The next day a small friend of his, Phil, told him something that filled
him with delight. The Cresta was closed for that season, for one of the
banks was considered too weak, and it would be impossible to rebuild it,
for the thaw was beginning to set in. This meant that all the bars would
be taken away, and the run left to thaw, and that all the little boys
from the village would come and slide about on it, and soon spoil its
beautiful, smooth surface. It also meant that there was now nothing to
stop any one who liked taking a toboggan, and going down the whole
course!
"I'll tell you a secret, Phil," said Harry. "To-morrow morning, before
any one is up, I am going to go down the Cresta from the top. You can
come with me, and we'll get Dick and Reggie to come too, as witnesses to
prove I can do it, and teach those rotters not to laugh."
Phil was delighted at the prowess of his friend. "What if you get
killed?" he said.
"Oh, then it will prove that I couldn't do it, and they were right!"
said Harry.
At 8.30 the next morning, just as the sun peeped over the snowy
mountains, Harry, with knee and elbow pads, and "rakes" (or spikes)
fixed on his toes, crept out, dragging a heavy toboggan. He was followed
by his three friends. They walked down by the run first. Every bar had
been taken away, it was clear and free.
"Now for it!" said Harry, as he stood at the top, his heart beating fast
with excitement. Lying flat on his toboggan, he slid off down the first
incline, down towards the steep and sudden dip called "Church Leap."
At this moment his friends saw a tall figure walking down the path by
the run, away by the big corners known as "Battledore" and
"Shuttlecock." In a moment they recognized him by his orange scarf--it
was Uncle Hugh! He had stopped, for he had heard the rush of a toboggan
on the run. What would he say when he saw it was Harry? But even as they
saw him stop, they saw something else that made their blood run cold!
At the place where the run cuts across the road, and is usually guarded
by a man with a red flag to keep people from crossing, a wood sleigh
suddenly appeared. It advanced slowly and drew up, the horse standing
straight across the run. Once a rider has started down the Cresta Run
there is no way of stopping--he must rush on at sixty miles an hour! The
three boys' hearts seemed to stop with terror. Hugh was standing still,
his eyes fixed on the place.
And what of Harry? Long as this takes to tell, it was all a matter of
less than a minute. Harry had rushed in a glorious, thrilling whirl down
most of the run--the worst was over. He was now on the long steep
_straight_, and there were only small corners to get round. The cold air
seemed to whistle in his face and make his eyes stream, for he was
travelling at a very high speed. And then--then he saw the terrible
sight. A horse and sleigh was standing across the run!
There were only a few seconds to think what to do as he flew onwards.
But Harry did not lose his head. At one glance he had noticed that the
_horse_ and not the _sleigh_ was across the run. The driver was round at
the back, fixing up a log that had slipped. Lying very flat, and guiding
himself straight as an arrow, Harry kept his course, and passed like a
flash beneath the horse, between his four great legs! He was safe!
The three boys, watching from the top, threw their caps in the air, and
cheered and laughed for joy! Hugh, standing by "Shuttlecock," his teeth
clenched, gave a sigh of relief. "Thank God!" he said. "Thank God! He's
a sporting kid, right enough, and he's got some wits to have done
that--it was his only chance!"
No one at the hotel laughed when they heard the story. Harry was
thoroughly scolded, of course. But everyone looked at him with
admiration. "Some day he'll be the champion on the Cresta," said an old
Colonel, who had won the Grand National many years ago.