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

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER THREE.

  FURTHER IDEAS OF MAGNITUDE.

  The guide had already started off, and for the next half-hour he ledthem on and upward, gradually ascending a rocky eminence which stoodlike a vast tower in the middle of the amphitheatre.

  Every now and then he stopped to hold out his ice-axe handle to helpSaxe; but the latter disdained all aid, and contented himself withplanting his feet in the same spots as the guide, till all at once theman stopped.

  It was the top of the eminence; and as Saxe reached Melchior's side hepaused there, breathless with exertion and wonder, gazing now along thecurved part of the comma, which had been hidden for the last hour.

  Right and left were the silvery veil-like cascades: down below them somefive hundred feet the little river roared and boomed, and the junctionof the silvery water of the falls with the grey milky, churned-up foamof the torrent was plainly seen in two cases. But the sight whichenchained Saxe's attention was the head of the valley up which they hadtoiled, filled by what at the first glance seemed to be a huge cascadedescending and flowing along the ravine before him, but which soonresolved itself into the first glacier--a wonderfully beautiful frozenriver, rugged, wild and vast, but singularly free from the fallen stonesand earth which usually rob these wonders of their beauty, and lookingnow in the bright sunshine dazzling in its purity of white, shaded byrift, crack and hollow, where the compressed snow was of the mostdelicate sapphire tint.

  "Is that a glacier?" said Saxe, after gazing at it for a few minutes.

  "Yes, lad, that's a glacier, and a better example than one generallysees, because it is so particularly clean. Glaciers are generallypretty old and dirty-looking in the lower parts."

  The guide rested upon his ice-axe, with his eyes half-closed, apparentlywatching the effect the glacier had upon the visitors; Dale gazed at itcontemplatively, as if it were the wrinkled face of an old friend; andSaxe stared wonderingly, for it was so different to anything he hadpictured in his own mind.

  "Well, what do you think of it?" said Dale, at last.

  "Don't quite know, sir," said Saxe, sitting down, drawing up his kneesto rest his chin, and throwing his arms about his legs. "It wantslooking at. But I'm beginning to understand now. That's the upper partof the river which runs down the valley, only up here it is alwaysfrozen. Seems rum, though, for the sun's regularly blistering my neck."

  "You have something of the idea, but you are not quite right, Saxe,"replied Dale. "That is the upper part of the river, and yet it is not,because it is a distinct river. You speak of it as if the river up herehad become frozen. Now, it is frozen because it has never beenotherwise."

  "Must have been water once, or else it couldn't have run down thatnarrow valley."

  "It has never been anything but ice, Saxe," said Dale, smiling; "and yetit has run down the valley like that."

  "Ice can't flow, because it is solid," said Saxe dogmatically.

  "Ice can flow, because it is elastic as well as solid."

  "Mr Dale!"

  "Proof, boy. Haven't you seen it bend when thin, and people have beenon it skating?"

  "Oh! ah! I'd forgotten that."

  "Well, this ice is sufficiently elastic to flow very slowly, forced downby its own weight and that of the hundreds of thousands of tons behind."

  "Oh, I say, Mr Dale--gently!" cried Saxe.

  "Well, then, millions of tons, boy. I am not exaggerating. You do notunderstand the vastness of these places. That glacier you are lookingat is only one of the outlets of a huge reservoir of ice and snow,extending up there in the mountains for miles. It is forced down, asyou see, bending into the irregularities of the valley where they arenot too great; but when the depths are extensive the ice cracks rightacross."

  "With a noise like a gun, sometimes," interpolated the guide, who waslistening intently.

  "And I know, like that," cried Saxe, pointing to a deep-looking jaggedrift, extending right across the ice-torrent: "that makes a crevasse."

  "Quite correct," said Dale.

  "But stop a moment," cried Saxe: "this is all solid-looking blue ice.It's snow that falls on the tops of the mountains."

  "Yes; snow at a certain height, while lower that snow becomes rain."

  "Well, then, this valley we are looking at ought to be snow, not ice."

  "Snow is ice in the form of light flocculent crystals, is it not? Why,at home, if you take up moist snow and press it hard in your hands, youcan almost turn it into ice. If you placed it in a press, and appliedmuch force, it would become perfectly clear ice. Well, there's pressureenough here to turn it into ice; and besides, the snow is always meltingin the hot sun, and then freezing again at night."

  "Yes, I see!" cried Saxe; "but it does seem queer. Why, we've gotsummer here, with flowers and bees and butterflies, and if we go down tothat glacier, I suppose we can step on to winter."

