The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-11-24

and smoked. while the officers stoo'
in group and watched the climbing
man going steadily upward.
For short distance up from tn,
plateau there was stunted grass ant
moss, with dark points of rock pro
truding from the scant soil. Aboy,
that again was a breadth of dirty
snow which, now that the sun wa.
strong, sent little trickling streams
down to the river. From there to the
long ridge Of the mountain extended
upwards the vast smooth slope OF
virgin snow. pure and white. spark
ling in the strong sunlight as if II
had been sprinkled with diamond dust
| A black speck against the tremendous
field of white, the giant struggled on
and they could see by the glass that
he sank to the knee in the softening
snow.
''NOw," said the officer ''he is be-
ginning to understand his situation "
Through the glass they saw Sam
son pause. From below it seemed as
Ing roof, but even to the naked eye
a shadow crossed 1t near the top.
That shadow was tremendous ridge
Of Overhanging snow more than Il 100
feet deep; and Samson now paused as
he realized that it was insurmount-
able. He looked down and undoubt-
edly saw part Of the regiment wait
ing for him below. He turned and
plOdded slowly under the overhang-
ing ridge until he came to the preci-
pice at his left. 1t was 1000 feet
sheer down. He rptraced his steps
and walked to the similar precipice at
the right. Then he came again to the
middle Of the great 7 which his foot
marks had made on that virgin slope.
He sat down in the snow.
No one will ever know what a mo-
nent of despair the Breton must have
passed through when he realized the
hopelessness of his toll.
The officer who was gazing through
the glass at him dropped his hand to
his side and laughed.
"The nature Of his situation" he
said, "has at last dawned upon him.
1t took long time to get an apprecla-
ton Of it through his thick Breton
skull"
Let me have the glass Il moment"
said another. ''He has made up his
mind about something
The officer did not realize the full
significance of what he saw through
the glass. In spite Of their cOnceit
their skulls were thicker than that Of
the prosecuted Breton fisherman.
Samson, for moment. turned his
face to the north and raised his hands
towards heaven. Whether it was an
appeal to saints he believed in. or an
invocation to the distant ocean he was
never more to look upon, who can
tell?
After a moments pause he flung
himself headlong down the slope to-
wards the section of the regiment
which lounged OH the bank Of the
river. Over and over he rolled. and
then in place of the black figure there
came downward a white ball, gather
ing bulk at every bound.
1t was several seconds before the
of what they We're gaz-
ing at burst upon officers and men.
1t came upon them simultaneously,
and with it wild panic of fear. In
the still air low sullen roar arose.
IAN avalanche! An avalanche."
they cried.
The men and officers were hemmed
in by the broiling torrent. Some of
them plunged in to get to the other
side. but the moment the water laid
hold of them their heels were whirled |
into the air. and they disappeared
helplessly down the rapids.
Samson was hours going up the
but only seconds coming |
down. Like an overwhelming wave
came the white crest of the avan- |
anche. sweeping officers and men into !
md over the stream and far across |
the plateau.
There was one mingled shrek which |
made itself heard through the sullen
roar of the SNOW, then all was silence.
The hemmed-in water rose high and |
soon forced its way through the white
barrier.
When the remainder of the regi-
nent dug out from the debris the
bodies of their comrades they found
1 fixed look of the widest terror on
very face except one. Samson. him.
self, without an unbroken bone in his
body, slept as calmly as if he rested
lnder the blue waters on the coast of
illustrated Maya
line.
Hear Chicago Talk.
"Yes. sir. Chicago is the end of every.
hing" exclaimed the Windy City man.
She is the greatest railroad centre in
he universe. She is the one city in