Rivers of Ice Part 14

"Which means," said Lewis, "that you have nailed your colours to the mast, and mean to die rather than give in."

"No doubt," said the Captain, paying no attention to the last remark, "I see, _and_ believe, that at some time or other the ice here must have been in a flowin' state. I'm too well aware o' the shape of waves an'

eddies, cross-currents and ripples, to doubt or deny that but any man with half an eye can see that it's anch.o.r.ed hard and fast _now_. I've looked at it without flinchin' for good ten minutes, and not the smallest sign of motion can I detect."

"So might you say of the hour-hand of a watch," observed Lawrence.

"Not at all," retorted the Captain, becoming argumentative. "I look at the hour-hand of a watch for ten minutes and don't see it move, but I _do_ see that it has in reality pa.s.sed over a very small but appreciable s.p.a.ce in that time."

"Just so," said the Professor, "I will ere long show you the same thing in regard to the ice."

"I'll bet you ten thousand pounds you don't," returned the Captain, with an a.s.sured nod.

"Colours nailed!" said Lewis; "but I say, Captain," he added, remonstratively, "I thought you were a sworn enemy to gambling. Isn't betting gambling?"

"It is, young man," answered the Captain, "but I always bet ten thousand pounds sterling, which I never mean to pay if I lose, nor to accept if I win--and that is _not_ gambling. Put that in your pipe and smoke it; and if you'll take my advice, you'll go look after your friend Slingsby, who is gambolling up yonder in another fashion that will soon bring him to grief if he's not stopped."

All eyes were turned towards the mad artist, who, finding that his advances to Mademoiselle Nita were not well received, had for the time forsaken her, and returned to his first (and professional) love. In wooing her, he had clambered to an almost inaccessible cliff from which he hoped to obtain a very sketchable view of the Mer de Glace, and, when Captain Wopper drew attention to him, was making frantic efforts to swing himself by the branch of a tree to a projecting rock, which was so slightly attached to its parent cliff that his weight would in all probability have hurled it and himself down the precipice.

The remonstrative shouts of his friends, however, induced him to desist, and he sat down to work in a less perilous position.

Meanwhile the Professor, having completed his preliminary preparations, ordered his a.s.sistants to go and "fix the stakes in the ice."

It had been arranged that while the scientific experiments were in progress, the young ladies should ramble about the neighbourhood in search of flowers and plants, under the care of Lewis, until two o'clock, at which hour all were to a.s.semble at the Montanvert hotel for luncheon, Captain Wopper and Lawrence resolving to remain and a.s.sist, or at least observe, the Professor. The former, indeed, bearing in mind his great and ruling wish even in the midst of scientific doubt and inquiries, had suggested that the latter should also accompany the ladies, the country being somewhat rugged, and the ladies--especially Miss Emma--not being very sure-footed; but Lawrence, to his disappointment, had declined, saying that the ladies had a sufficient protector in the gallant Lewis, and that Miss Emma was unquestionably the surest-footed of the whole party.

Lawrence therefore remained, and, at the Professor's request, accompanied the party who were to fix the stakes on the ice.

As this operation was attended with considerable difficulty and some danger, we will describe the process.

Finding that the spot which he had first chosen for his observations was not a very good one, the Professor changed his position to a point farther down on the steep sloping rocks that form the left bank of the Glacier des Bois. Here the theodolite was fixed. This instrument as even our young readers may probably know, is a small telescope attached to a stand with three long legs, and having spirit-levels, by means of which it can be fixed in a position, if we may say so, of exact flatness with reference to the centre of the earth. Within the telescope are two crossed hairs of a spider's-web, so fine as to be scarcely visible to the naked eye, and so arranged that their crossing-point is exactly in the centre of the tube. By means of pivots and screws the telescope can be moved up or down, right or left, without in the smallest degree altering the flatness or position of its stand. On looking through the telescope the delicate threads can be distinctly seen, and the point where they cross can be brought to bear on any distant object.

Having fixed the instrument on the rocks quite clear of the ice, the Professor determined the direction of a supposed line perpendicular to the axis of the glacier. He then sought for a conspicuous and well-defined object on the opposite side of the valley, as near as possible to that direction. In this he was greatly helped by Captain Wopper, who, having been long accustomed to look-out with precision at sea, found it not very difficult to apply his powers on land.