  "Yes, my lad; and if we like to climb a little higher up the ice, we canplace ourselves in such severe winter that we should be frozen todeath."

  "Then we will not go," said Saxe, laughing. "You told me one day--No,you didn't, it was in a story I read, `man is best as he is.' But Isay, Mr Dale, how about the river? doesn't it come from the glacier?"

  "Yes, of course. These vast glaciers are the sources of the great Swissand Italian rivers. The Rhine and the Rhone both begin up in themountains here, and the Aar and the Reuss start pretty close to them.When we get down here you will see how this stream runs from a littleice-cave."

  "But what makes it so dirty?"

  "My good fellow, we have come to climb, and my name is not Barlow. Youmust read and search out these things. You know how that stone or massfell with a roar lower down?"

  "Not likely to forget it, sir," replied Saxe, with a laugh.

  "Well, the stones are always falling from the bare sides of the gorge;they drop on to the glacier, and in course of time are washed by themelting ice into the crevasses and down to the bare rock beneath theglacier. There they glide down, with its weight upon them, right overthe rock, and the surface is worn off from the fallen stone and the bedrock in a thin paste, which is washed away by the glacier. Then, as itdescends, it of course discolours the water."

  "Shall we go down to the toe of the glacier!" said the guide.

  "Yes; come along."

  "Can we trust the young herr to descend?"

  Dale leaned forward to gaze down the rugged slope, which was excessivelysteep, but broken up into rift and gully, offering plenty of foot andhand-hold.

  "What do you think, Saxe?" he said. "Can you manage to get down there?"

  "Get down there?" said the lad contemptuously; "why, I'd race you to thebottom."

  "No doubt, and be down first," said Dale quietly; "but I should be readyto go on, and you would want carrying to the nearest chalet to wait fora surgeon."

  "What, after getting down that bit of a place?"

  "You stupid fellow," said Dale testily; "that bit of a place is aprecipice of five hundred feet. How am I to impress upon you thateverything here is far bigger than you think? Look here," he continued,pointing: "do you see that cow yonder, on that bit of green slope besidethose overhanging rocks?"

  "No; I can see a little dog by a heap of stones."

  "That will do for an example," said Dale. "Here, Melchior, is not thata cow just across the stream there?"

  "Wait a moment," cried Saxe eagerly. "I say it's a little dog. Who'sright?"

  "You are both wrong," said the guide, smiling. "There is a man here hasa chalet behind the pines. He comes up the valley with his cattle forthe summer, when the snow is gone."

  "Is there snow here in winter, then?" said Saxe.

  "The valley is nearly full in winter. No one can come up here."

  "But that isn't a cow," cried Saxe, pointing.

  "No," said the guide, smiling; "it is Simon Andregg's big bull."

  "Well!" cried Saxe, shading his eyes and staring down at the animal,which looked small enough
to be a dog.

  "You don't believe him?" said Dale, laughing.

  "Oh, I don't know," said Saxe; "I suppose I do. But I was thinking thathe might have made a mistake. Shall I go first?"

  "No, herr; I am the guide," said Melchior quietly; and he began thedescent pretty rapidly, but stopped at the foot of each more difficultpart to look up and wait for the others. Sometimes he drove the sharpend of his ice-axe into the earth or some crevice, and held it there toact as a step for the others to descend; and at other times he pressedhimself against the rock and offered his shoulders as resting-places fortheir feet, constantly on the watch to lessen the difficulties and guardagainst dangers in a place where a slip of a few feet might haveresulted in the unfortunate person who fell rolling lower withincreasing impetus, and the slip developing into a terrible accident.

  "It is farther than I thought," said Saxe, as they reached the bottom ofthe steep bluff from which they had viewed the glacier; and he steppedback a few yards to look up. "The places really are so much bigger thanthey look. Why, I say, Mr Dale, the glacier seems quite high up fromhere, and ever so much farther off."

  "And it will look bigger still when we reach the cave where the rivercomes out."

  "So!" said Melchior quietly; and he went on, now down the stony slope ofthe valley, to reach the river bed near its source, with the sides ofthe thal seeming to grow steeper and higher, and one of the waterfallsthey were near infinitely more beautiful, for they had now reached thepoint necessary for seeing the lovely iris which spanned the cascade,turning its seething spray into a segment of an arch of the most vividcolours, at which the lad seemed disposed to gaze for an indefinitetime.

