Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-11-30
A Storm Above the Clouds.

aUout forty degrees, ana the crust was
4 a coating of hard slippery ice, the
thickness Of pasteboard. Through a
break in the clouds we saw that it ex-
tended downward to timber-line, fully
1000 feet as steep as the roof Of a
house and smoother than the smooth
est glass. How broad it was we could
only conjecture.
AS we came up kellogg struck the
crust with the butt of his gun. and I
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.
ITS no USE" said.
"Not Bit" was the answer.
We sat down and talked it over. To
retrace our steps was out of the ques.
ton, and we could not climb to the
top of the field, probably a thousand
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" Without
a second thought, in my hopeless des-
peration l followed. By using his gun
as brace kellogg kept his feet, but
l slipped and fell on all-fours and be-
gan sliding down. In a wild frenzy l
tried to drive my bare fingers through
| the crust, but only succeeded in tear
| ing the skin off them.
Luckily 1 had retained my rifle, and
by frantic effort drove it muzzle first
through the hard crust and came to q
stop, having gone about twenty feet.
Had it not been for this fortunate
move my body would have been hurled
to the bottom of the gorge more than
thousand feet below, and mangled
beyond all semblance of human form.
Looking up at my companion ] saw
that he had turned away his head, I'M
willing to be witness of my horrible
fate, but as I called out to him he
looked around, and l saw Il face so
white and horror-stricken that 1 can
never forget it. Cold beads Of sweat
stood Oh my forehead, and l felt that
my courage was all gone. The eXpe.
ricnce of that awful moment almost
unnerved me, and 1 was weak and
helpless S q little child.
Lying on my face | held on tightly
to the rife driven deep through the
crust. How to regain my footing was
a puzzle. Kellogg started to come
down to me, and it was difficulty that
| persuaded him to desist.
At last l hit ON plan. Holding
on to the rifle with one hand, with the
other I 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 bad fix. kellogg called
out to me to break holes through the
crust for my feet with the butt Of the
gun. Although not more than twenty
feet distant he could hardly make him
self heard above the roar Of the storm.
But the suggestion was good one
and proved our salvation. We moved
slowly forward, breaking hole in the
ice for each step. 1t was severe treat
ment to give valuable guns, but they
had to suffer in the best interests 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.
Although very weak physically, our
minds were much clearer than an hour
before, and we even went so far as to
chaff each other q little. But we had
plenty Of fears yet. Once my heart
leaped as Kellogg slipped and came
down on both knees, clawing frantl-
eally at the air, but he regained his
feet without difficulty, and we pushed
on. Would we ever get across? Every
minute seemed an hour.
kellogg said that, as nearly as he
could calculate, we had been founder
ing about on that man-trap fora week!
But we kept going; the end must
come some time, and sure enough 1t |
did, and at 6 o'clock we stepped on the |
granite boulders again, having been |
lust one hour and ten minutes on that
terrible inclined snow-ield. Neither
of us was much given to demonstra-
ton, but there was q hearty hand
shake and a few things said which
all right up there, but might
look a little foolish in print.