Evening star., 1923-05-06

J AZ III
lNl the summit, yes the very point.
Nothing else was higher. nothing else
on the earth, it seemed. Then my
head came up through the ragged
edge of that kindly crack whose pres
ence had made the final ascent pos
Sfble, and I-well ] was on the top.
! Vasco followed, then the two Bra
lillian soldiers and then the seven
others. We lowered the rope vine,
which the natives had coiled and
brought with them against just such
q need, down through the crack, and
Nino, the boy who was with us, tied
the end securely under his arms. We
drew him UP. almost as one draws a
bucket of water out of deep well.
Magnificent! The whole world
stretched out below us, it seemed.
My companions and / sat in group
on the rounded summit, talking little
but looking and thinking a great deal.
We looked far into Venezuela on the
north and Brazil in the south.
Soon after we had eaten crack ers
and chocolates from Vasco's KNAPP
sack, the sun began to go downward
over my right shoulder. By my watch
IT was 1880. At scattered places on
the horizon / could see rain falling
from some cloud-perhaps not as high
! as We were-falling like a curtain of
misty silk let down from a fluffy
reservoir. A fresh breeze sprang up
I and tapped our ragged clothing about
us. My feet? There is nothing
could say Of them that would be ade-
| quate. When / think even now of
that mountain 1 can feel the agony of
my bleeding feet. But, after all, what
mattered feet? Had we not set out
to climb the Serro do Cucuhy-and
had we not climbed it?
/ With one last look at the encircling
! disk of horizon, with the mountain
! bordering its edges, we turned and
began clambering down, with space
enough between us so that If one
fell he would not carry all the rest
with him.
! Going down the cepo rope and the
palm poles was relatively easy. Then
on we went into the dark cavernous
ravine until We had quite lost the
daylight.
! We had to crawl along on hands
and knees. scraping shins, butting
heads, falling, sliding. rolling. but
always sinking lower and lower into
the great rock-filled cavity. The
! openings between the powders were
hard to find. We had to keep clear
head, a very clear head, TO remember
| through which of these openings we
! had come in the ascent. 1t was neces-
sary to use the utmost caution for
fear of fntrusting our weight to some
| loose bowlder or rock. l didn't dare
think about what would happen if
anything in that mass of piled-up
granite should slip.
| X x x X
FINALLY we came to the last cav
L ernous room. The nino had beer
lowered through the small opening
In to the lighted area below. An
other was about to follow when he
slipped and fell with thud agains,
the bowlder at the edge of the hole
There was a groan, a faint rumbling
a slide, and then, as if all the world
were coming to an end, a great roar
burst and echoed through the black
chambers. 1 ducked my head and
held it in my arms as If to protect
that part OF me from whatever was
about to happen-was already hap
pening. Crash! Crash!
Hi. the exit is closed! The exit is
closed" somebody yelled.
1t was too dark to see anything
But the small glow that had come
from the lighted area below had dis.
appeared. I crept forward, fearful
lest I too slip and start another rock
moving. WHAT" 1 gasped. Sealed
n?-Impossible, That only happens
to fiction books"
It was very dark. ] could not SEE
a thing, but my breath wheezeG