  "Vorwarts," said the guide quietly; and they obeyed, following his leadtill they reached the spot where the clear waters of the fall glidedinto the dingy stream, and then followed the latter up and up for quitehalf an hour before Saxe stopped short, and took off his straw hat towipe his steaming forehead, as he gazed up at the end of the glacier; hewas now so low down that the surface was invisible, and facing him therewas a curve rising up and up, looking like a blunted set of naturalsteps.

  "Well?" said Dale, inquiringly.

  "I can't make it out," said Saxe, rather breathlessly. "It seems as ifthat thing were playing games with us, and growing bigger and shrinkingaway farther at every step one takes."

  "Yes," said Dale, "it is giving you a lesson that you will not easilyforget."

  "But it looked quite small when we were up there," cried Saxe, noddingtoward the tower-like bluff they had climbed, again at the top of theglacier.

  "Yes, and now it looks quite big, Saxe; and when you have been on it andhave walked a few miles upon its surface here and there--"

  "Miles?"

  "Yes, my boy, miles. Then you will begin to grasp how big all this is,and what vast deserts of ice and snow there are about us in themountains. But come along; we have not much farther to go to reach thefoot."

  But it took them quite a quarter of an hour over rounded, scratched andpolished masses of rock which were in places cut into grooves, and toall this Dale drew attention.

  "Do you see what it means?" he said.

  "No," said Saxe, "only that it's very bad walking, now it's so steep."

  "But don't you see that--?"

  "Yes, I do," cried Saxe, interrupting him; "you mean that this has beenall rubbed smooth by the ice and stones grinding over it; but how couldit?--the ice couldn't go up hill."

  "No, it comes down."

  "Then--was it once as far as here?"

  "Ever so much farther when I was a boy," said the guide. "It has beenshrinking for years. Mind, herr; it is very slippery here. Let me helpyou."

  He hooked his ice-axe into a crevice, and held out his hand, by whosehelp Saxe mounted beside him, and here descending close to the waterthey stepped from stone to stone, with the ice towering more and moreabove their heads, till they were close up, and even below it, for theyhad entered a low, flat arch, which just admitted them standing upright,and after a few steps into what Saxe called a blue gloom, they stoodgazing into the azure depths of the cavern, which grew darker till theywere purple and then utterly black. Then they listened to the gurgleand babble of the tiny river, as it came rushing and dashing over therock in many an eddy and swirl, while from far away up in the darknessthere were mysterious whisperings and musical echoes that were strangeto hear.

  "Like to go in any farther, Saxe?" said Dale.

  "Yes, much--very much," said the lad, in a low voice, "just because Idon't want to."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well, I can't exactly explain it, because the place makes me feelnervous and a little shrinking, but I want to try and get over it."

  "Better not stay any longer, herr," said the guide; "you are hot withwalking, and the place is damp and cold."

  "Yes, it would be wiser to go out in the sunshine again. I should liketo explore this, though, with a lantern and candles."

  "Whenever the herr likes," said the guide quietly. And they passed outagain, the icy arch above them looking exquisitely beautiful with itsblue tints, some of which were of the delicious brilliancy to be seen insome of our precious stones.

  It was a wonderful change from the cool gloom of the cavern to theglaring sunshine outside, where the heat was reflected from the ice andglistening rocks; and now, striking up to the right, Melchior made forwhere the ice ended and the steep slope-up of the valley side began.

  Here with a little difficulty they mounted--sometimes the rock growingtoo steep and the ice appearing the easier path, then the reverse, tillat last they stood well up on the surface of the frozen river and beganits toilsome ascent.

  "Now you'll find the advantage of your big-nailed boots, Saxe," said hisleader merrily. "Go cautiously, my lad; we mustn't spoil ourexplorations by getting sprained ankles."

  The warning was necessary, for the ice surface was broken up into ruts,hollows, folds, and crags that required great caution, and proved to belaborious in the extreme to surmount.

  "Is there much more of this rough stuff?" said Saxe, after half anhour's climbing.

  The guide smiled.

  "The ice gets bigger and wilder higher up," he replied. "There aresmooth patches, but it is broken up into crags and seracs."

  This was another surprise to Saxe, to whom the surface of the glacier,when seen from above on the bluff, had looked fairly smooth--just, infact, one great winding mass of ice flowing down in a curve to the foot.He was not prepared for the chaos of worn, tumbled and crushed-upmasses, among which the guide led the way. Some parts that weresmoother were worn and channelled by the running water, which rushed inall directions, mostly off the roughly curved centre to the sides, whereit made its way to the river beneath.

