The daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1863-1864, 1863-09-10
his KNOTS we're evidently insecure.

his knots were evidently insecure. Th'
/ last junction complete he exclaimed, IN oW
let me DOWN. sNot until each OF thes'
knots have been tested; not an inch!' IWt
of them gave way, and LIS walstcoa'
also proved too tender for the strain. Tht
debris was about forty feet from the surface
of the glacier, but two prominences AFFORD
cd kind of footing. B. was dropped down
to one of these; T. followed, being let down
by L.; he could not trust his porter over
head. B. then descended the remaining
distance, and was duly followed by L. More
could not find room.
The shape and size of the cavity were
such as to produce kind of resonance,
which rendered it difficult to strike the
precise spot from which the sound issued;
but the moaning continued, becoming, to all
appearance, gradually feebler. Fearing TO
wound the man. the debris was cautiously
rooted away. 1t rang curiously as 1t tell
into the adjacent gloom. A layer two or
three feet thick was thus removed; and
finally, from the frozen mass, and SO olood
less as to be almost as white as the sur
rounding snow, issued single white hand.
The fingers moved. Round it we rooted
and soon reached the knapsack, which we
cut away With it we regained our rope.
The mans head was laid bare, and cur
brandy flask was Immediately at his lps.
He tried to speak but was inarticulate, his
words jumbling themselves to dull moan
BIS feelings got the better OF him at inter
walls; he wrought like hero, but at times
he needed guidance and stern admonltlon'
The arms once free, we passed the rope un-
derneath them, and sought to draw the
man out. But the ice fragments around
him had CONCEALED so as to form SOLID
case. Thrice we essayed to draw him up,
thrice we failed, he had literally to be heWn
out of the ice, and not until his last foot
was extricated were we able to lift him.
L. and the porter pulling above, and we
pushing him below, the man was raised to
the light of day. L. then drew his friend
out Of the pit, and B. followed. For an
hour we had been in the creUasSs in shirt
seeves-the porter had been in it for two
hours-and the dripping ice had drenched
US. B., moreover, had worked with the
energy of madness, and now the reaction
came. He shook as if he would fall to
pieces; but brandy and some covering reVl-
we'd him.
The rescued man was helpless, unable to
stand, unable to utter an artlculate SEN
tence B. proposed to carry him down the
glacier toward home. Had this been at
tempted. the man would have indubitably
died upon the ice B. thought he would
carry him for two hours; but he underrated
his own exhaustion and overrated the Vi
tality of his friend. ''It cannot be thought
of-to the cave Of Faulberg, where we
must tend him as we'll as We can" We
got him to the side of the glacier, and here
B. took him on his back; in ten minutes he
sank under his load L. carried a miscella-
neous burden. 1t was now our turn with
the man, then again BIS, and thus helping
each other We reached the mountain grot.
The sun had set, and the crown of the
Jungfrau was embedded in amber light
Thinking that the Margelin See might be
reached before darkness, we proposed start
inc in search of help. The good B. would
not hear of it, aud LIS eye slightly glis-
tened. 1t is surprising how such an occa
sion brings out mans feeling. "God
bless you L., and now for the glacier But
the anxiety to get quickly clear of the Gre
vases defeated its own object. Thrice we
found ourselves in difficulty, and the light
was visibly departing. The conviction
,deepened that persistence woald be folly,
and the most impressive moment OF our
experience was that on which we stopped at
the brink of profound fssure and looked
upon the mountains and sky. The serenity
was perfect-not cloud, not breeze, not
a sound-while over the solemn west spread
the last hues of sunset.
RECOVERY.
We returned: warm wine was given to
our patient, and all our dry clothes were
wrapped around him. Hot water bottles
were placed at his feet, and his back was
rubbed. He continued to groan long
time but finally, both this and the trem-
bling ceased. The anxious watcher, b.
muttered, Gle is dead :" We leaned over
his face and found him breathing gently;
we felt his pulse--it was TRANQUILITY beat
ing. "Not dead, dear old B.; he will be
able to crawl home with us in the morning
The prediction was justified by the event !;
and two days afterward we saw him at Laax,
minus bit Of his ear, with bruise upon
his cheek and few scars upon his hand, but
without broken bone or serious injury o!
any kind. The self:denying manner in
which the second porter spent the night
made US forget his stupidity-it may have
been stupefacton, If we were to draw a
moral from this incident it would be, that
disasters in the Alps are far more likely to
occur in ordinary places, where caution is
not observed, than in really perilous places,
where the faculties are all alive, and care
is impressed by the certain ana manifest
conse quences of its neglect
Ere edOm for the Negro.