The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-09

deck on the Grimsell pass 1t is hardly
possible, except from the top, to obtain
a good view of this fall, but as you &C
over it on the bike you get an excellent
idea of the cataract by simply turning
your head as you go down, taking care.
however, to strike fair at the bottom.
After that 1 went over the Cries pass
and did the Tosa river. The Tosa falls
are 410 feet high and eighty-five feet
wide: that is a trip worth doing, but
you ought to look over your machine
very closely before you start it; be sure
there are no punctures in the big cover,
and tighten up the screws bit. have
no patience with cyclists who are care
less about their machines when taking
trip like this
Then you got safely over the Tosa?'
ventured
oh, certainly. several times. The last
time | went over backward so as tc
get better view of the falls as l went
down, but this is a very dangerous ex-
pertinent. and 1 do not recommend it to
anyone but experts. Still, you do get a
much better knowledge of the falls, and
it is preferable to craning your neck
round as you have to do when you de-
scend face forward. But it has its draw
backs, because when you get down to
the turmoil at the bottom and nave &c
circle round and turn your bike the sit
uation presents many difficulties which
l would not advise an amateur to en-
counter. l intend to do Niagara when
| reach home, but won't try it backward
at first
Again there was deep silence in the
railway compartment, and it was some
moments before l could command my
voice sufficiently to make myself intelli-
gible. l looked at the third man, George
Washington Verify, he said his name
was. He came from Maine, and l knew
by his innocent countenance that he
could not tell lie. He admitted that
himself when he began to speak. He
said:
"Of course, if I had not seen my two
comrades do what they say they have
done, l might have some difficulty in
believing their narrative"
"Oh, no. / said, truth is stranger
than fiction, especially in bicycling, as
your two comrades bear witness. 1 have
no difficulty in believing every word
they say, but that perhaps is because
have been living in Switzerland, and
feel particularly robust. In my ordinary
state of health don't know that could
have swallowed the avalanche, even
when washed down by the Tosa falls
But have you had no adventure on
your cycle, Mr.. Verify"
No he replied, mot one; that is, not
one worth speaking of. 1 kept to the or
binary roads and did the plain every
day cycling. I did have little excite
ment coming down the Stelvio pass
Perhaps you know that road, the high
est pass in Europe. 1t runs between
Italy and the Tyrol."
Yes, / have been over it."
Then you know on the Tyrol side
how the road zigzags down, and how
fri Sfp AT
where the man threw his wife over you
are doubtless aware there is a sheer
cliff a mile deep. I resolved to cycle
down the Stelvio pass, and in order that
this might be done in safety, / bought a
tree from a woodcutter uD at the TOD
and tied it with a rope to the back part
of my bicycle, so that it might act as a
brake and a drag as 1 went down the
steep incline"
Il have heard of such thing being
DONE" I said. glad to be on familiar
ground once more.
Yes, it is very old device. You
hitch the rope round the butt end of
the tree and let the branches scrape
along the ground. Unfortunately there
had fallen a little snow and the night
before there had been a sharp frost; so,
besides being steep, the road was eX-
ceedingly slippery. By and by, to my
horror, found the tree was chasing me,
butt forward, and instead of acting as
a drag on my wheel, had to pedal like
one demented to keep clear of it. There
was no going to one side and getting
out of its way, because, as you see, L
was tied to it with rope, and my only
salvation was to keep ahead of it. L
thought 1 was going to succeed, and
did succeed until we came to that sharp
turning near where the Walloon com
mitted his murder. There, tony horror,
the trunk of the tree struck against
the granite rock, and bounced over,
dragging me and the bicycle after it,
Suffering Peter," 1 cried, what
situation! Nothing but a mile of clear
air between you and the bottom of the
granite cliff"
Exactly" said George Washington.
Il see you know the spot. Now, it takes
a good deal longer to drop a mile than
most people think it does, and l be-
lieve, in fiction, that man in such
position spends the time in going over
all his past deeds, especially those of q
sinful nature. L knew when 1 started
there would not be time enough for me
to con over all the evil I had done
during my short life, so 1 abandoned
the attempt, and thought instead of
how 1 could best save my bicycle, which
was a new machine. 1 left the saddle,
climbed down the rope, and took up
position on the butt end of the tree.
which was going down with the
branches beneath, so l thought that if
L could keep it in this position the
branches would act as a series of
springs, whereas, if it turned and went
down butt first, l should very likely
get an arm broken, besides wIecking
an expensive wheel, on which, unfortu-
nately, there was no accident insur-
ance. / resolved l would never travel
in Switzerland again without insuring
my bike. 1 found that by swining my
body this way and that, ] could keen
the tree in the perpendicular, so, pull
ing on the rope, ] got the bicycle down
to me, and tied it to a branch. so that
it would not flop about. l shall never
forget the sickening sensation with
which we reached the bottom. l had
much trouble in hanging on to the butt
Of the tree when we struck though my
arms were clasDed tightly around it.
The branches acted just as l thought
they would, and the next instant we
had taken great leap upward again.
The tree hoped like d gigantic frog
down the valley for about three-cuar-
tiers of a mile, or, perhaps, to be Strict
ly accurate, between half mile and
three-quarters, and then subsiding, it
dumped me gently into the torrent
which flows at the bottom of the gigan-
tic cliff. l was unhurt, but 1 regret to
say that the handlebar of my machine
was bent a little, and one of the pedals
was knocked askew. However, these
little accidents are bound to occur to
a man who does much wheeling"
The train coming to d standstill at
this point, l asked the boys if they had
any more adventures, and they reDlied
that they had only just begun, and had
told me merely the commonplace occur
rences which had befallen them. This
being the case, l shook hands with the
three of them, and sought another car
riage. One sometimes gets enough of
information in an hour to last him sew