The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-18

waist and was prevented from dropping
 further only by his broad shoulders. Seeing him so utterly unskillful and at the same time so undismayed-
 laughing, singing, gestiulating, just as
 he had been doing before the start-the
 guides began to suspect that he was drunk. They could not account other wise for the clumsiness of this famous president of the Tarascon Alpine club.
 Seizing him under the arms respect fully they tried to awaken his senses to the dangers of the route. They
 pointed at the crevasses, the ice pin
 nacles and the avalanches
 The worthy Tarasconian laughed "Ah, get out with your avalanchesT
 chuckled he, and winked at them to show them that he was in the secret as well as they.
 The guides ended by joining the fun, carried away by the Tartasconian mad
 ness. They yodled and laughed, and thus they reached the shelter hut where ! they were to stay overnight.
 They started again before dawn. This time the guides produced ropes. "Ah go along with your ropesp said the sophisticated Tartarin. Very well,
 then! If it amuses you, be it sop A guide took the lead. leaving six
 feet of rope between himself and Tar
 tarin and the same length between Tar tarin and the other guide, who car
 ried. the sack and the banner. Soon l they came to a path only few inches
 wide, glittering between profound abysses. Tartarin walked as coolly as if he were in his garden. They came
 to an enormous crevasse, which was
 lighted in its green depths by the first
 rays of sunlight. A snow bridge crossed 1t, but it was so fragile that at
 the first step it disappeared in a whirl-
 wind of fine snow, dragging with 1t
 the head guide and Tartarin, while the
 rare guide gripped with desperation,
 his ice axe driven deeply into the snow to sustain the terrific pull.
 Though he could hold the men up, he 1 could not pull them out. He stood crouch ing, with clenched teeth and straining
 muscles. Tartarin threw his arms and 1 legs about like a puppet for a moment.
 Then he regained his presence of mind.
 up therel' cried he. Don't let us get
 moldy herel''
 The guide below hailed him for his ice
 ax, his own having been lost in the fall. l The instrument was passed to him by l Tartarin, and he managed to cut steps ] in the ice to sustain himself. Then the
 other guide succeeded in dragging Tar l tarin up.
 1 When the guide climbed out, trembling
 with his exertions Tartarin kept humming
 a tune under the noses of his astonished
 companions Bray! Bravl Franzose!" | said they, batting him on the shoulder,
 and Tartarin, with a delighted laugh,
 replied: T knew quite well there was no l danger"
 l Within the memory of guide, never had | there been such an Alpinist as this! They continued on their way, climbing l .f foa feat hiprl n which they cut steps painfully and slow l ly. Suddenly the guides began to wave
 their hats and yodel with all their might. | They had reached the summit.
 | Deep below, they could see the hotel, | a toy house. A minute speck of smoke was seen. Faint detonations came to their l ears through the silence. The people be- | low had seen the climbers on the peak and were firing cannon in their honor. 1 Tartarin, who had been so tired and 1 stupefed by the work of the last two hours that his guides had dragged him 1 up the wall woke to the full possession l of his faculties when he realized that be- | low were his fellow club members and the tourists and young ladies looking up | with telescopes and field glasses. He | snatched the club banner from the guide. unrolled it and waved 1t. Then fixing his | ice ax in the snow, he seated himself, | superb, flag in hand, racing the distant l public. At that instant the sun formed one of | its spectral mountain images and gi- gantic Tartarin was outlined against the | sky, enlarged and shortened, the beard | bristlng, like a Scandinavian deity. | After the wonderful ascent Tartarin' s nose peeled and became pimply from the l sun and the snow. His checks cracked. 1 He was forced to keep his room for five | days, plastered with salves. He whiled away the time by dctating a circumstan- tial account of his expedition to be read | to the club
 | When his general fatigue had abated he and his supporters took the train for l Tarascon via Geneva Everywhere, in the narrow railway carriages, in the steamers l in the hotels, at the tables, they spread | terror and amazement with their cries | songs, their exuberant affection for each other, their banner and their alpenstocks flor since the ascent of their president
 they had all provided themselves with al