The Crystal Hunters: A Boy's Adventures in the Higher Alps

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER TWELVE.

  FIRST MOUNTAIN CLIMB.

  The loud crack of something breaking awoke Saxe to the knowledge that agrey light was peering through the pines, and that, though he wascomfortably warm, there was a crisp coldness in the air he breathed.

  Then there was another sharp crack, and another, as of sticks beingbroken; and he raised himself up to begin looking cautiously round. ForMelchior had said that there were bears about still in the mountains,and the first idea that occurred to him was that a savage beast wasbreaking his way through the thick pine-wood with inimical intent.

  Another crack and another, very close at hand, and then a faint sighingsound--evidently the expiration of some living creature's breath.

  Saxe felt a catching sensation at the breast, a tingling in the templesand cheeks, as if his veins were startled and his blood running wild;and he stole his hand softly out from under the rug, to try and reachhis companions and rouse them to a sense of the impending danger--tryingto recollect at the same moment where the ice-axes had been placed whenthey lay down overnight.

  But at that moment there was a sharper crack than ever, and a faintodour of burning, followed by the quick crackling so familiar when agreen pine bough is thrown upon the flames.

  "Oh, what a coward I am!" thought Saxe, sinking back and placing hisenlaced fingers beneath his head, as he gazed straight up at the darkbranches above. "Just as if a bear would come and attack us, even ifthere was one anywhere near! He'd scuffle off as soon as he smelt man."

  "Perhaps not if he was very hungry," he thought, after a few minutes."But I do wish I could feel brave, like men do, and not turn shaky andqueer at the least thing. Here was I imagining all that rubbish justbecause I heard a stick broken by old Melchior to make the fire.Yesterday all I had to do was to walk along a shelf of rock, with somewater running down below me. If it had been out in the open sunshine Ishouldn't have minded a bit; but because it was a little dark I fanciedall sorts of stuff. Of course it was a bit startling to see a fellow gohead over heels into a torrent along with a moke and be swept away; butI don't believe old Melk was half so much frightened as I was."

  "It's very silly lying here," he said to himself again, as the scent ofthe burning pine-wood increased. "Bit cold outside the rug; but we leftthe door and the windows open last night, and that's healthy all thesame. I do wish, though, I could get on without being scared so soon.Perhaps it's all through being ill last year and feeling so weak. But Ididn't seem weak yesterday. I was precious tired, but so was Mr Dale.I'm afraid I'm a coward, and I suppose all I can do is to hide it andnot let people see."

  "They sha'n't see!" he muttered, after a few minutes; and then he laystill, thinking of home, his mother and father, and of their readyconsent when Mr Dale offered to take him as his companion in anexperimental trip to the high Alps.

  "I wonder what they are all doing now?" he thought. "Asleep, of course.I don't believe my mother would sleep comfortably, though, if she knewI was lying out here like this, with no bed-curtains and the snow justover us. It is rum, though--summer and winter all muddled up togetherso closely that you stand with your right leg in July, picking flowersand catching butterflies, and the left leg in January, so that you canturn over and make a snowball or pick icicles off the rocks."

  A pleasant, drowsy sensation began to steal over him, and he was aboutto give way to it, when the idea came like a flash that it would be idleand cowardly; and this thought made him spring up, and fold the rug inwhich he had been rolled; and after a glance at where Mr Dale stillslept, he went softly out of the clump of trees in the direction wherehe could hear the crackling, to find Melchior in the act of placing thetin kettle they had brought upon the fire.

  "Good morning, herr. A fine day."

  "Not much day about it," said Saxe, with a slight shiver. "What time isit?"

  "I don't know, herr; but the sun will soon be up. Look!"

  He pointed overhead to where, grim-looking and grey, one of themountains towered up: and right away, at a great height, there was whatlooked like a broad streak of pale--very pale--red, apparently a pieceof cloud just over the mountain top.

  "What's that?"

  "Snow, herr, beginning to be lit up by the sun. That is where we aregoing by-and-by--the mountain with the enow on one side but bare rock onthe other."

  Saxe stood gazing upward with a feeling of awe creeping over him. Therewas no mistake about height here. The line of snow, which ended asquickly as if it had been cut square at one end, seemed terribly faraway; and Saxe was thinking that it seemed almost madness to try andreach such a spot, when Melchior drew his attention to first one andthen another flake of ruddy light in the distance.

