The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-24
imprisoned on the AIMS.

SIXTEEN HOURS IN THE COL DE ST. THEoDULE.
The following lively description of an advsn-
ture. on the Alps appears in the London Stan
ddrd:--
Thinking that some OF your stay.at-
home readers might like to hear of snow
storm on the Alps, [ now endeavor to give you
short account ol narrow escape that trend
of mine and myself had few days past. It was
on Tuesday, the Esd of June, that we lett
Chatillon, on the Italian side, for Breuil, from
whence we purpoied on the morrow cross
ing the Col de st. Theodule to Zermatt.
As we neared the comfortable little inn at
Breuil we could see several people on the
balcony, evidently canvassing who aud what we
were. We after wards discovered they were three
ladies, who we're there for a similar purpose,
but had already been detained by bad weather.
On The Wednesday, having the night beole
given our two guides instructions to start at
o'clock, we were rather annoyed that,
through their caIelessness, we did not take our
leave OF Breuu till after 6, our three far
friends, with fopr guides being about fifteen
minutes in advance. Two hours hard climb
ing, and we at last were on the glacier, which
was completely covered with snow, not even
q crevasse visible to make the timid ones
uneasy.
'In an hour more, when we were thoroughly
wet through and miserable, we found ourselves
at the summit of the Pass, with the pleasant
prospect OF two hours more snow walking, and
this, too, in a dense fog, accompanied by
searching wind and pelting hail. Here there is
a little cabin, or, as the imaginative term it.
pavilion, but, unfortunately, not yet opened for
The summer. We, however, contented ourselves
with small shed adjoining, the floor of which,
being ankle-deep in halt-melted snow, you may
believe did not add much to our comfort. AT 10
o'clock, as nearly as we could tell by our half
frozen watches, we left the Col, 10000 feet of
elevation 10 try aud get to Zermatt-more easily
said than dene. Ropes, of course, were neces-
sary, and our small party taking the lead, the
ladies followed in cur footsteps. Shortly after
fairly getting under way, our leading guide was
called to account by his colleagues for going too
much to the right Fortunate for US would it
have been if he had been allowed to follow his
own intention, instead of listening to the re-
Eeated cries of a gduche! q gducileI
ut was now bitterly cold and perfectly dark,
the fog being most dense; the halts were fre.
quent and the attempts to find out our locality
by the echo fruitless. In answer to an inquiry
of mine, guide said 1t would take an hour for
the falling snow to obliterate our footsteps
Imagine our sensations, when already one hour
had very nearly gone by, just then the two fore
m ost men exclaimed, nous Sonlnles perdu:, and
if ever fear was written on the face of man
much mistake II 1t were not on theirs then: they
had brought us where they knew not; but there
in front oil as, not many yards from our teet
was the most horrlbe-looking crevasse of un-
known depth, and whose further side was
obscured from sight by the mist. On our right
1t appeared TO widen out, and looked like huge
chasm OF ice.
az think the fright must have done us all
good, for 1t was almost absurd to see the way
both guides and tourists, after the first look of
dismay, wheeled round and beat a precipitate
retreat With care we retraced our footsteps to
few hundred yards from home, when they
quite disappeared; but by keeping well to tae
right under the mountain we could not very
well get wrong. How thankful we all were to
see something like protection | cannot well
des cribe, but I for one shall never forget how
relieved was, for all the guides say that we had
q very narrow escape. We bad been about two
hours and half wandering about on the glacier
over unknown crevasses.
ut was only o'clock, and not fit, If even
safe, to attempt return to BIeuil; so we man
aged TO smash window of the cabin aud open
the door Tor the rest OF the party. In this
harbor of refuge were two beds OF straw, one of
which was allotted to the three ladies and the
other to ourselves, the guides lying on the floor
Our provisions consisted OF little brow bread,
cold chicken, and some horrible spirits, made
IN the country, called Geneve. Three guides
firmly tied together left us for Breuil TO try and
get few more eatables; but il was more diff
cult than they supposed, aud journey, that in
favorable weather, might have been done in i've
or six hours took them nearly twelve, The
night we spent was most wretched, aud | sim
cerely trust may never experience such an
other. A fire being lighted and the room small
the heat was insu1erable while without the
cold was intense, and the wind blew tempestu-
ously.
suddenly, to our immense satisfaction, I
think 1t was little after O'Clock on Thursday
morning, there was a change, and on rushing
out OF our prison we found everything as dir
ferent as possible, the view OF the mountai
ranges was wonderful, and close on our right
rose the splendid pile of the Matterhorn, SEEM
ing within stones throw; facing Us were the
mountains of Italy to distance Of eighty or one
hundred miles. The sunrise, an hour later,
really repaid us, think, for all our troubles,
and the three guides just then appearing with
our breakfasts, we suddenly discovered we were
not such wretched individuals as we were be-
ginning TO imagine. You may believe me when
tell you no time was lost in getting away; and
after four hours walking, partly over the gla-
cier and the remainder down hill, we reached
Zermatt, where we were quite lionized upon the
people at the hotel hearing our story.
~ may as well state that on the way down we
saw few faint marks of our track the night
quite another glacier, aud very dangerous
one, in the direction of the Matterhorn.
IL enclose my card, and am yours, respect
fully, VoYAGEUR.
"Hotel Muller, Gersau, Lucerne, July ~