Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-05-18

THE PEOPLE
OF THE MIST
By H. RIDER HHGcARD.
copyright, 1898, by the Author.1
lcoNTrSUEDl
By H. RIDER HAGcARD.
copyright, 1898, by the Author
CHAPTER XVII.

After he had rested awhile at the bot
tom of the glacier Otter set to work to ex-
plore the cliff on the top of which he found
himself, with the view of descending it
and hiding himself at its foot till night
fall, when he hoped to find the means of
re-enterihg the city and putting himself in
communication with Olfan. Very soon,
however, he discovered that if he was to
return at all he must follow the same
route by which he had come.
Evidently the tunnel sloped upward very
sharply, for he was standing on the brow
of precipice cut into three steps, which,
taken together may have measured some
800 feet in height, and, SO far as he could
see, it was utterly impossible to descend
any of these cliffs without the aid of ropes.
Nor could he continue his Investigations
over wide area, for about 400 PAGES to
the left of the opening to the subterranean
passage-whereof, by the way, he was very
careful to note the exact position-the
mountain pushed out a snowy shoulder,
with deeliyities SO precipitous that he
dared not trust himself on them.
Then he tried the right hand side, but
with no better luck, for here he was stop
ped by yawring rift in"the rock. Now
Otter sat down and considered the situa-
ton.
The day was still young, and he knew
that 1t would be foolish to attempt escape
from the pool before dark. In front of him
the mountain rose steeply till, so far as he
could judge, it reached pass that lay
some two miles off, at the base of the main
peak, on whose SHOWS the priests had
watched the breaking of the dawn. Part
of this declivity was covered with blocks
| Of iao inf bar
patches of earth, on which grew stunted
trees, shrubs and even grass and flowers
Being very hungry, it occurred to Otter
that he might find edible roots among this
scanty vegetation, and with this hope he
began to climb the slope, to be rewarded
in due course by the discovery of vegeta-
bic that he recognized, for it was the same
which had been offered to him on the oo-
casion of his unlucky outbreak that had
resulted in the casting away of the rubies
With this poor food the dwarf filled
himself, and having found bough that
made him al; excellent staff he continued
to climb, desiring to see what there might
| be on the other side of the neck
Arriving there without any great diff
Guilty, Otter stood astonished, although in
"A general way no was not much given to
admiring scenery. Below him lay the City
of the Mist, with its shining belt of rivers
that fed from the inexhaustible noun
tain SHOWS, moandered across the vast
plains, no longer hidden in mist, which
they had trodden on their journey. Above
his head the mighty peak lowered
thousands Of feet into the air till 1t ended
In summit shaped like a human finger
pointing cternally to the heavens. Before
1 him the scene was even stranger, made up
as it was of snowy fields broken by ridges
of black rock and laid one beneath the
other like white sails drying upon the
slopes of a sand hill.
Gradually, las the eye travelled downward,
these snowllelds grew fewer and fewer
till at last they vanished altogether and
their place was taken first by stretches of
grass land and finally, at the foot of the
mountain, by what seemed to be Il rich
and level country interspersed with clumps
of bush and forest trees
The first Of these snowlelds lay within
three furloDgs of where the dwarf Stood
bot several hundred feet below him. Be
\ tween the neck of the pass and this field
stretched a mighty rift or chasm, with
sides so sheer that no goat could have
kept footing on them. Yet this gulf
was not without its bridge, for rising
from the bottom OF the chasm was rock
wall that formed the bed of q glacier
which spanncd it from side to side, being
in some places comparatively level and in
others having desccnts almost as sharp as
those of waterfall. This remarkable
bridge of ice that varied from 100 PAGES
to few yards in width, was bordered on
either side by the most fearful preci-
pices, while just where its fall was sharp
Al
spring across space of nothingness like
the arch of u bridge thrown from bank to
bank Of a river. Indeed at this point its
line became SO attenuated that in the gilt
tering sunlight Otter could not be sure
that it was not broken through for dis
tance of some yards.
Being of an inquiring mind, the dwarf
decided to satisfy himself upon the mat
ter All around him lay slabs of rock,
some of which We're worn perfectly smooth
and to the thinness of tombstone by CEN
turtles of polishing in the iron jaws of
glaciers. Selecting one of these of con
venient size, Otter approached the edge of
the bridge, pushing the stone before him
over the frozen SNOW. Here the ice was
perfect except for slight boar frost that
covered it, for the action of the wind pre-
vented the snow from gathering on it,
and whenever the sun was strong enough
to melt its surface it froze again at night,
so that no slide upon parish pond could
have been more slippery or free from inc
qualities.
Otter gave bis stone push, and away
it went, sometimes swiftly and sometimes
at Il triling speed, according to the nature
Of the angle down which it passed, leaving
q bright green ribbon upon the ice in it's
wake, whence it swept the hoar frost as it
sTed. Once or twice he thought that it
was going to stop, but it never did stop
AT length it approached the steepest and
narrOwest part of the descent, down which
it rushed with fearful velocity.
NOW | shall see whether the bridge is
broken" thought Otter, and just then the
stone, travelling like an arrow, came to
that portion of the glacier where, for a
width difficult to estimate, it stretched
unsupported over space and measured only
some few feet across On 1t rushed, then
seemed to leap into the air and once more
sped forward till it reached the farther
slope of snow, up which it travelled for a
distance and stopped, appearing, even to
Otter's keen sight, no larger than nudge
upon a tablecloth
Now, if man had been seated on that
stone he would have passed the bridge in
safety" said Otter to himself, yet it is
one that few would care to travel unless
sure death were behind"
Then he determined to make second
experiment. and selecting another and
somewhat lighter stone he sent it upon its
journey. 1t followed precisely the same
course as its predecessor, but when it
came to the knife blade of the bridge it
vanished
Now, am sorry for that stone, -
! thought Otter for doubtless it, that has
been whole for many years. is at this mo-
ment only little pieces"
A third time he repeated his expert
ment, choosing the heaviest rock that he
could move. This messenger also leaped
into the air at the narrowest portion of
the bridge and then passed on in safety to
the slope of snow beyond
"A strange place, " thought Otter, land
pray that it may never be my lot to ride
one of those stone horses.
Then he turned down the mountain
again, for the afternoon was advancing.
: When he reached the entrance to the river
bed, sunset was at hand. For awhile he
sat Watching tho fading light and eating
some more roots which he had gathered.
Then he crawled into the passage and
commenced his darksome journey toward
e. the home of the dead water dweller,
though what he was TO do when he got
thpra ha did mot Enpxp IN acridpnt hafell