The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-09-14

of real life, which the friendly chats on
deck reveal! Surely this entertaining,
social, jovial, care-free crowd is not that
very staid and impressive assemblage of
which was going to bury the North Sea
King!
That evening we join cosy circle, which
sits in a sheltered corner under the awning
of the hurricane deck, listening in rapt at
tention to a freezing tale by the first
officer of how he was once shipwrecked
where the ice Cracked and growled, and
roared and howled like noises in a
swound'' and cut their vessels bottom
"clean off," and another thrilling account
of mutiny on board his vessel in the China
sea.
A boom and roar like that Of distant
cannon, greets our waking hours at five
o'clock next morn. It is q salute from the
stronghold Of the Monarch of Polar seasl
As its transcendent splendor meets our
gaze, We exclaim, "Oh, how proud must he
be of this mighty fortress, this mag
nifcent castle with its foundations
of emerald and topaz and sapphire and its
cleaning turrets and towers OF Furnished
rare opalesoent tints under the golden rays
of glowing sunr' And as formidable as it
is splendid, a mile at the waters edge and
two miles in the rear and from two hun
dred to four hundred feet in height! Not
even the boosted British navy would dare
attack the precipitous and treacherous walls
of this icy bulwark. The Queen sails eau
tiously up to within 200 yards, not nearer,
least the cold blooded and prodigal lord of
the castle, resenting our boldness, send off
a diamond torpedo to crash into our YES
sells bottom!
But Captain Carroll is brave, he "dares to
beard the lion in his den, the Douglass in
I: &. H. 10 I,af r.,
meek little cannon which in its painted
tarpaulin GOAT, had looked like long
necked, long legged turtle j n pillory. The
charge is put in and all watch with bated
breath: our intense gaze fastened on tn 9
glaciers front. There comes crunchinR
and rushing sound, 1umbiing and roaring
like near thunder and with one final crash
a glittering mass drops into the water,
dashing the spray, like powerful geyser,
more than 200 feet in midair! For few
moments the monster is 0bscured by the
foaming waves, then, like huge leviathan
of the Vastly deep, it slowly lifts its massive
crest of shimmering blue above the troubled
waters and with successive heaving and
rolling slowly and gradually adjusts it's
ponderous weight, sending out wave after
wave, rocking our great steamer from bow
to stern like a tiny cradle. Was it the eff
fects of the tiny cannon? "Ah, mop laughs
General B., at our right, Like Davy
shoot, I'm coming"
The cannon is still unfred, and we stand
with expectant gaze and ''erectis auribus, .
awaiting its discharge. Boom! Bang!
Will the whole glaciers front topple over?
All is profound silence except for the shots
reverberations, which echo, "from peak to
peak. the rattling craRs among" How its
awful heights, reposing in majestic quiet.
and useless effort! Had the little gun
been that weighing twenty tons and sending
a ball Of 1856 pounds weight. such as you
saw in the queens navy at EsquimaIt. the
result would have been the same" said the
captain with .oRuish glee at our disappoint.
ment.
After breakfast the small boats are low.
cred. and by means of q flank movement
the passengers attack the glacier from the
rear. Crossing first the dark moraine al
one side, whose mud and pebbles form but
thin coating for the ice beneath, we steu
on to the glacier proper. and, tbrustinp oul
Alpine stocks firmly into the rough surface
of snov and and ice, roam over its bro
ken and serrated, mountain-like peaks il
zigzag line TO avoid the yawning chasms