at a moment's
notice.
The next operation was the reeving of the ropes over the wheels of the
pulley. This was the work of but a few minutes, as the ropes had
already been carefully twisted, and had been made of just the thickness
to fit the grooves of the wheels.
The ropes--or cables, as the boys called them--were now attached at one
end to the great pole which was to form the bridge. One to its end, and
the other to its middle, exactly around the place where it was joined.
The greatest pains was taken in adjusting these knots, particularly the
one in the middle; for the duty which this cable was called upon to
perform was, indeed, of a most important character.
It was to act as the main pier or support of the bridge--not only to
prevent the long pole from "swagging" downward, but in fact to keep it
from breaking altogether. But for Karl's ingenuity in devising this
support, a slender pole, such as that they had prepared, would never
have sustained the weight of one of them; and had they made it of
heavier scantling, they could not have thrown it across the chasm. The
centre support, therefore, was the chief object of their solicitude; and
this cable, as well as the pulley-wheel over which it passed, were made
much stronger than the other. The second rope was intended to hold up
the end of the pole, so that, on approaching the opposite side of the
chasm, it could be kept high enough to be raised above the ice.
The ropes being now completely rigged, each man took his place.
Ossaroo, who was the strongest of the party, was to push the bridge
forward; while Karl and Caspar attended to the pulley and the ropes.
Rollers had already been laid under the poles; for, although but six
inches in diameter, its great length rendered it no easy matter to slide
it forward, even with the advantage of the slippery surface of frozen
snow.
The word was given by Karl, and the pole commenced moving. Soon its end
passed over the brink of the chasm, close by the edge of the black rock.
Slowly and gradually it moved forward, and not one of them uttered a
word. They were all too much absorbed in attending to their various
duties to speak a sentence.
Slowly and gradually it moved onward, creeping along the cliff, like
some huge monster, and protruding its muzzled snout far over the deep
chasm.
At length the nearest roller approached the brink, find it became
necessary to stop the motion till these could be rearranged.
This was easily done. A few turns of the cables around the
belaying-pin, and all stood fast. The pulley-wheels worked admirably,
and the cables glided smoothly over the grooved blocks.
The rollers were soon readjusted--the cables again freed from the pin,
and the bridge moved on.
Slowly and gradually--slowly but smoothly and surely, it moved, until
its farther end rested upon the opposite cheek of the crevasse, lapping
the hard ice by several feet. Then the cables were held taut, and
securely fastened to the belaying-pin. The nearer end of the pole was
tied with other ropes--so that it could not possibly shift from its
place--and the yawning abyss was now spanned by a bridge!
Not till then did the builders rest to look upon their work; and, as
they stood gazing upon the singular structure that was to restore them
to liberty and home, they could not restrain themselves, but gave vent
to their triumphant feelings in a loud huzzah!
CHAPTER FORTY THREE.
THE PASSAGE OF THE CREVASSE.
I know you are smiling at this very poor substitute for a bridge, and
wondering how they who built it were going to cross upon it. Climbing a
Maypole would be nothing to such a feat. It may seem easy enough to
cling to a pole six inches in diameter, and even to "swarm" along it for
some yards, but when you come to talk of a hundred feet of such
progression, and that over a yawning chasm, the very sight of which is
enough to make the head giddy and the heart faint, then the thing
becomes a feat indeed. Had there been no other mode of getting over,
like enough our heroes would have endeavoured to cross in that way.
Ossaroo, who had "swarmed" up the stem of many a bamboo and tall
palm-tree, would have thought nothing of it; but for Karl and Caspar,
who were not such climbers, it would have been rather perilous. They
had, therefore, designed a safer plan.
Each was provided with a sort of yoke, formed out of a tough sapling
that had been sweated in the fire and then bent into a triangular shape.
It was a rude isosceles triangle, tied tightly at the apex with rawhide
thongs; and thereto was attached a piece of well-twisted rope, the
object of which was to form a knot or loop over the pole, to act as a
runner. The feet of the passenger were to rest on the base of the yoke,
which would serve as a stirrup to support the body, while one arm would
hug the pole, leaving the other free to push forward the runner by short
gradations. In this way each was to work himself across. Their guns,
and the few other things, were to be tightly strapped to their backs.
They had only those that were worth bringing along. As for Fritz, he
was not to be left behind, although the transporting him across had
offered for some time a serious difficulty. Ossaroo, however, had
removed the difficulty by proposing to tie the dog up in a skin and
strap him on his (Ossaroo's) own back, and thus carry him over. It
would be nothing to Ossaroo.
