Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1896-09-03
CHAPTER XXIII.-(Continued,

Ihe day dawned upon the plateau. q
lew struggling rays of the sun illuminat.
gu the great glacier above and turned its
oead gray snow and ice into pure. warm
Whlte, while the mists rolled away from,
the nigh mountains keeping watch above
ana below on the smaller glacier. and 81
the edge of yawning crevasse. Law tbe
oody of Philip Smerdon.
Two guides, proceeding over the nass
TO meet party of mountain climbers
reached the plateau at dawn. and sittin o
uoWn upon the stone to eat a piece Of
bread and take a draught of cold coffee
saw his knapsack lying beside it.
What does it mean?" the one said to
the other
LII means DEATH" his companion 70.
piled, ''the railing is broken! Some one
mas fallen
Slowly and carefully, and each holding
to one of the upright posts, thew peered
over and down on the glacier. and there
they saw what was lying below.
A whispered word sufficed. a direction
given by one to the other, and these
hardy mountaineers were descending the
moraine, digging their sticks deeplv into
the stones and gradually working their
us he dead, Carl?" the one asked Of
MS friend, VINO stopped over the PROSTATE
for mand felt of his heart.
No; he lives. How has he ever fallen
here without instant death? But he must
die! See, his bones are all brokenv' and
as he spoke he lifted Smerdon's arm and
touched one of his legs.
''What shall we do with him 2" the other
asked
We must remove him. Even though
he die on the road, it is better than to
leave him here. Let us take him to the
house of Father Neumann. 1t is but to
the foot of the glacier"
Very gently these men lifted him in
their arms, though not so gently but that
they Wrung groan Of agony from him
as they did SO, and bore him down the
glacier to where it entered the valley; and
then, having handed him to the priest,
who lived in what was little better than
a hut, they left him.
Late that afternoon the dying man open
ed his eyes, and looked around the room in
which he lay.
At his bedside he saw table with q
cross laid upon it, and at the window of
the room an aged priest sat reading q
Breviary.
where am I?' he asked in English.
The priest rose and came to the bed,
and then spoke to him in German.
"My son." he said, "what want of yours
can l supply?'
Tell me where I am,' Smerdon an
swered in the same language, land how
long I have to live"
''You are in my house, the house of the
Cure of Sastratz. For the span Of your
: rife none can answer but God. But, my
son, should do ill if l did not tell you
that your hours are numbered. The doe
tor from st. Christoph has seen you"
''Give me paper and ink"
"My son, you cannot write, and"
81 will WRITE" Smerdon said family,
seven though / die in the attempt
The Cure felt his right arm, which was
not broken like the other, and then he
brought him paper and ink, and holding
the former up on his Breviary before the
dying man, he put the pen in his hand
And slowly and painfully, and with eyes
that occasionally closed, Smerdon wrote
81 am dying at the house Of the Cure OF
Sastratz, near the Schwarzweiss Pass;
from a fall. Tell Gervase that alone
murdered Walter Cundall. If he will
come to me and | am still alive, L will
fell him all. PHILIP SMERDON."
Then he put the letter in an envelope
and addressed it to Ida Raughton. And
ere he once more lapsed into unconscious
ness. he asked the priest to write another
for him to his mother, and to address it tc
an hotel at Zurich.
.sThey will be sent at once?' he asked
family.
"Surely, my SON"