_THE VERGE OF THE PRECIPICE_
Hours must have passed while I lay without movement or consciousness.
For when at length I came to a confused awareness of myself, the scene
had changed alarmingly. The fog must still have been about me; but all
that met my eyes was a black blank, an opaqueness so absolute that for
the moment I imagined I had lost my sight. It was a minute before I
dimly recollected what had happened, and knew that I was somewhere on
the mountainside, and that it was now night.
But it was long before I realized the full horror of my predicament.
My head was feeling dull and dazed; my throat was parched; I was by
turns shivering and burning, and my limbs were all aching and sore.
I was lying sprawled head down on a couch of rock, and a rock-wall
to my left formed my support and pillow; but when I tried to change
position, a staggering pain in my right arm warned me to go slowly, and
I understood that the limb was hanging limp and useless.
It did not occur to me then to wonder what had happened to Damon,
nor how long I should have to remain here, nor how I should escape.
My thoughts were blurred and half delirious, and I think that
unconsciousness came to me again in snatches. More often than not I
was as one in a dream; visions of white peaks beset me continually,
and always on those peaks I saw a gigantic woman with hands outspread
and beatifically smiling face; and that woman seemed at times to call
to me, and at times to mock; and now she would take me to her in great
warm arms, and now would vanish like vapor in my clasp....
It was after one such nightmare that I opened my eyes and found the
darkness less intense. A pale gray light seeped wanly through the
mist; and in that dreary dawn I came gradually to understand my own
helplessness. While everything above was clouded, the fog had unrolled
from below--and my gaze traveled to panoramas that bewildered and
appalled me. Then, as by degrees the fumes cleared from my mind, I was
able to realize just what had happened--and shuddered to think what
might have happened. I was resting on a narrow ledge; above me the
rocky grade leaned at an angle halfway to the vertical, and beside me
was a blood-spattered boulder. It was this obstruction that had saved
my life--directly at my feet, a precipice slanted down to the dim
depths.
And yet, as I lay there groaning, I wondered if I would not have been
better off to have plunged into the chasm. I was so bruised that I
could hardly move a limb; my legs were too feeble to support me when
I strove to rise; internally I was so shaken that I could not be
certain of my equilibrium; and my right arm, acutely painful, dangled
helplessly at my side. Clearly, escape would be impossible....
And if at first I imagined that there was just a chance of rescue--just
a chance that a searching party from camp would find me--my hopes gave
place to a dull, settled despair as the hours wore endlessly away. The
fog, after lifting for a while, slowly re-formed; and with its return I
felt that my death-sentence had been passed. I could not now be seen at
more than twenty yards--and who could come near enough to discover me
on this detached shelf?
There followed an interval in which I must have sunk into delirium.
Then, after a series of grotesque imaginings or dreams in which I was
always trying to drink from streams that vanished at my touch, I was
roused from a half-conscious lethargy by the sound of voices. Could it
be that I was still dreaming? As eagerly as was now possible, I stared
into the wilderness of crags. The fog had vanished; but the only moving
thing was a great bird circling in the blue.
Cruelly disappointed, I again closed my eyes. But once more I thought I
heard voices calling. This time there could be no doubt--the sound had
been clear-cut, reminding me of men joyously shouting.
And as that sound was renewed, I opened my eyes again, and peered
searchingly into the abyss. Still all was bare and motionless. Yet,
even as I wondered, I heard those mysterious voices anew, nearer now
than ever; and for the first time I recognized that they came not from
beneath me but from above! Eagerly I gazed up at the rocky heights--but
there was no sign that they had ever been disturbed by human presence.
I was half convinced that my fever had been playing me tricks, when
a slender little moving shape far above caught my attention. After
an instant, it disappeared behind a ledge, but after another instant
emerged; and close behind it trailed other specks--slowly jogging
specks with upright forms!
In that first dumbfounded moment, I did not ask myself who they might
be. Enough that they were human--and almost within hail! Quivering
uncontrollably, I strove vainly to lift myself to a sitting posture.
Then, with what scanty lung power remained to me, I attempted to shout;
but my dry throat gave forth scarcely a feeble mumbling, the mere ghost
of a voice.