  "Clouds?" asked Saxe; though he felt what the answer would be.

  "No," replied the guide--"mountain peaks. Will you awaken Mr Dale, orshall I?"

  "I am awake," said that personage. "Is there any water near here? Ohyes, I remember. Well, Saxe, had your bath?"

  Saxe looked confused, and said nothing.

  "I asked you if you had had your bath, my lad," said Mr Dale, lookingat him wonderingly.

  "Well, the fact is," stammered the boy, "there was no jug or basin, andI--"

  "Forgot it?" said Dale.

  "Yes, I forgot it," replied the boy, with an effort; and as he spoke hefelt to himself that this was a touch of moral, though it was notphysical, cowardice, for he ought to have spoken out frankly.

  "Well, I'm going to have mine. How long will the coffee be, Melchior?"

  "Not a quarter of an hour, herr."

  "Right. We'll soon be back," cried Dale; and a few minutes after he andSaxe were having a good scrub about the neck and shoulders, and glowingas if from an electric shock, so brisk and sharp was the water that cametumbling down over the rocks in the middle of one of the clumps of pineswhose tops were freshened by the little cascade.

  Back to the alfresco breakfast, which Dale ate with his back restingagainst a block of stone nestling in a mass of whortleberry, and gazingup at the mountain, while he and Melchior discussed the plan of theirascent.

  "Yes," said Dale, "you are right. We ought to take to the snow there,cross to that arete, and--"

  "What's an arete?" said Saxe, who was listening eagerly.

  "That ridge along the summit of yonder spur or buttress," said Dale."That will bring us back to the main part of the mountain, and we oughtto reach the shoulder from there."

  "No, herr," said the guide quietly; "the climbing would be too steep,and there is a slope there which later on will be swept by loose stones.Better take to the snow again, then work up it."

  "But suppose it is in bad condition?"

  "It will be shaded from the sun till the afternoon, and quite hard.From there, you see, we can easily get to the shoulder, and then chooseour way up the last part by the rocks or the snow. You see that eithercan be reached: that is plain enough from here."

  "Yes, it looks easy," said Dale thoughtfully. "The rock for preference,for I want to see the structure, and we may find specimens of what I amseeking."

  "Yonder will be most likely," said Melchior, pointing to a huge mass ofdark mountain a few miles away, part of which was now glowing in themorning sun, whose bright rays made the ice and snow glitter on a scoreof peaks.

  "We'll, try that later on," said Dale. "Have you never been up it?"

  "No, herr; but I have been on others, where little crystals have beenfound in cracks; and they were mountains like that--very steep-sided,and having little snow."

  "There's plenty of time," said Dale, raising his glass to examine thefarther mountain attentively. "We'll try that by-and-by. Has it anyname?"

  "The Black Nun, herr. That is the White Nun, on beyond it, to theright."

  "Yes, I'll keep to my original plan," said Dale, looking up once more tothe mountain at whose foot they sat, "and in half an hour we'll be off.How many hours will it take us?"

  "Eight or nine, herr. It depends on--"


  He paused and looked at Saxe.

  "To be sure, yes," said Dale thoughtfully. "I think," he continued, toSaxe's great relief, "that, as this one is rather difficult anddangerous--"

  "It ought not to be dangerous, herr, if we are careful."

  "Well, then, difficult," continued Dale--"you had better contentyourself, Saxe, by staying here in camp and watching us with the glass."

  Saxe changed his position viciously.

  "I wish you would not think me such a coward, sir," he said, with adisplay of temper. "I am to learn to climb: why not let me begin now?"

  As soon as he had spoken he repented; for he felt nervous about so steepa climb, and he told himself that, by his hasty words and assumption ofeagerness, he had made his feelings clear to those who listened.

  Dale looked at him searchingly, and Saxe coloured beneath his gaze.

  "If it would be more satisfaction to you to come with us, do so by allmeans. It will be hard and toilsome, but Melchior and I will take, careof you."

  "Oh, if they would not think me such a cowardly child!" thought Saxe.Then, aloud--

  "I should like to come, and I'll do the best I can to keep up with you."