In less than half-an-hour after the bridge was in its place, the three
were ready to cross. There they stood, each holding the odd-looking
stirrup in his hand, with his _impedimenta_ strapped securely on his
back. The head of Fritz, just showing above the shoulder of the
shikarree, while his body was shrouded in a piece of shaggy yak-skin,
presented a very ludicrous spectacle, and his countenance wore quite a
serio-comical expression. He seemed quite puzzled as to what was going
to be done with him.
Ossaroo proposed crossing first; and then Caspar, brave as a lion, said
that he was the _lightest_, and _ought_ to go _first_. Karl would not
listen to either of them, Karl alleged that, as he was the builder of
the bridge, by all usage it was his place to make trial of it. Karl
being the Sahib of the party, and, of course, the man of most authority,
carried his point.
Stepping cautiously to the point where the pole rested on the ice, he
looped the rawhide rope over it, and then suffered the yoke to drop
down. He then grasped the pole tightly in his arms, and placed his feet
firmly in the stirrup. For a moment or two, he pressed heavily upon the
latter, so as to test its strength, while he held on by the beam above;
and then, disengaging his left arm, he pushed the runner forward upon
the pole, to the distance of a foot or more. This, of course, carried
the stirrup along with it, as well as his feet; and then, throwing
forward the upper part of his body, he swung himself out above the
abyss.
It was a fearful sight, even to those who watched him, and would have
been too perilous a feat for idle play; but the very nature of their
circumstances had hardened them to undergo the danger.
After a time, Karl was far out from the ice, and seemed to hang upon a
thread between heaven and earth!
Had the pole slipped at either end, it would have precipitated the
adventurous Karl into the chasm; but they had taken every precaution
against this. At the nearer end, they had rendered it secure by rolling
immense rocks upon it; while, on the opposite side, it was held in its
place by the cable, that had been drawn as tight as the pulley could
make it.
Notwithstanding the mainstay in the middle, it sank considerably under
the weight of Karl's body; and it was plain that, but for this
contrivance, they could never have crossed. When half-way to the point
where this stay was attached, the pole bent far below the level of the
glacier, and Karl now found it up-hill work to force the runner along.
He succeeded, however, in reaching the stay-rope in safety.
Now he had arrived at one of the "knottiest" points of the whole
performance. Of course, the runner could go no farther, as it was
intercepted by the stay. It was necessary, therefore, to detach it
altogether from the pole, and then readjust it on the other side of the
cable.
Karl had not come thus far to be stopped by a difficulty of so trifling
a kind. He had already considered how he should act at this crisis, and
he delayed only a moment to rest himself. Aided by the mainstay itself,
which served him for a hand-rope, he mounted cross-legs upon the timber,
and then, without much trouble, shifted his runner to the opposite side.
This done, he once more "sprang to his stirrup," and continued onward.
As he approached the opposite edge of the chasm, he again encountered
the up-hill difficulty; but a little patience and some extra exertion
brought him nearer and nearer, and still nearer, until at last his feet
kicked against the icy wall.
With a slight effort, he drew himself upon the glacier; and, stepping a
pace from the brink, he pulled off his cap, and waved it in the air. A
huzza from the opposite side answered his own shout of triumph. But
louder still was the cheer, and far more heartfelt and joyous, when,
half-an-hour afterwards, all three stood side by side, and, safe over,
looked back upon the yawning gulf they had crossed!
Only they who have escaped from some terrible doom--a dungeon, or death
itself--can understand the full, deep emotions of joy, that at that
moment thrilled within the hearts of Karl, Caspar, and Ossaroo.
Alas! alas! it was a short-lived joy,--a moment of happiness to be
succeeded by the most poignant misery,--a gleam of light followed by the
darkest of clouds!
Ten minutes had scarce elapsed. They had freed Fritz from his yak-skin
envelope, and had started down the glacier, impatient to get out of that
gloomy defile. Scarce five hundred steps had they taken, when a sight
came under their eyes that caused them suddenly to hall, and turn to
each other with blanched cheeks and looks of dread import. Not one of
them spoke a word, but all stood pointing significantly down the ravine.
Words were not needed. The thing spoke for itself.
Another crevasse, far wider than the one they had just crossed, yawned
before them! It stretched from side to side of the icy mass; like the
former, impinging on either cliff. It was full two hundred feet in
width, and how deep. Ugh! they dared hardly look into its awful chasm!
It was clearly impassable. Even the dog appeared to be aware of this;
for he had stopped upon its edge, and stood in an attitude of fear, now
and then uttering a melancholy howl!