"There's a good land-mark, Professor," he said, pointing towards a sharply-cut rock, "as like the Dook of Wellington's nose as two peas."

"I see it," said the Professor, whose solid and masculine countenance was just the smallest possible degree flushed by the strong under-current of enthusiasm with which he prosecuted his experiments.

"You couldn't have a better object than the pint o' that," observed the Captain, whose enthusiasm was quite as great as, and his excitement much greater than, that of the Professor.

Having carefully directed the telescope to the extreme point of the "Dook's" nose, the Professor now ordered one of his a.s.sistants to go on the glacier with a stake. Lawrence descended with him, and thus planted his foot on glacier-ice for the first time, as Lewis afterwards remarked, in the pursuit scientific knowledge.

While they were clambering slowly down among the loose boulders and _debris_ which had been left by the glacier in previous years, the Professor carefully sketched the Duke of Wellington's nose with the rocks, etcetera, immediately around it, in his notebook, so that it might be easily recognised again on returning to the spot on a future day.

The a.s.sistant who had been sent out with the first stake proved to be rather stupid, so that it was fortunate he had been accompanied by Lawrence, and by the guide, Antoine Grennon, who stirred up his perceptions. By rough signalling he was made to stand near the place where the first stake was to be driven in. The telescope was then lowered, and the man was made, by signals, to move about and plant his stake here and there in an upright position until the point of intersection of the spider's threads fell exactly on the bottom of the stake. A pre-arranged signal was then made, and at that point an auger hole was bored deep into the ice and the stake driven home.

"So much for number one," said Captain Wopper, with a look of satisfaction.

"They won't fix the other ones so easily," observed the Professor, re-examining the stake through the telescope with great care.

He was right in this. The first stake had been planted not far from the sh.o.r.e, but now Lawrence and his party had to proceed in a straight line over the glacier, which, at this steep portion of its descent into the Vale of Chamouni, was rent, dislocated, and tortured, to such an extent that it was covered with huge blocks and pinnacles of ice, and seamed with yawning creva.s.ses. To clamber over some of the ice-ridges was almost impossible, and, in order to avoid pinnacles and creva.s.ses, which were quite impa.s.sable, frequent _detours_ had to be made. If the object of the ice-party had merely been to cross the glacier, the difficulties would not have been great; but the necessity of always returning to the straight line pointed out by the inexorable theodolite, led them into positions of considerable difficulty. To the inexperienced Lawrence they also appeared to be positions of great danger, much to the amus.e.m.e.nt of Antoine, who, accustomed as he was to the fearful ice-slopes and abysses of the higher regions, looked upon this work as mere child's play.

"You'll come to have a different notion of creva.s.ses, sir," he said, with a quiet smile, "after you've bin among the seracs of the Grand Mulet, and up some of the couloirs of Monte Rosa."

"I doubt it not, Antoine," said Lawrence, gazing with feelings of awe into a terrible split in the ice, whose beautiful light-blue sides deepened into intense blackness as they were lost to vision in an abyss, out of which arose the deep-toned gurgling of sub-glacial streams; "but you must not forget that this is quite new to me, and my feet are not yet aware of the precise grip with which they must hold on to so slippery a foundation."

It was in truth no discredit to Lawrence that he felt a tendency to shrink from edges of chasms which appeared ready to break off, or walked with caution on ice-slopes which led to unfathomable holes, for the said slopes, although not steep, were undoubtedly slippery.

After much clambering, a ridge was at length gained, on which the second stake was set up, and then the party proceeded onwards to fix the third; but now the difficulties proved to be greater than before. A huge block of ice was fixed upon as that which would suit their purpose, but it stood like a peninsula in the very midst of a creva.s.se, and connected with the main body of ice by a neck which looked as sharp as a knife on its upper edge, so that none but tight-rope or slack-wire dancers could have proceeded along it; and even such performers would have found the edge too brittle to sustain them.

"You'll have to show, Monsieur, some of your mountaineer skill here?"

said the man who carried the stakes to Antoine.

He spoke in French, which Lawrence understood perfectly. We render it as nearly as possible into the counterpart English.