  It was quite a wonderland to the boy fresh from town, entering the icystrongholds of nature; for, after ascending a little farther, their waywas barred by jagged and pinnacled masses heaped together in the wildestconfusion, many of the fragments being thirty, even forty feet high.

  "Have we got to climb those?" said Saxe, in dismay.

  The guide shook his head.

  "No, herr: it would be madness to try. Some of them would give way atthe least touch. Stand back a little, and I'll show you why it isdangerous to climb among the seracs."

  He stepped aside, and, using his axe, deftly chipped off a piece of icefrom a block--a fragment about as large as an ordinary paving-stone.

  "Hold my axe, sir," he said; and on Saxe taking it, the man picked upthe block he had chipped off, walked a little way from them, and, afterlooking about a little, signed to them to watch, as he hurled the lumpfrom him, after raising it above his head. As he threw it, he ran backtoward them, and the piece fell with a crash between two spires whichprojected from the icy barrier.

  There was a crash, and then the effect was startling. Both the spires,whose bases must have been worn nearly through by the action of sun andwater, came down with a roar, bringing other fragments wit
h them, andleaving more looking as if they were tottering to their fall.

  Then up rose what seemed to be a cloud of diamond dust, glittering inthe bright sunshine, a faint echo or two came from high up the rockyface of the valley, and then all was silent once more.

  "You see?" said Melchior. "Why, often a touch of a hand, or even ashout, will bring them tumbling down. Always keep away from theseracs."

  He led them now at a safe distance across the glacier to the left, tilla wide opening presented itself, through which they passed on tocomparatively smooth ice; but even this was all piled together, wedgedin blocks, which made the party seem, as Saxe said, like so many antswalking about in a barrel of loaf sugar.

  Then there was a smoother stretch, all longitudinal furrows, up whichthey passed fairly well--that is to say, with only a few falls--tillthey went round a curve; and there they paused, breathless andwondering.

  "Why, that was only a peep down below," cried Saxe. "Look, Mr Dale!look!"

  He had cause to exclaim, for from where they stood they had an openingbefore them right up a side valley running off from the glacier at asharp angle. This, too, was filled by a glacier, a tributary of the onethey were upon, and with the sides of the minor valley covered with snowwherever the slope was sufficient to hold it. Beyond rose peak afterpeak, flashing pure and white--higher and higher; and even the hollowsbetween them filled with soft-looking pillows and cushions of dazzlingsnow.

  "Those are the mountains you told me about, then?" cried Saxe.

  "Some of the outposts, lad. There are others far greater, miles behindthose; and you are now having your first genuine look into wonderland."

  "I never thought it was like this."

  "No one can imagine how wonderful the mountains are," said the guidesolemnly. "I looked up at them as a little child, and I have been upamongst them from a boy, while I am now thirty-five; and yet they arealways changing and ever new. Sometimes they are all light andsunshine, though full of hidden dangers. Sometimes they are wild andblack and angry, when the wind shrieks and the lightning flashes abouttheir shattered heads, and the thunders roar. Yes, young herr, younever thought it was half so wonderful as this. Shall we go on?"

  "I was thinking," said Dale. "I only meant to come a little way to-day,and let my companion have a glimpse of what is before him; so we willnot go much farther, as it is so far back to the chalet."

  "If the herr does not mind simple fare and a bed of clean hay, we couldsleep at Andregg's to-night, and be ready for a start in the morningearly."

  "The very thing," said Dale. "How long will it take us to get from hereto Andregg's?"

  "An hour," said the guide; "so we have several good hours before us togo on up the glacier, or to cross over the valley ridge, and come backdown the next."

  "Can we go up the glacier for another mile," said Dale, "and thencross?"

  "Easily."

  "Then we will do that."

  The ascent of the glacier-filled valley was continued, and they toiledon. A mile on level ground would have meant a sharp quarter of anhour's walk; here it meant a slow climb, slipping and floundering overice, splashing through tiny rivulets that veined the more level parts,and the avoidance of transverse cracks extending for a few yards.Sometimes they had to make for the left, sometimes the right bank of thefrozen river; and at last, as they were standing waiting while the guidemade his observations as to the best way of avoiding some obstacle intheir front, there was a sharp, clear crack.

  "What's that?" said Saxe quickly.

  "Stand back!" cried the guide. "No! quick--to me!"

