The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-08-30

fOt OF the Bernina. When DAYLIGHT
boke they were climbing slowly up its
SONY slopes; Jeni was the only one of
tie party who knew the mountain, but
he had not been up it that year, and he
fCund the snow, after the long hot
simmer they had had, unusually soft,
ard consequently firing; they could
not make as rapid progress as usual.
Jenl broke a long silence by announc-
ing tact that was by no means en-
cCuraging.
This will be the longest ascent of
the Bernina have ever made"
IVY hat, twenty-seven hours?
Except that one, of course, which
was folly".
Ihey were toiling over long snow
slope without much incline, and Jeni
seemed impatient and more out of tenn
per than Stanley had ever seen him.
Il m afraid, after all, you are abusing
me for having kept you from your home
today" Stanley said.
Il am thinking that [ did wrong,
and naturally L am not pleased with
myself"
AT least you are giving Langley and
me great pleasure, "
This slope is interminable, Jeni
exclaimed shortly afterward; ''let us
turn sharp to the right, it must be
shOrtern
The tour men were roped together,
.eni leading; they followed him over a
ldge of rock, on to another sleeper
qG1gaslepe; Jeni did not usually cross
iaSSie-mountain had changed lit
tie thabSear, and he deemed it advis-
able to doso.
As far as Stanley could tell-and he
had reasonenough to remember after
ward every deLail-they were all at
tending to the business in hand. The
rope was not 1Oo slack, there was moth
ing careless N the gait, and indeed
there could MT have been, when Jeni
took one of his long, striding steps,
and the snow beneath him gave way
suddenly-heI1id not sink in it as they
had been doing all along, he dropped
right down til onlyhis head was yisi-
BILE.
For Heavens sake stand firm"
gasred Stanlej, and the three strong men
planted themselves il the snow, and
pulled with all their night on to the
rope. Surel they would be able to
hold up Jeni? Ay, so they would; but,
as he moved and tried to raise himself,
the rope gaze sharp snap and broke
in two, Just between Stanley and Jeni,
and with . ringing cry OF despair the
guide fell down into the Unmeasured
depths of the crevasse below
Details of the next few hours and of
the return OF the remaining three to St.
Moritz need not be given. 1t was
altogether impossible to recover Jeni's
body, and in his icy grave they left him.
Maybe, if the poor fellow could have
chosen his own resting place it would
have been somewhere among those
he loved but too well, 1t is
also unnecessary to enter at length into
the painful question as to who was to
blame for the accident; primarily, per-
haps, Jeni himself, for a guide should
trust to no one the supervision of any
thing so important as the ropes, and
certainly in this case the rope was a
worn one, which Jeni, if he had seen,
would never have thought of using;
then Stanley was more or less to blame,
because he promised Jeni he would see
TO Serytbing, and instead of doing so
hY'iSes '1e arrangements to Hardt; and
finally sf course, Hardt was bitterly
to blame for taking an unsound rope.
He hadbut feeble excuse to make for
himself i. e., that he had no better one,
and didnot like to put off the whole ex-
pedition because the rope might be a
tritle rotten.
Stanley was almost Indifferent as to
the cause, he was so entirely taken up
with its effect, for he felt altogether
frantic at the thought, which never left
him, ofpretty Christina and her awful
sorrow At first he intended to travel
down without pause to Sargans, and
break her the news himself; then it
seemed to him that she would bear to
hear it from her own father, and to him
he telegraphed the facts. Schmidt was
a brave man, with strong feelings,
which he held under all circumstances
in perfect control; and perhaps he
thought his little daughter more like
himself than she was, in her present
weakness. Possibly Things might have
been different if he, realizing her feeble
ness, had prepared her for the bad
news, before telling it her in its utter
hopelessness; but he treated her as he
would have preferred being treated
himself. With the telegram in his
hand he went into her room where she
sat by her baby's cot, and said to her:
"Christina, your husband is killedm
And he put the telegram into her lap.
She looked scared for an instant, and
then she said, with sweet pretty smile
PLAYING round her mouth:
80 no he isn't; he is coming home
to me tonight.
"But, my child, he was killed yester-
day on the Piz Berninar'
She turned terribly white, and that
hopeless monosyllable, dead" es-
capped from between her closed lips,
while, snatching up the telegram, she
Rad and re-read its contents and I'M
brstood its cruel meaning only too
>te.1esfr$or her reason to bear the shock
it recived. Gradually a change most
cruelio watch came over her agonized
face. Again it was lighted by smile
--buta senseless, feelingless, meaning
less smile -and she said gaily:
"Heis coming by the $40 train. We
must 90 down and meet him, father. -"
Stood Heavens! was she mad?"
Ay, mad she was. although her father
could not believe anythinu so horrible