And directly following that first sharp relief, still sharper terror
seized me. Must I remain here unseen? At that thought, I was racked
with a dry crackling laugh, more like a cough than an expression of
mirth; and I lifted my left hand and frantically waved my red-bordered
handkerchief, while cackling and gibbering to myself like an insane old
man.
By bending my neck and straining my eyes, I could still follow the
figures. Had my enfeebled voice permitted, I would have shouted out
curses, would have laden them with all the imprecations of hell, when
they passed directly above and glided on their way around a bend in
the mountain. There were at least half a dozen of them, and they could
not have been from the camp, for they were clad in blue and red not at
all like the khaki we wore; and their voices had some quality quite
unlike anything I had heard before. There even seemed to be a note of
excitement in their calls, a tone of surprise, though of that I could
not be sure.
* * * * *
Some time later I opened my eyes once more, and saw three turbaned men
descending almost within arm's reach.
Whether they had been friends or head-hunting savages, their first
effect upon me would have been the same. In my weakened state, I was
unprepared for the shock; my senses forsook me, and unconsciousness
returned.
But when at length I came to myself, I seemed to be in another world.
The first thing I realized was that I was sitting with head propped up
against the boulder; and at the same time I was aware of the sound of
voices, voices that were pleasant although unfamiliar. And as I opened
my eyes, my surprise increased; not three strangers but six stood
before me, two of them women!
Even in my half-dazed condition, I observed something peculiar about
these persons. A single glance told me that they belonged to no race I
had ever seen or heard of; they were manifestly mountaineers, yet did
not wear the usual Afghan garb. Men and women alike were attired in
stout loose-fitting dark-blue garments of some material reminding me
of canvas, with red stripes and dots, and bizarre yet not unattractive
designs. In person they were clean-cut and prepossessing; the men tall
and well-built, with long full beards, swarthy countenances and proud
flashing black eyes; while the women were among the most attractive I
had ever seen.
So, at least, it seemed to me when the younger, scarcely more than a
child, lifted a small leather flask to my mouth and motioned me to
drink. With an effort, I moistened my lips; then, frantic as a drug
addict deprived of his drug, I swallowed a long draught, draining the
entire contents.
And as, half revived, I lay against the boulder, I observed that the
strangers were all peering at me with curiosity and wonder. But equal
wonder and curiosity, I am sure, stared from my own eyes; while my
glance may have already been too partial to her who had ministered
to my thirst. For I could see how strikingly she differed from her
companions; her complexion was lighter than theirs, and she had an airy
grace and beauty which set her apart.
Peering at her closely, I thought that she might be about sixteen
or seventeen. Her clear white skin had the stainlessness of perfect
health; her hair, which hung in unbound curls and ringlets about her
slender neck, was of a rich auburn; her eyes, in startling contrast to
that auburn, were dark like the eyes of her kindred, and in the deep
brown of the iris live fires glowed and smoldered; her features were
modelled with exquisite daintiness, the forehead of medium height and
rounded like a half moon, the nose small and gracefully pointed, the
gently curving chin tapering to a firm little knob. Her lips, tiny and
thin, had at times a creasing of merriment about the corners that
gave her almost a puckish appearance. Although slimly built and not
much over five feet in height, she did not lack at all in robustness;
she flitted from place to place with great agility; and her rude
unhampering garments fitted her ideally for mountain climbing.
After the exhaustion of our first few minutes together, I was again
close to unconsciousness. But now I felt strong hands lifting me; and
opened my eyes to find two men smiling upon me encouragingly. At the
same time, something pungent and aromatic was thrust between my lips;
the girl was extending a handful of dried herbs, which she motioned me
to consume with a genial dimpling smile that I had no power to resist.
After swallowing the food, I felt considerably better. Having finished
the entire handful and washed it down with a draught from a second
leather flask, I had revived sufficiently to try to sit up unaided; and
simultaneously I realized how ravenously hungry I was, and felt a fresh
desire to live flaming up within me.
Being eager for a word with my benefactors, I muttered something in
English without thinking exactly what I was saying. But the surprised
answering stares cut me short in sharp realization. What could these
mountain folk know of English?