Antoine at once stepped forward with his Alpine axe, and, swinging it vigorously over his head, cut a deep notch on the sloping side of the neck of ice. Beyond it he cut a second notch. No man--not even a monkey--could have stood on the gla.s.sy slope which descended into the abyss at their side; but Antoine, putting one foot in the first notch, and the other in the second, stood as secure as if he had been on a flat rock. Again he swung his axe, and planted his foot in a third notch, swinging his axe the instant it was fixed for the purpose of cutting the fourth. Thus, cut by cut and step by step, he pa.s.sed over to the block of ice aimed at. It was but a short neck. A few notches were sufficient, yet without an axe to cut these notches, the place had been absolutely impa.s.sable. It was by no means a "dangerous" place, according to the ideas of Alpine mountaineers, nevertheless a slip, or the loss of balance, would have been followed by contain death. Antoine knew this, and, like a wise guide, took proper precautions.

"Stay, sir," he said, as Lawrence was s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up his courage to follow him, "I will show you another piece of Alpine practice."

He returned as he spoke, and, unwinding a coil of rope which he carried, fastened one end thereof round his waist. Allowing a few feet of interval, he then fastened the rope round Lawrence's waist, and the a.s.sistants with the stakes--of whom there were two besides the man already referred to--also attached themselves to the rope in like manner. By this means they all pa.s.sed over with comparative security, because if any one of them had chanced to slip, the others would have fixed the points of their axes and alpenstocks in the ice and held on until their overbalanced comrade should have been restored to his position.

On gaining the block, however, it was found that the line communicating with the theodolite on the one hand, and the Dook's nose on the other, just missed it. The Professor's signals continued to indicate "more to the left," (_his_ left, that is) until the stake-driver stood on the extreme edge of the creva.s.se, and his comrades held on tight by the rope to prevent him from falling over. Still the professor indicated "more to the left!"

As "more to the left" implied the planting of the stake in atmospheric air, they were fain to search for a suitable spot farther on.

This they found, after some scrambling, on a serrated ridge whose edge was just wide and strong enough to sustain them. Here the exact line was marked, but while the hole was being bored, an ominous crack was heard ascending as if from the heart of the glacier.

"What was that?" said Lawrence, turning to the guide with a quick surprised look.

"Only a split in the ice somewhere. It's a common sound enough, as you might expect in a ma.s.s that is constantly moving," replied Antoine, looking gravely round him, "but I can't help thinking that this lump of ice, with creva.s.ses on each side, is not the best of all spots for fixing a stake. It isn't solid enough."

As he spoke, another crash was heard, not quite so loud as the last and at the same moment the whole ma.s.s on which the party stood slid forward a few inches. It seemed as if it were about to tumble into the very jaws of the creva.s.se. With the natural instinct of self-preservation strong upon him, Lawrence darted across the narrow ridge to the firm ice in rear, dispensing entirely with that extreme caution which had marked his first pa.s.sage over it. Indeed the tight-rope and slack-wire dancers formerly referred to could not have performed the feat with greater lightness, rapidity, and precision. The stake-drivers followed him with almost similar alacrity. Even the guide retraced his steps without further delay than was necessary to permit of his picking up the stakes which their proper custodians had left behind in their alarm--for they were not guides, merely young and inexperienced porters.

"For shame, lads," said Antoine, laughing and shaking his head, "you'll be but bad specimens of the men of Chamouni if you don't learn more coolness on the ice."

One would have thought that coolness on the ice was an almost unavoidable consequence of the surrounding conditions, yet Lawrence seemed to contradict the idea, for his face appeared unusually warm as he laughed and said:--

"The shame lies with me, Antoine, for I set them the example, and all history goes to prove that even brave men are swept away under the influence of a panic which the act of one cowardly man may produce."

As Lawrence spoke in French, the porters understood and appreciated his defence of them, but Antoine would by no means encourage the fallacy.

"It is not cowardly, sir," he said, "to spring quickly out of a danger that one don't understand the nature of, but the young men of Chamouni have, or ought to have, a good understanding of the nature of ice, and the danger should be great indeed that would necessitate the leaving of their tools behind them."

A roar like that of a bull of Bashan, or a boatswain, here interrupted the conversation.

"Don't plant your post the-r-r-re," shouted Captain Wopper from the banks of the ice-river, "the Professor says the ice ain't firm enough.

Heave ahead--to where its ha-a-ard an' fa-a-ast."

"Ay, ay, sir," shouted Lawrence, with nautical brevity, in reply.