Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1886-02-18
In THE CREvASSE.
An Advonturer All But Ground
Botween It's Horrid Jaws.

The glacier will not be safe to-day.
said the old guide. shaking his hea,
graScly. "Thcrc is a yellow mist owe
the cap of old lIeilgcn Alp, and tina
means a thaw."
well. and what Of ,hat?" asked ih,
younger man whom had chosen fo
my guide. Neither one days nor ON,
months thaw i, going to mel, the Me-
de Glaze"
"No,' said the old man. "but 4 thav
sometimes splits the glacier into GREY.
asses. I've seen the Mcr dc Glacc u,
full Of crack, u the bottom Of dried
up pond in summer Many a goot
fellow has lost his life at the bottom o
those cha,ms.'
Its not crack in the ice. nor ;
crack in an old mans brain that is so
ins to scare Franz Berg" said the
young man, laughing. "rve been
guide here. boy and man. these iiftcer
wears, ami l never heard Of even u goa
being lost in u crcva,sc."
well. well, have Your own way,
muilcryd the old man, wisdom i
learned by experience. Happy for yor
ii YOU live to profit by il"
1 wa, somewhat disturbed by the oil,
guides ominous woris. but not de
TERED from my original purpose.
had come all the way from Geneva {,
see the glacier. and it was not In,
prophc,yingS Of dOting old man tina
was going to interfere with my object
/ had but one day 10 spare. Tn,
weather was beautiful. The sky wa
brilliantly blue. and the Snow-crowne,
cap, OF the mountains sparkled like gi
gan,ic pri,ms in the sun. /. for one
could not see The yellow mist to which
the old man had referred, and wa
greatly inclined TO attribute his warn
Inc, rs my guide had done, to me
grim OF his old brain.
Our preparation, consisting Of higl
boots. ,huI with spikes, Steel-,ipped
slaves and 4 wicker flask Of Spiri.'
apiece. were soon complete. We SET
out at ten in forenoon aud by twelve
had reached the left bank Of the great
ice river which We proposed to cross.
paused 4 moment awc.struck at the
magnificent spectacle. Imagine q.
gantic river. perhaps two mile, broad,
whirlng between vast snOw-capped
hills, suddenly frozen to n slow, moving
torrent Of ice. East heaps Of snow lay
upon it and here and there masses OF
rock. weighing tons, detached from
some gorge lar up the impossible cliffs.
Very near Us a narrow assure OF
clcit ran diagonally across the body OF
the ice. the sides smooth as glass and
Of deep lustrous green, descending
sheer into impenetrable darkness.
Such crcvas,c a, this, the guide said,
was always TO be found in the glacier
and only the most ordinary care was
necessary to avoid it.
We scrambled down upon the ice
and began 10 make our way across 1t.
Owing to various distractions, such as
hcaped-up snow or soft spots in the ice,
our progress was very slow. After an
hour of hard work we had not accom-
pli,hcd one-half of the distance. sat
down upon a cube Of rock to rest and
look about me.
A change had already taken place in
the weather. The sun was obscurcd
by a dense. leaden-colorcd mist, and
the valley Of the glacier itself seemed
TO be chokcd with masses Of whirling
vapor. Ny outside garments were wet,
and all around Us the Ice sent up n
cold and benumbing steam.
A. sat in a far from comfortable
frame Of body and mind / was startled
by iar-oil. dull. booming sound. the
echoes Of which seemed to be repeated
unfortunately among the hills.
"What was thatP" | asked the guide.
"Mo,t likely an avalanche on the
Heilgcn Alp" he replied. "They are
always falling there"
He was interrupted by repetition of
the sound. much nearer to US, accom-
panied by a tremendous shock that
seemed to shake the ice beneath us. 1
looked at him inluirinsly. and observed
that he was slightly pale.
"a creyasse," he said, answering my
look with an air of unconcern that i
could see was not wholly real. "When
the ice parts il makes noise like a
cannon. 1t is nothing. However. we
had better be moving. don't like the
looks Of this fog"
We arose and resumed our journey,
the guide directing our course by occa-
sional glmpses OF the Alps through the
wreaths of fog which every moment be-
came more dense. We had not pro-
ceeded twenty steps, however, when
the guide suddenly paused and mo-
toned me back. AT that instant there
came another report, so loud and sharp
that was absolutely stunned. and
right in front of us q long. jagged line
appeared in the ice. widening rapidly
until two sheer walls faced each other
more than ten feet apart.
Though the chasm lay directly in our
way, to cross it was out of the question.
The guide turned quickly to the right.
and we followed the brink of the crew.
aSse. hoping to find a point where 1t
ended or was narrow enough TO spring
over. The fog had now become so
dense that We could not SEQ a dozen
steps before Us, and VIC were forced to