There was a short, awkward pause; then, after a few words among
themselves, they addressed me in their native tongue. At the first
syllable, I realized that theirs was not the cultivated Persian of the
Afghan court, but rather a variety of Pushtu, the speech in most common
use among the people. From my wanderings of the past few months and
especially from contact with the native guides, I had gathered a few
words of this language, enough to enable me to recognize its peculiar
intonation, although I could express none but the simplest ideas.
After a second handful of the dried herbs, and another draught of
water, I felt well enough to try to stagger to my feet. But the effort
was too much for me; my limbs threatened to collapse beneath me; and
two of the men had to bolster me up.
But once I had arisen, they would not let me return to my rock-couch.
Grimly they motioned toward the snow-streaked northern peak, as if to
indicate that we must pass beyond it; at the same time, one of them
pointed to the stone image on the summit; while the others, as if
observing a religious rite, extended their arms solemnly and almost
imploringly toward that strange womanly figure.
At the moment, it did not occur to me that their attitude was one
of prayer; but later I was to remember this fact. For the time, my
thoughts took a more personal turn; for when I saw my new acquaintances
preparing to lead me across the mountains, I was profoundly alarmed.
Although still too stunned to take in the full reality, I knew that I
was on the threshold of unpredictable adventures, and that many a day
might pass before I could rejoin my fellow geologists.
But when the ascent actually began, I was not at all certain that I
should survive. We seemed to be undertaking the impossible; I had,
literally, to be lifted off my feet and carried; my legs were useful
only on the short stretches of comparatively level ground. In the
humiliation of being an invalid, I felt a deep sense of inferiority to
these brawny men that tugged and strained to bear me up the mountain;
while, with increasing admiration, I noted the capable way in which
they carried me along the brink of canyons, or over grades that I
should have had to make on my hands and knees. But greatest of all
was my admiration for the young girl who had offered me the dried
herbs. She seemed agile as a leopard and sure-footed as a mountain
sheep, leaping from boulder to boulder and from crag to crag with the
swiftness and abandon of a joyous wild thing....
Hours--how many I cannot estimate--must have been consumed in the
ascent. Fortunately, I am not a large man, being but five feet six
in height and considerably under the average weight; but, even so,
I proved more than an ordinary burden. Though my rescuers worked in
shifts and each seemed powerful enough to carry me single-handed, yet
before long the exertion began to tell upon them all. Occasionally,
after completing some precipitous ascent, they would pause to mop their
brows and rest; or else their bulging eyes and panting frames would
testify to the ordeal they were undergoing.
Higher and higher we mounted, while they showed no thought of
abandoning their efforts. In joy not unmixed with a half-superstitious
dread, I saw the statuesque figure on the peak slowly approaching; saw
its outlines expand until it seemed but a mile away, clad in a somber
gray and beckoning like some idol superbly carved by a race of Titans.
But while I was asking myself whether we were to climb to the very foot
of this image, I observed that we were following a little trail which
no longer ascended but wound sinuously about the mountainside. For what
seemed time unending we plodded along this path, while in my weakness I
was more than once close to fainting.
But, as we jogged ahead, the scenery was gradually changing; from time
to time I caught glimpses of far-off snowy peaks and a deep basin north
of "The Mountain of Vanished Men." It was long before this valley
stretched before us in an unbroken panorama; but when I saw it entire
it was enough to make me forget my sufferings.
Certainly, it was unlike any other valley in the world. A colossal
cavity had been scooped out in the heart of the wilderness; on every
side the mountain walls shot downward abruptly for thousands of feet,
forming a circle dominated at all points by jagged and steepled
snow-tipped peaks. Dense woods mantled the lower slopes, and the
valley's entire floor was forested except for relatively small patches
of grass lands. The whole depression might have been five miles across,
or might have been fifteen; but it was deep and round as the crater of
some gigantic extinct volcano; and there seemed to be scarcely a pass
that gave exit or ingress. I particularly noticed how the shadows,
creeping blackly from the western mountain rim as the afternoon sun
declined, shed an uncanny, ghost-like effect; while remote waterfalls,
leaping soundlessly from the high cliffs with slender streamers of
white, served only to enhance the impression of a spectral and unreal
beauty.
It was with sudden joy that I saw my new-found acquaintances turn
toward this valley, and realized that this was the home to which they
were leading me.