  "And if there is a bit of extra difficult climbing, why, you--you mustwait till we come back."

  "Yes, I could do that," replied Saxe; and as soon as the breakfast wasended a wallet was filled with food, a couple of bottles with water, andMelchior took the rope, passed his head and right arm through it, andlooked at Dale as much as to say, "I am ready."

  "Will these things be all right?" said the latter, taking an ice-axefrom where it hung up on a tree; and he pointed to the basket.

  "There is no one here to touch them, herr."

  "And the mule?"

  "He will not wander far from the basket, herr. We shall find him closeat hand."

  "Then, forward!" said Dale; and the little party began the ascent almostdirectly, their way being back up the snow slope down which, on theprevious day, Saxe had made so rapid a descent; and it was only now thatthe boy realised how far he had come.

  "It will be easy coming back, herr," said Melchior, as they stopped fora few minutes to rest, "and you must not lose your balance this time."

  "Only a little out of breath," replied Saxe; but as he spoke he couldnot help giving a glance up at the huge pile of granite, ice and snowtowering high above his head.

  Dale laughed.

  "Well, Saxe," he said, "are you beginning to find out how high themountains are?"

  Saxe nodded.

  "Yes," he said; "they deceive you at a distance. Is this the highest?"

  Dale laughed again.

  "Well," he replied, "it is not quite the smallest. Say the medium. Onagain, Melchior!"

  "Yes, herr: let's get as high as we can while the morning is young andthe snow hard. We can take our time on the rock."

  The guide was following the custom that seems to have come natural toman and beast--that of zigzagging up a steep place; but instead ofmaking for the centre of the col, where it was lowest, he kept bearingto the left--that is, he made the track three times the length of thatto the right, and he drew on toward where the slope grew steeper andsteeper.

  The snow was far better to walk upon now, for the surface was wellfrozen, and they had only to plant their feet in the deep steps theguide made by driving the soles of his heavily nailed boots well intothe crust.

  "Take care! take care!" he kept on saying to Saxe, who was in themiddle. "There is no danger, but a slip would send you down, and youcould not stop till you were at the bottom."

  "I'll mind," said Saxe, as he stole a glance now and then up at thesteep white slope above him, or at that beneath, beyond which the pinesamong which they had slept the past night now looked like heather.

  "Yes, it is all very big, Mr Dale," he said suddenly.

  "Wait a bit. You don't half know yet. Say it's bigger than youthought. Getting harder, isn't it, Melchior?"

  "Yes, herr. If it gets much harder, I shall have to cut steps; but onlyhere and there, where it's steepest."

  "Isn't it steepest now?" said Saxe, who felt as if he could touch thesurface by extending his right hand.

  "Oh no, herr. You don't mind?"

  "Not a bit," cried the lad: "I like it."

  "What's the matter?" said Dale, as they still mounted the dazzling slopeof snow, far now above the dip of the col over which they had come.

  "Bad piece here, sir. We'll have the rope. I'll fasten my end and handthe rest to you, to secure yourselves while I begin cutting."

  "Right!" replied Dale; and a minute later he caught the rings of hempthrown to him, and rapidly knotted the middle round Saxe, the end to hisown waist; and as he knotted, _click, click! chip, chip_! went theice-axe, deftly wielded by the guide, who with two or three blows brokethrough enough of the crust to make a secure footing while the ice flewsplintering down the slope in miniature avalanches, with a peculiarmetallic tinkling sound.

  "Will there be much to cut?" said Dale.

  "No, herr; only a step here and there to make us quite safe,"--and hechipped away again after a few steps, and broke in others with the toesof his boots.

  "I say," whispered Saxe, "suppose he slipped while he's swinging thataxe round, he'd drag us both down too."

  "And by the same argument, if you or I slipped, we should snatch himfrom his place."

  "Yes; that's what I thought.

  "That would only be in a very extreme case; and you may as well learnyour mountaineer's lesson at once. When we are roped together, and oneslips, he generally saves himself by rapidly sticking the sharp pick ofhis axe into the snow. He gives the others ample warning by this thatsomething is wrong before the jerk and strain come upon the rope."

  "And what do they do?"

  "Drive their ice-picks right into the snow, hang back against the slope,and tighten the rope from one to the other. So that generally, insteadof a fall, there is only a short slip. Do you understand!"

