The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1913-07-04

blues. Your digestion is bad; your liv
er is out of order"
"No. herr; ! shall not go back to thu
valley in my body"
Awed by this tone. ] was silent Al
at once the scene spread out before
me seemed terrible as well as grand
AS soon as darkness fell ! said l woult
turn In. and, wrapping myself in the
blankets. went TO sleep
The next morning we started a
dawn and had no trouble whatever or
reaching the summit. In the after
noon we stopped again for the night a
the Grand Mulets.
"Otto;" said, you gave me the
dumps last evening talking about youl
not getting back to the valley. You
see that your forebodings were with
out foundation.
1--WE are not yet in the valley. herr
But we have passed over the great
est danger"
He made no reply to this, and did
not mention the matter again.
The next morning we were descend
ing over path about foot wide. on
one side of which was a precipice and
on the other a slide over slanting snow
for hundreds of feet. then q gradual
rise. Marx had the lead Suddenly
the snow gave way under my feet,
and fell on the side of the gradual
decline. Marx, seeing that the only
way to keep us both from going down
the decline, threw himself on the other
side, the side of the precipice. The
rope broke, and l went, Sliding with
accelerating rapidity. down the ice
coated snow.
During that slide thought only of
| Marx. who had gone to his death, for
| there was a chance for me and none
| for him. Presently found myself
shooting upward. at first as rapidly as
had been shooting downward.
went slower and slower until my
momentum ceased altogether. Then.
there being nothing to hold on to. I be-
gan to descend again. But this time
the incline was not so steep. and when
I reached the bottom l was able to
stop myself.
I made my way down the mountain
as best I could. Fortunately the path
by which we had been descending
crossed the depression in which
found myself few hundred yards be-
low, and, having once struck it,
found no difficulty in reaching the vii
lage. / kept my part of the rope to
show that 1t had been broken as proof
that had not saved myself at my
guides expense.
The tragedy ended my climbing ca
reer for years. Indeed, it did not seem
to me that would ever wish to ascend
a mountain again. 1t was not the dan.
ger to be encountered. but the death Of
Otto Marx. who had lost his life in
my behalf.
Ten years passed, during which !
devoted myself to mercantile pursuits.
Then ! decided to take rest In a trip
to Europe 1t was summer. and
Switzerland Is the camping ground for
tourists Pm that season. hesitated
about going to the region where had
received my shock, but finally decided
to go among the Alps. though not
where 1t had occurred. Instead Of
Chamounix 1 went to Interlaken.
Roundabout Interlaken there is fine
scenery. There are the Eiger, the
Jungfrau, the Wetterhorn. There are
Lauterbrunnen. Murren and Grindel.
valid. I stayed awhile In each Of these
places. combating desire to go to
Chnmounix. While mt Grindelwaid
fell in with party Of Americans who
were devoted to climbing. They were
composed Of both men and women.
and. though they made no regular
accents Of the larger mountains. they
spent much time far up on their
sides.
One of their trips was up the Wet
terhorn, and l could not resist temp
tation to 60 with them. We had par
ty Of six persons, conducted by two
guides. the one in advance and the
other In rear. The day was fair when
we started. but during the afternoon
when we were well up on the side Of
the mountain II clouded over and be-
gan to snow.
A snowstorm on mountain not only
covers the path, concealing pitfalls, but
since one can't see about him he can
have no idea Of direction. Our guides.
who were both young and not over
experienced, lost their teads and show
ed plainly their fear, and they did
not know what to do. 1t showed in
cessantly and so thickly that one could
not see a dozen feet from him. We
stopped where we were, on ledge.
when It begin and waited.
We. remained there huddled together
for three hours. Some Of the women,
who at first had not appreciated the
danger as the men did. were becoming |
very much frightened. A cold wind |
was blowing. and exercise for the pur-
pose of keeping warm was impractical |
BILE. The snow, instead of abating. was |
growing thicker. Thinking might |
find less exposed position, started,
walking cautiously, for the purpose.
had not proceeded far when heard or |
thought heard familiar call:
Herr
Was that Otto Marks voice? No. |
Otto was dead knew that he was |