Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1914-12-08
A FIGHT IN
THE. CLOUDS
By F. A. Mitchell

for tourists to make short trips visit
ing Swiss places of interest Perhaps
the most interesting of all these trips
is to take a train at Interlaken for
GrindeIwald. thence up the steep side
of mountain TO Scheidegg.
When / made this trip the railway
from Scheidegg t. the top of the Jung
frau was just begun IN the car as
cending from Grindelwald was a young
American with two guides wh5 was
intending to ascend the Jungfrau from
Scheidegg He was a quiet, inof-
fensive fellow. but the fact thar he
carried an ice az indicated that he was
a climber. A Frenchman with a wax,
ed mustache ana goatee proportion.
ately small seemed disposed to guy him
Webster, the American. kept his TEN
per, but. being quicker at repartee, got
the better of him and set the car
laughing at him. This made the
Frenchman. whose name was Du
Pierre. angry. an1 he insulted Webster
Since they were sitting opposite each
other Webster reached forth his hand !
and slapped the others cheek.
Every one expected fight. bet since
we were climbing at an angle of some
thing like forty degrees no one relished
the prospect of having one. We could
not blame Webster for resenting an
insult at the moment rather than hav-
ing 1t pass into something more seri
ous Nevertheless. the affair did pass
into something more serious Tie
Frenchman. handing Webster his card
said:
This is no place for an alteration"
I OF course that meant a challenge.
but when or where the end of the af
fair would be reached no one knew,
and few cared. When we reached
Scheidegg l, being fellow countryman
of Webster's. he called upon me, ask
ing me to go to Du Pierre and make
an effort to settle the matter. Before
doing so l learned from a man who had
witnessed the fracas in the car that
the Frenchman was celebrated Paris
duelist I had therefore very little
hope of securing an adjustment, and
that hope was extinguished as soon as
l met the Frenchman's representative
He informed me that such an insult
as be had received unavenged would
ruin his reputation at home He could
not afford even to accept an apology.
Webster turned out to be a sheep
raiser in the heart of the Rocky noun
tains and used to high attitudes. He
directed me to accept Du Pierre's chal.
lenge. By the code Webster was en-
titled to the choice of weapons and the
terms of the fight. He directed me to
make the following provisions: One of
the principals was to go to a point on
the road a mile down toward Lauter-
brunnen, the other remaining at Schei-
degg. Each was to be armed with re
volver. two chambers loaded. At an
appointed hour they were to advance
and begin firing whenever they chose
to do so. The road leaving Scheidegg
is not at first steep, and it made little
difference which of the two won the
Scheidegg end
Du Pierre, who supposed he would
fight under terms to which he had been
accustomed. was indignant at such an
innovation, but since | assured him
that Webster would only fight him on
the terms offered he was obliged either
to go back to Paris having had his face
slapped without having wiped out the
insult or accept the situation.
The matter was kept perfectly quiet
Those who had witnessed the fracas
In the car were tourists and scattered
In all directions. Consequently when
one went out the next morning as the
sun was casting its first beams on the
surrounding peaks there was no one
present except the principals, their sec
onds and surgeon VINO was stopping
at one Of the hotels. Du Pierre won
the toss and chose to move out from
Scheidegg. Two shots were given each
man, and Webster and / went down
the incline fer a mile. waiting there
for the time for the duelists 10 start,
I started him on the minute, and he
advanced slowly up the road. The
two men could see each other for near
~ the whole distance. When they
were a quarter of a mile apart the
Frenchman, hating, took deliberate
aim and fired. The ball fell on the
road some distance from the American.
now saw the meaning of Webster's
tactics. Having lived In a mountain
Gus country. he realized how much
nearer objects appeared through the
air than they were. Du Pierre had
supposed he had his enemy within
range when he was not l could see
that he was surprised that his shot had
not taken effect. but l doubt If he
knew the reason
Webster now had two shots to his
enemy's one, but showed no sign OF
firing They continued to advance for
perhaps a hundred feet when Webster
suddenly raised his weapon. Du Pierre
at once raised his and fred. Web
ster lowered his pistol. A spent ball
struck him In the leg. but did no Sc
rious damage.
This ended the fight. for the French
man had used both his shots. while the
American had used neither of his. and
the latter had no intention OF shooting
an unarmed enemy. Indeed. he had
planned the affair to result exactly as
1t had resulted Handing his weapon
to me. he walked up the road, lifted his
hat as be passed Du Pierre and pro-
ceeded to the station. An hour later.
with his guides, be started for the sum
NIT of the Jungfrau and made the
FIRST successful ascent of that season.
As for the Frenchman. he went back
to Paris disguised with Americans and
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