The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-06-04
AN uP-ro-pAre ROMANCE

Il
The day is far spent. And so is Tar
| tarin's last sou. The sun is low. Not so
| the spirits of our hero. That is TO say
| his animal spirits For is he not high,
very high, with only a few score mill
metres of the Matterhorn above his head ?
And who can have low spirits at such an
| altitude? Not our merry Tarasconnais
| surely, though we must admit that the
| spirits in the stout flask slung at his side
are al a low ebb of the tide.
Anu now-allons. mes enfants-the sun
retires to rest. A pink mist. colored ike
| a Bacchanalian dream, rises over the
SUBMITS of the Alps. One BY one the
pale blue tops of the snow mountains
grow effulgent, rosy-as If. pardieu they
are blushing at the kiss OF the dying
day; then slowly they fade into the i'm
penetra BILE gloom of the starless night
Not peek of peak is left TO cheer
the heart of the stout Alpinist He is
alone-alone on the Alps-with no one
near but the rogue, Gongazue. between
whom and Tartarin there is great cool
ness. despite the fact that they are
bound together by such an intimate tie
! In fact, they are separated by a gigantic
wedge OF ice, sharp as a razor. al the
upper edge, across which lies the lariat
or rope, which binds the climbers to-
gether. How typical of friendship-helas,
Il have climbed the Matterhornr
thought Tarrarin in ecstacy. Its antlers
are mine mine-Tartarin of Tarascon,
Forever shall they be associated with
my name-Zou. What matters all eIse?''
He was trying hard to be cheerful, but
even as he framed the exultant thought
the shadows mounted the mountain like
leaping chamois, and his heart sank into
his boots and crowded his corns so hard
that the gallant fellow almost cried out
from the intolerable pain of the infiiction.
But he knew that the slightest sound let
loose upon the startled air, or even the
mildest of Tarasconlan oathS breathed
gently and self-sa tisfying between the
lips. might call down a dreadful ava
lanche upon his head. Think OF this, ye
who would tempt the mountain heights
for glory So he suppressed the inclina
ton to shrek and yell, though he felt
his corns were popping in his boots.
Chut, A glow worm in the valley below
lights its little lantern and signals 10
pleasanter by the chalet of the good
Suisse maitre dhotel who has good fat
bottles in his cellar and a sirloin OF goat
ready to put upon the Goals! 1t is
white light. too. 1t signifies that the
coast is clear and that Monsieur Tartarin
has the right of way. Why pass the
night on the frigid side of a slab of ice.
best friend and not enough whisky in his
can to make the lowest kind of a low
ball?
Instinctively at the thought Tartarin
gives a slight tug to the rope which con-
meets him with Gongazue. Horrors.
Lille thousand horrors. Prayed already
by long rubbing against the rocks and
ice OF the Matternorn, the fra1 rope
parts, cut by the sharp teeth of the icy
iS
the other side of the icy wedge A horTi-
BILE cry from the throat of our hero an
swers it.
"Outrei'
''Boufrer'
Down the precipitous sides of the
mountain rolls the rotund form of the
man of Tara soon. He hears the ava
lanche pursuing from the heights above.
They're off. The race is on But he has
a good start, and in the twinkling of an
eye he is resolved that no mere insensate
mass of snow or ice shall overtake a
living projectile like Downtown
-uown-he rolls Down jast thunderous
cataracts and across yawning crevases;
down over gigantic powders. which fray
him but cannot turn him from his desper-
ate purpose; down TO the valley below and
across the rock strewn level and UP the
other side until he is out of dangers
way. Then he picks himself up and
watches the huge but impotent avalanche
laundering down the slope he has just
left and forming a big dam across the
torrent which he crossed at bound.
Lifting his cap respectively to the mon
ster which has failed to catch him, the
bravest man in Switzerland utters a cry
which will go resounding down the ages.
'Victorirei ct tout ensemble" screams
Tartarin of Tarascon. There is nothing
TO beat a hot French roll if taken at the
proper moment
But GongaZue, his late companion. what
of him? Helas and hemlocki-New York
Herald