New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1908-04-29
B RA We
&. EFFORT.
[Original.

travelling abroad, was making a pc
destrian tour of the Alps. One evening
while stopping at an inn on the road
leading over the Fraele pass a man
and a girl of eighteen, carrying a
variety of bundles, came and sat down
at a table. near him. The girl was
very pretty, and Bertram kept CHANGING
at her repeatedly. After supper the.
man who was with her smoked his
pipe on the porch of the inn. and
Bertram fell to talking with him. He
said that the girl was his daughter,
and they were going over the pass the
next day.
The height of the Fraele pass is over
200 feet and the distance the two
proposed to go perhaps ten miles. Ber-
tram wondered why they should at
tempt it. The man was past fifty, and
the girl, though strong, was, after all.
but girl There is no danger said
the man. We have done it before
OF course we have some bad places
to cross, but we tie ourselves to a
rope like other climbers, and if one
slips the other stands FAST
The man went into the taproom,
where he INDUCED in bottle of wine
and game Of dominos with the land
lord. This left Bertram and the girl
together. He chatted with her some
time and won her confidence Tell
me- he said. why you attempt this
pass when there are easier ones? And
why do you not cross the mountains
by conveyance? You seem to be peo-
pie who are able to pay Then the
girl confessed that they were SNUG
glers and by crossing the Fraele pass
on foot could get the goods they were
carrying into Italy without paying any
duty.
The next morning when Bertram had
finished his breakfast he stood on the
porch of the inn looking up the road
that led over the pass. Far up the
mountain side he saw two figures,
man and a woman, trudging Slowly
onward. He always carried pair of
glasses with him, and, bringing them to
bear on the figures. he saw that they
We're the smugglers. He watched them
for an hour. They were tied together,
the father leading. At last a cloud
enveloped them, and he saw them no
more
To the smugglers the cloud was a
mist, through which they could see
nothing. They toiled on as best they
could, but despite the fathers efforts
to keep on the road he lost his way.
Then suddenly there was quick slide
and jerk on the rope The girl caught
projection with her ice ak, and it
held. Then she knew that her father
had slipped and was dangling over a
precipice
There was no way by which he could
gain a foothold to save himself or less
en- the strain on the rope which, as his
daughter lost strength, would inevi-
tably pull her over and the two would
together fall thousands of feet into the
abyss below.
'Cut the roper he called.
''Non'
"Cut it! One of us may live. Both
cannot
'sNo!'
Repeatedly he called upon her to do
that which would send him into the
abyss. She always answered No
but gave no reason why she should not
do his bidding. They We're alone far
up in the mountains; there was no one
near to help, and for the mist they
could not be seen if there were those
to see them.
An hour passed. An hour-sixty min
utes of sixty seconds each, and each
second frightful strain! There could
be no change of position either for the
father or the daughter. Any motion on
his part would increase the strain.
and the daughter must lie fat, both
hands clinging to the ak handle How
long would her strength endure? And
why should it endure? Was not each
moment an agony to be followed by the
frightful end at last?
Thirty more of these dreadful min
utes passed each an eternity of agony.
Then a zephyr carried away the mist.
and the girl clearly saw down the
mountain man approaching He was
glancing about him as if he were look
ing for some one. With all the little
strength she had left she cried again
and again till at last he raised his
head and looked straight at where
she lay. Then he bounded up the
mountain like a goat
The girl did not know who relieved
her, at least not then She felt the
strain on the rope disappear and knew
that her father was saved Then all
was q blank. Her father and the res
cuer carried her down the mountain
into Italy, stopping at the first inn they
reached
In the evening, after she had come
to herself, she asked to see the man to
whom she was indebted for her and
her fathers life. When he came in
and stood before her she recognized
the young American with whom she
had spent the previous evening.
Bertram, after seeing the cloud en-
yelop the father and daughter, could
not divest himself of misgivings CON
corning them. Then it seemed ia him