Putnam patriot., 1910-02-18

If you go to Interlaken it is quite
possible you may see the man who told
me this story. You will find him
standing almost any day when the at
mosphere is transparent and the glori-
GUS Jungfnu looms up beautifully In
a notch between two Of the foothills.
standing beside the main street of the
town. showing the mountain through
his telescope to tourists at half a franc
he put the facts at the bottom Of his
yarn together as q story. Nevertheless
they are a story. and II 10 my part to
arrange them In proper form. Here 1t
Is as he told Ii to me. with certain
transpositions of mine necessary to its
ready understanding:
One day a few summers ago I was
mountain when a party came along
consisting of a young girl and two
young men. The girl and one of the
young men were Americans. The other
young man. l judged from his accent.
was French. The American man was
a quiet, steady looking fellow. The
FrenehmaD was handsome. with all the
vivacity of the French people, while
the girl was one of your American
beauties. The names of all three after
ward learned. and | shall never forget
them. The American pan was Archi-
bald Wallace: the Frenehman was
Jean lie Ferian; the girl was Alice
Clark.
@Oh, there is a telescope" exclaimed
Miss Clark as she approached me.
DO lets have a look
With her American impulse she put
her eye 10 the eyepiece. while | made
the adjustments.
Isn't it wonderfulT' she said en-
Enthusiastically. What beautiful slopes!
What awful CULTS, But ii is faseinat-
ing I'm crazy to go up there
The very next afternoon was stand
ing here. as usual, waiting for people
to come along and pay me for look
through my telescope, when, seeing a
mass of snow on the mountain begin
ming to move. | put my eye to the
glass. After witnessing an avalanche
turning the glass about over the noun
tain l saw three figures, two men and
a woman, not far above the snow line.
My glass did not reveal their features.
but l suspected they were the party
who had been with me the day before
l watched them for some time. Aft
er awhile | saw one of the men stroll
away around a snow covered rock,
where he was screened from the 9TH
ers, and look over cliff. Then he
went part of the way back and, fan
csed. called-of course | could not hear
him-to the other man. for the latter
went around the rock and Joined him.
and the two stood on the edge of the
cliff together looking over. Suddenly
l saw enc figure behind the other and
the front one fall over the cliff
There was a steep incline at the
cliffs base of hard snow The mo-
ment the figure that had fallen struck
this snow saw him glance, then shoot
down on the surface. He passed be-
hind a peak. and when he again APP
peared | saw him still sliding. Then
he slid around a bend and disappeared
As soon as | was convinced that |
should not see him again | turned my
glass back to the other figure. He was
running toward the woman. When he
reached her there was pantomime
which indicated he was telling her
that the other man had fallen over the
cliff. But | knew very well that he
had pushed his friend-or enemy, as
the case might be-over. While
could not distinguish the womans fea-
lures. | knew by her motions that she
was terribly moved by the tragedy
She went with the remaining man to
the cliff. and the two seemed to be
looking down at its base to see if they
could get a glimpse of their compan-
ion Then they turned away and de-
seended the mountain.
| was satisfied that one of the men
had pushed the other over the cliff
and that they were Wallace aud lie
yerian. though | could net tell which
was the victim. knew fun well that
the matter would soon be reported and
resolved 10 keep my own counsel cn=
riens to know IN what form the trag.
edy would be made known.
The same night | heard that terri
BILE accident had happened TO a young
American stopping at the j. hotel
| went there and got the story from
the concierge. He said that while
Mr.. Wallace. an American. was look
Ing over a cliff a crust of snow had
given way under his feet and he had
fallen 100 feet to the bottom. He had
doubtless been killed A party was be-
Ing made up to go the next day to look
for his body.
Making further inquiries. learned
that he had gone up the mountain side
with Jean lie yerian, Partisan. and
IA Miss Clark OF Philadelphia. While
Il was permitting people TO tell me
about what | knew much more than
.ihey, lie yerian passed me. He looked
|very somber. as one might be expected
Ito appear who had witnessed the trag-
|edy he had reported. l tried 10 de-
Rect the look of villain in his face
but failed Either he was not guilty.
rs | supposed. or he carried the con-
|eciousness of his guilt so well that it
would not betray him.
The next morning Joined the party
that set out 10 end Wallace's body. my
object being to follow. II possible. the
route he would be forced over and to
1etermine whether he could have es-
raped with his life. Having reached
HE bottom of the cliff. the party were
Surprised to find no traces Of the body.