We immediately began to climb up the hill, and endeavored, as far as
possible, by means of the stars, our only guides, to direct our course
due north. By the time we had reached the first eminence, I felt a
stinging pain in my knee, which suddenly swelled up so much, and put
me into such agony, that I could proceed only with the greatest
difficulty. My companions, therefore, to my great vexation and
concern, were obliged to halt every little while, that I might recover
myself, and ease my injured limb.
Our intention was to reach, before daybreak, that portion of the hill
which was covered with trees, in order to secure ourselves against the
first attempts which the Japanese, who we now considered as our mortal
enemies, might make to capture us. In our walks through the valleys
which surrounded the town, these woods had not appeared to us to be
very far off, but we saw now how much we had been deceived. One of the
footpaths which we had remarked during the day as leading directly to
them, we were unable to find in the thick darkness, which shrouded
from our view objects only a few paces distant.
The only resource left to us was to keep ascending, which the
unevenness of the soil, covered as it was with brushwood, rendered
tedious and difficult. After three painful hours passed in this way,
we came at last to the highest ridge of the mountain, and now imagined
that we could go forward on the high level ground, without any great
exertion. But fate had many obstacles and much trouble in store for
us, that we knew not of. We had now got to a part of the mountain
which in many places was covered with snow, and as we did not wish our
trail to be visible to the Japanese, we were obliged to go first to
the one side and then to the other, and often had to retrace our
steps. In this way we expended our strength, and made very little
progress. An hour before daybreak, we struck on a broad road, which
led towards the north, and which was firm and almost free from snow.
As we knew that we could now go on without the fear of leaving our
footprints visible, we rejoiced not a little, and redoubled our speed.
I still felt much pain in my knee and leg, but as we were now on level
ground, it was not to be compared to what I endured whilst ascending
the mountain. We believed that we must now reach the wood in a very
short time, and had made up our minds to rest in one of its thickets,
when suddenly a sailor who chanced to look back, exclaimed, "They are
coming after us on horseback, with lanterns!" and immediately sprang
into an opening by the road side. Startled by this exclamation, we
looked round, and perceived some lights which seemed to be rapidly
approaching us. Seeing that there was no time to be lost, we followed
the sailor's example. For a long way the road led us down the
mountain, without there being either tree or bush to afford us
shelter, or screen us from our pursuers. Soon the day began to break.
If there had been more light at that moment, the Japanese must
inevitably have seen us from the surrounding heights, as there was
nothing which could hide us from their sight. At length we reached the
bottom of the ravine, which was surrounded by naked rocks. Deep snow
covered it, and we could not find a single place where we could hide.
It was now broad day, and we stood still for a moment, looking vainly
in every direction, and much perplexed to know what to do. At length
we discovered in the rocks an opening, which on examination, turned
out to be a cave, but so small as to be hardly able to contain us all.
Close to it was a water-fall, which coming down from the mountain, had
hollowed out in the snow, directly before the entrance, a pit some ten
feet deep. By the aid of a little tree we climbed into this cave, in
which, however, we could not sit down, but were obliged to stand
upright, squeezed together in a most uncomfortable way. As the bottom
of our hiding-place was shelving, and covered with loose stones, we
were obliged to change our positions with the greatest caution, for
fear of rolling out, and in order to rest ourselves, we leaned first
on one elbow and then on the other. However, we were now tolerably
secure, for the cave could not be seen by any one who was not close to
it.
We remained in this position until sunset, consulting, with drooping
courage, on the best way to save ourselves. The day was clear and
warm, but the rays of the sun did not penetrate into the ravine, and
the water-fall made the air so cold that our teeth absolutely
chattered. We heard plainly the strokes of an axe in the surrounding
forest, and as we ventured out in the evening, saw people on the
mountains. Suddenly we heard a rushing sound as if some one was
sliding down the mountain towards us. It came nearer and grew louder,
and we thought that we should now soon see the soldiers who were
seeking us. We prepared ourselves for a struggle, when behold a wild
stag appeared, and as soon as he saw us, dashed quickly away.
As soon as the stars began to appear, we left our inconvenient
hiding-place, and climbed up a high mountain, which in many places was
overgrown with brushwood. My situation was now really dreadful. While
in the cave I had held my leg in one position, and consequently, felt
no great pain, but it returned as soon as I began to walk, and soon
became almost intolerable. As we had still to cross many mountains,
and in our case great haste was necessary, I saw clearly that I was
keeping back my comrades, and most likely would be the cause of their
re-capture. I, therefore, implored them to leave me to my fate, and
think only of their own safety. But my entreaties had no effect on
them whatever, except to render them most determined not to leave me.
They swore they would stay by me whilst life remained, and that they
were perfectly willing to rest whenever I wished it. Moreover,
Makarov, the strongest of the sailors, entreated me to let him help me
along, which he could do, if I would go behind him, and hold fast to
his girdle. On hearing this I determined to remain with my companions
and allow myself to be dragged along by them.
