The bee., 1883-02-10
UP IN the SKY.
Dangers OF Tourists I'm A scending Swiss
Mountains.

one Of the steepest of mountains, and
everywhere offers bnt seanty hold to
the climber. There is, however, in all
this no real danger or risk TO men
strong of limb and steady of head, ac-
coupanied by good guides. But there
is one danger which is real, one against
which o skill nor strength can wholly
/ guard, and that is the danger from
falling stones. The risk would be slight
with a small party, but our company
OF eleven-perhaps the largest ever on
the Matterhorn-made 30 long line
that a stone loosened by the upper
most would acquire fearful velocity
before reaching the last. Not more
than six persons should be on the Mat
terhorn together.
The head of the column had reached
the foot of one of the last ropes which
come down from the summit and was
waiting for the others to come. One
OF the very last of the company was
laboriously crawling over a hugo
rock, when it suddenly became l. osened.
remember hearing some one scream,
Look out" and then suddenly it
! seemed that oil sunshine and hope had
gone out of the mountain.
The great rock tell about thirty feet.
Strikicg q ledge, it broke into three or
four pieces, one of which, weighing
about one hundred pounds, few over
my head and over the heads of John and
Victor. The man next below us turned
to look back when he heard the noise.
The rock struck him full in the face,
knocked him instantly off the ledge and
then plunged down the side of the
mountain.
We were all paralyz zed for an instant,
the guides as mitch as the rest. / re-
member calling to John the Baptist to
give me the rore, so that 1 could go
down to Victor and let him go on to
Gilbert. BY the time We got down
Gilbert was struggling to his feet. His
face and clothes were covered with
blood, which flowed from deep cut,
like a saber gash, in his nose and fore.
head. A stiff brimmed hat which he
wore had been cut fairly in two, and its
resistance had greatly reduced the force
of the Low. We decided that it was
only q flesh wound. although very seri.
GUS one. Once at the bottom, there
would be little danger, but should the
victim faint or be unable or unwilling
to walk, getting down would be very
difficult or even dangerous.
We tied up the wounds with all the
silk handkerchiefs in the party, cover
ed them with snow and put over item
ali n thick woolen hood, which John
the Baptist carried in case of need,
and In five minutes we were moving
again. We were unable to stop the
flow of blood and our course was mark
ed by red trail. Glbert's face was
soon entirely covered with o red clot;
his eyelids swelled so that he could
not see, and after little he relapsed
into half unconscious state, in which
he St emed to realiz, only that it was
cold and that he must alwavs walk.
Letting the others go aheal, Victor
now took Gilbert by the arm, and
both were separately fastened to John
the Baptist, viii l made the last of
the series. 1t took us four hours tc
reach the upper cabin. Had our wound.
ed man been otherwise than of light
weight, strong of limb and immensely
resolute, we might not have gotten
down at all, and the prospect of night
on the far side Of the mountain was not
lnSpiritiDg. 1t is hard enough for a
well nan to go safely down the Matter
horn, far harder than go up but for q
man blind and faint it became terrible.
''Cest I'M homme fort ct brave" said
John the Baptist.
The others went Oh more rapidly and
were soon out of sight. At one time I
saw Gilbert slip, and, with Victor, fall
like q shot, but John the Baptist was
always "well placed" and held them.
At one time we heard terrible up
roar, and three or four rods away we
saw an immense avalanche of stones
coming down. 1t was made up of
dozen large rocks of the size of wagon,
with hundreds of little ones yelpirg in
the rear. They were going at the rate
of five miles minute, dancing along in
o jolly, rocky way, ard making the
echoes ring on their way toward the
Furggen glacier. It was grand sight,
but We were little in the mood for it.
One of the guides, Pession, surnamed
"the Invalid" had been in shiver of
mortal terror ever since the accident,
and for the rest of the day was worse
than useless. "You must pardon him."
said John the Baptist, "for he has
wife and children at Val Tournanche."
at about six o'clock we reached the
upper hut. Gilbert lay down on the
hay, refusing to take another step, and
very promptly went to sleep. John de-
cided to remain there with Victor,
Spangler and myself, and to send the
others down to Zermatt. Meanwhile
the rest of us remained in the upper
hut, IL, 800 feet above the sea. John
the Baptist sent rs to bed at once, one
on each side of Gilbert, to keep him
warm.
In the morning We rose early and SAL
lied out to look at the sunrise. The air
was intensely clear. The whole Matter
horn was white with new-fallen snow
and glistening with frost. Nearly two
miles below us the clouds were hanging
over Zermatt, their upper outlines as
sharply defined as the mountains them
selves. The whole of the Dent Blanche,
the Rothhorn, the Weisshorn, the three
peaks of the Mischabelhorn, the Allalin-
horn, the Strohlhorn, the Rympisch-
horn and host of other horns, named
and unnamed, rose before us. To the
right was the long crescent of Monte
Rosa, the Gina di jazz, the Lyskamm,
Zwillinge aud Breithorn, with the great
Corner glacier winding about their feet.
L have seen nowhere any view to com
pare in grandeur with this. I would
climb any mountain in Switzerland and
sleep out in any refuge-hut for the sake
of such another. Our invalid was cross