  They stepped forward to his side; and as, in obedience to a sign, theyturned, there was a peculiarly harsh, rending noise, a singing as ofescaping air, and to their astonishment, just where they had beenstanding the ice began to open in a curious, wavy, zigzag line,gradually extending to right and left. At first it was a faint crack,not much more than large enough to admit a knife-blade; but as theywatched it slowly opened, till it was an inch--a foot--across, and thenall sound ceased, and they could look down for a short distance beforethe sides came together, the whole forming a long wedge-shaped hollow.

  "The opening of a crevasse," said the guide gravely. "It will go ongrowing bigger, till it will be dangerous."

  "You are lucky, Saxe," said Dale. "You have had a fall of rock, seen anice-cave and the birth of a big river, heard seracs fall, and nowwatched the opening of a crevasse. We must have that avalanche beforewe go back."

  "When we get up on the ridge we shall see the Bluthenhorn," saidMelchior; "the afternoon sun will be full on the high slopes, and weshall hear some of the ice-fall. Hark!"

  He held up his hand, and they stood listening to a faintly boomingsound, evidently at a great distance before them.

  "Was that one?"

  "Yes; but right over among the mountains, herr. It was a great fall,though, or we should not have heard it here."

  He plodded steadily on, and Saxe noted that he kept his eyes down andseemed to make a business of every step, measuring exactly where heshould plant it, and keeping hold, as it were, with his other foot tillhe was sure that his new step was safe. Not that this took long, but itappeared to be all carefully studied, and the boy learned that suchcaution must be the result of experience and mean safety in his arduousclimbing.

  The glacier wound in serpentine fashion along the valley, growing wilderand grander as they ascended. There were masses of piled-up ice, andcrevasses into whose blue depths they peered as they listened to thehollow echoing sounds of running water. Some of these were stepped overin an ordinary stride, some had to be jumped; and, though the distancewas short, Saxe felt a curious shrinking sensation as he leaped across afour or five feet rift, whose sides were clear blue ice, going rightdown to what would in all probability mean death to one who fell. Thenon again, till it seemed to the lad that they must have journeyed thatone mile upward several times over; and, at last, before them there wassnow filling up all the irregularities, and offering them a soft smoothpath.

  It was not snow, though, such as he had seen in England, for it lookedmore like a thick layer of softened hailstones, which he could scoop upand let fall separately, or scatter at large to glisten in the sun,while upon trying it the particles crackled and crushed under theirfeet, but felt pretty firm.

  "What are you stopping for?" said Dale.

  "I don't quite like the look of the snow on beyond this first old part,"said the guide. "You have no alpenstock or ice-axe either."

  "Shall we give up going any farther to-day?" said Dale.

  "No, herr: because I want to get round that piece of rock which runs outfrom the side. Beyond that there is a couloir running right up to theridge, and it will be the easiest place for us to mount."

  As he spoke he took the coil of rope from across his chest, and began tounfasten the end.

  "Is that necessary?" asked Dale; while Saxe looked wonderingly on.

  "Who knows, herr? It is the duty of a guide to take care his people runno risks. I want to be a good guide to mine."

  "What are we going to do?" asked Saxe.

  "Rope ourselves together in case the snow covers a crevasse."

  "But if one goes through, he'll pull down the others," cried Saxe. "Isthat wise?"

  "He will not pull down the others," said Dale, "for they will pull himout."

  Melchior said nothing, but slowly unfastened his rope as they stoodthere with their feet in the depth of a rigid winter and their heads inthe height of summer. When he had it ready, hanging in loops on hisleft arm, he held out one end to his companions with a smile.

  "Alpen rope. Good. Best," he said. "English make," and he pulled openone end, to show them a red strand running through it. "Now!"

  He fastened one end by a peculiar knot round Saxe's waist, arranging itso that it should not slip and tighten, whatever stress was given.Then, bidding the lad walk away till told to stop, he deliberatelycounted over a certain number of rings.

>   "Stop! Keep the rope out of the snow."

  Then, with Dale and Saxe holding the rope taut, the middle was attachedby similar knots to Dale's waist, and Melchior walked on, and onreaching his end secured the rope to himself.

  "Keep it nearly tight," he said, "holding the rope in your right hand.If any one goes wrong in the snow, the others are to stand firm and hangback, so as to hold him firmly. Keep to the steps of the man before youas much as you can. Now, then. Vorwarts!"

  He started off now through the snow, with Dale and Saxe following.

  "Been better if you had placed him in the middle, wouldn't it,Melchior?" said Dale.

  "Yes, herr, I was thinking so. Shall I alter it?"

  "No: let's go on as we are this time. Forward again!" And they went onover the dazzling untrodden surface.