San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-08-21
CROSSING A SNOW FIELD.
A Perilous and blood -Curdling Adj
venture I'm the Rocky Noun
Jains

venture I'm the Rocky Noun
Jains.
st. Nicholas.
Finally, through q rift in the clouds
not so yards ahead, we saw the spot
less white of the long look for snow
field.
With a feeble shout we pushed for
ward, but when we reached its edge
our worst fears were realized. 1t WAS
terribly steep, being at an angle of
about forty degrees, and the crust
was coating of hard slippery ice, the
thickness of pasteboard. Through .
break In the clouds we saw that it ex-
tended downwards to the timber line,
fully 500 feet, as steep as the roof of
house and smoother than the
smoothest glass. How broad 1t was
we could only conjecture.
AS we came up Kellogg struck the
crust with the butt of his gun, and
threw q rock upon the surface, which
went sliding and bounding down the
steep face with terrific velocity.
We looked at each other in despair.
sit is no use," said.
mot a Bit" was the answer.
We sat down and talked it over.
To retrace our steps was out of the
question, and we could not climb to
the top OF the field, probably 1000 feet,
in our weakened condition.
Suddenly Kellogg leaped to his feet
and rushed toward the slippery mass,
crying out, "come on, we've got to do
it. I'll take mine this way" With
out q second thought, in my hopeless
desperation followed. BY using his
gun as brace kellogg kept his feet;
but slipped and fell on all tours and
began sliding down. In q wild fren-
~ I tried to drive my bare fingers
through the crust, but only succeeded
in tearing the skin off them.
Luckily, retained my rife; and by
q frantic effort drove 1t muzzle first
through the hard crust and came to q
stop, having gone about 20 feet. Had
1t not been for this fortunate move
my body would have been hurled to
the bottom of the gorge more than
1000 feet below and mangled beyond
all sam blance Of human form.
Looking up at my companion saw
that he had turned away his head,
unwilling to be q witness to my hor-
rible fate, bat as called out to him
he looked around, and saw q face
so white and horror-stricken that I
can never for get it. Cold beads of
sweat stood on my forehead, and /
felt that my courage was all gone.
The experience of that awful moment
almost unnerved me, and I was weak
and helpless as little child.
Lying on my face I held on tightly
to the rifle driven through the crust.
How to regain my footing was puz.
zle. kellogg started to come down to
me, and it was with difficulty that
persuaded him to desist.
At last hit on plan. Holding on
to the rifle with one hand, with the
other 1 drew my pocket knife, and,
opening it with my teeth, cut two
holes In the crust for my feet, and af-
ter much effort stood upright. But
we were still in q bad fix. kellogg
called out to me to break holes
through the crust for my feet with
the butt of my gun. Although not
more than 20 feet distant he could
hardly make himself heard above the
roar of the sto-m.
But the suggestion was q good one
and proved our salvation. We moved
slowly forward, breaking hole in
the ice for each step. 1t was severe
treatment to give valuable guns, but
they had to suffer in the best inter-
ests of their owners.
Slowly and carefully we moved for
ward, occasionally stopping to rest
and speak words of encouragement to
each other, for now we had the first
CLEAN of hope for five long, terrible
hours.
Though weak physically, our minds
were much cleaner than an hour be-
tore, and we even went so far as to
chsff each other a little. But we had
plenty of fears yet. Once my heart
leaped as kellogg slipped and came
down on both knees, clawing frantic
ally at the air; but he regained his
his feet without difficulty and we
pushed on. Altogether we were ov er'
an hour In crossing that field.