After we had gone some distance from them, over rocky cliffs, and
through deep ravines, we came to a couple of huts, from which came a
whistling noise, such as, with us, the people use to charm quails, in
order to capture them. We stooped down among the grass, and listened
for a long while, in order to find out whether it came from a bird, or
whether there were people in the huts. As it was not likely that many
persons dwelt in such an out of the way place, we took courage, and
went up to them; but when we drew near, we found out that what we had
taken for huts, were in reality two heaps of wood. As we had not been
able to gain a moment's rest during the preceding day, we laid
ourselves down on this spot, where we were protected from the wind and
cold, and slept for two or three hours. Greatly refreshed, we started
again on our journey, and by daybreak reached the top of a high
mountain, which was covered with thick brushwood, and which far
out-topped the surrounding hills. Here we determined to pass the day.
As at sunrise a thick fog covered the tops of the mountains, we
ventured to make a fire among the bushes to warm our limbs, stiffened
with wet and cold. We placed on it a tea kettle, which, however, was
not for the purpose of preparing tea, a luxury by no means within our
reach, but to warm our dry and mouldy rice, in order to render it
palatable. We searched, also, for wild herbs, but nothing eatable was
to be found any where, for on the heights winter reigned despotic. We
melted some snow for a drink, and made a meal of our rice, which was
already nearly putrid. In the meantime, black clouds were rising in
the east, the wind howled through the trees, and every thing indicated
that a storm was fast approaching. As we concluded that none of the
Japanese would venture among the mountains in such weather as this, we
determined not to wait for the approach of night, but to continue our
journey during the day. After we had passed through a deep ravine, and
waded through a stream of water, the road again led us up the
mountain, and we had already reached a tolerable height, when suddenly
a high and steep rock towered up directly in front of us, which could
not be ascended without great difficulty and danger, and yet there was
no way of avoiding it. Up we went, I holding fast to the girdle of
Makarov, who had nearly reached the top, when he was obliged to free
himself from my grasp, in order to climb up a very steep part of the
rock just at the top. I braced the toes of my uninjured foot against a
projecting stone, wound my right arm round a young tree, which curved
up from below, and in this position waited until Makarov had reached
the summit, from which he could assist me to mount up to him. But this
Hercules of a man was now so fatigued and overcome that he had hardly
strength to swing himself to the top of the rock, where he lay as if
dead. At this moment the stone, against which I was resting, gave way,
and rolled down the mountain, leaving me swinging by one hand, and
totally unable, on account of the smoothness of the rock, to get a
resting place for my feet. The other sailors, it is true, were not far
from me, but they were all so fatigued as to be totally unable to come
to my assistance. In this fearful situation I passed several minutes,
and my hand began to pain me so intolerably that I was tempted to let
go my hold, and have my sufferings ended by being dashed to pieces on
the rocks, a hundred fathoms below me.
But at this moment Makarov recovered himself, and seeing the danger I
was in, prepared to help me. He braced his left foot against a stone,
which projected from the rock directly opposite to my breast, grasped
the branches of the tree to which I was clinging, and let me seize his
girdle with my unoccupied hand. Then, with a great exertion of
strength, he dragged me to his side, and again fell back almost
senseless. Had the stone, on which he stood, given way, or the bough
he grasped broken, we should both have been inevitably dashed to the
ground. After we had rested for some time on the top of the rock, we
continued our fatiguing journey until nightfall. We then encamped on a
part of the mountain which was overgrown with reeds, and immediately
made a fire to prepare our evening meal, which this time consisted of
wild leeks and other herbs, collected along the banks of the stream we
had waded through. We then dried our clothes, and lay down to rest in
a tent hastily constructed of reeds. Want of sleep, and the great
fatigue we had undergone, soon closed our eyes, and we slept soundly.
After a few hours I awoke, and found the hut so uncomfortably hot that
I went out into the open air. I leaned against a tree which grew near
by, and thought over our probable fate. The sublime picture of nature
first attracted my attention. The sky was clear, but below us and
among the mountains rolled dark masses of clouds; it was most
probably raining in the valleys. The snow which lay on the mountains
glittered brightly in the distance, and never before had I seen the
stars shine forth so clearly as they did on that night. A death-like
silence prevailed, or was broken only by the sighing of the breeze as
it swept softly by. But the beauty and sublimity of this spectacle
suddenly vanished, as the thoughts of our situation came thronging
upon me, clothed with the most fearful shapes. Six men on one of the
highest of the Japanese mountains, without sufficient food, clothing,
or even weapons to defend themselves from the attacks of wild animals;
possessing neither knowledge nor ability to construct any kind of a
vessel in which they might escape, and one of them, moreover, with a
wounded leg, which at every step, pained him dreadfully. When I
thought of this, our helpless position, my feelings bordered on
despair. Whilst I was occupied with these sad thoughts, some of my
companions awoke, and their sighs and prayers affected me so deeply
that I forgot myself, and shed scalding tears. In this way an hour
passed by, but the cold night air finally forced me to seek shelter in
the hut, where I lay down, but not to sleep.