  "Yes, I think so."

  "So it is that three or four who understand mountaineering, and worktogether and trust each other, go up and down places that would beimpassable to the unskilful. Hah! we are getting to the top of thisslope. Tut, tut! cutting again. Look out!"

  The last two words were roared out; and chip, chip, there came closeupon one another the sound of two ice-picks being driven into the snow,the guide's like an echo of Dale's, for his axe was raised to cut afresh step, but he changed the direction like lightning, drove it inhigh up the slope, and held on forward, Dale backward.

  For, in the most unexpected manner, one of Saxe's feet had slipped as hestepped short, and down he went to lie helplessly a dozen feet fromwhere he had stood, hanging suspended from the two ends of the rope--fortunately for him tight round the waists of his companions.

  "Herr, herr!" shouted the guide reproachfully, as he looked back overhis shoulder, "where's your ice-axe?"

  "Here," said Saxe dolefully, raising it a little, and vainly trying todrive his toes through the hard crust, newly frozen in the night.

  "`Here,' sir!" cried Melchior: "but it has no business to be `here.'Strike! strike hard! and drive it into the snow."

  Saxe raised it in both hands, and struck.

  "No, no!" cried the guide; "take hold right at the end, and drive it inas high up as you can reach. Hah! that's better. Now hand over hand.It will hold. Pull yourself up as high as you can."

  "That do?" said Saxe, panting, after obeying the orders and contrivingto get a couple of feet.

  "Yes," said the guide, tightening the rope in company with Dale. "Nowthen, again! A better one this time."

  The boy struck the pick in again as hard as he could, and was moresuccessful. The rope was tightened to support him after he had climbedhigher; and after three or four minutes he stood once more in his oldplace panting.

  "Wait till he gets his breath, Melchior," said Dale. "There, boy, ithas been a splendid lesson for you, in a place where the wors
t thatcould have happened to you was a sharp glissade and some skin off yourhands and face. That ice-axe ought to have been driven like lightninginto the snow, or the pick held towards it downward. It would haveploughed in and anchored you."

  "I'll try better next time," said Saxe. "I'm sorry I'm so stupid."

  "The young herr did well," cried Melchior warmly. "Why, I have knownmen hang from the rope helpless and afraid to stir at such a time.Ready? Vorwarts!"

  He started again, cutting a step here and there, but very few now; and aquarter of an hour later a long path took them to where the smooth slopegave place to piled-up masses of rock, which looked as if they had beenhurled down from above.

  Then came a couple of hours' toilsome climb over broken stones, and upmasses that were mastered by sheer scrambling. Now and then an easyrock slope presented itself, or a gully between two buttresses of themountain, as they won their way higher and higher. Only once was therea really dangerous place--a mere ledge, such as they had passed along onthe previous day, but instead of a raging torrent beneath them there wasa wall of nearly perpendicular rock running down for about a thousandfeet to a great bed of snow.

  But the distance was short, and Saxe stepped out bravely, perfectlyaware, though, that his companions were keeping the rope pretty tightand watching his every step.

  "Well done!" cried Melchior.

  "Bravo, Saxe!" said Dale, as soon as they were safely across: "I seeyour head is screwed on right. Forward!"

  "But he don't know what a weak screw it is," thought Saxe. "Why, theymust have seen how white I was! I shall never dare to get back thatway."

  Three or four awkward bits were circumvented; a couloir or gully full ofsnow mounted; and then there was a long climb up a moderate slope towardwhere a ridge of rocks stood out sharply, with snow sloping down oneither side, the ridge running up far into the mountain; but before theycould get to this a deep bed of old snow--"firn" Melchior called it--agreat sheet, like some large white field, had to be passed.

  But this was mastered, and the climb began up towards the ridge.

  "The herr remembers this?" Melchior said.

  "No," said Saxe.

  "Oh yes, you remember: that is the arete," said Dale.

  "That? What! right up there?"

  "Yes. Are you surprised?"

  "Yes: I thought we had passed that, down below somewhere, hours ago."

  "More faith in the size of the mountains," said Dale merrily. "Well,Saxe, how do you feel now? Will you sit down and wait!"

  "No," said the boy, through his set teeth, "I'm going right to the top."