To Win or to Die Part 1

To Win or to Die.

by George Manville Fenn.

CHAPTER ONE.

A BREAK-DOWN.

"It's a lie! I don't and I won't believe it."

The speaker half whispered that, and then he shouted, "Do you hear?"

There was a pause, and then from the face of a huge white snow-cliff there came back the word "hear."

"Well done, echo!" cried the speaker.

"Echo," came back.

"Thankye; that's quite cheering; anything's better than that horrible silence. What do they say? When a man gets in the habit of talking to himself it's a sign that he is going mad? Once more, it's a lie! A man would go mad in this awful solitude if he didn't hear some one speaking.

Snow, snow, snow, and rock and mountain; and ugh! how cold! Pull up, donkey! jacka.s.s! idiot! or you'll freeze to death."

The speaker was harnessed by a looped rope to a small, well-packed sledge, after the fashion of one who tracks about along the Thames; but how different here! No sunny river, no verdant flowing mead or hanging summer wood, but winter, stern winter in its wildest, and the heavy sledge, in answer to the tugging at the rope, now sticking fast amongst the heaped-up stones frozen together in a ma.s.s, now suddenly gliding down sharp slopes and tripping its owner up, so that again and again, during an awful day's tramp, he had fallen heavily. But only to struggle up, shake the snow from his fur-lined coat, and continue his journey onward towards the golden land where the nuggets lay in wondrous profusion waiting the bold adventurer's coming--heaped-up, almost fabulous riches that had lain undiscovered since the beginning of the world.

He, the toiler, dragging that sledge, in which were carefully packed his gun, ammunition, spare clothes, blankets, stores, and sleeping-bag of fur, had started at daylight that morning from the last outpost of civilisation--a miserable shanty at the top of the tremendous pa.s.s he had surmounted with the help of the men who occupied the shanty and called themselves guides; and then, after repacking his sledge and trusting to the landmarks ahead and a pocket compa.s.s, he had boldly set off, ready to dare every peril, for he was young, sanguine, well-armed, strong, and nerved by hope and the determination to succeed.

It was only a brave struggle over the mountains, and then down into the river valley beyond, to leave the winter behind with its pain and misery, and meet the welcome of the summer sunshine and--the gold.

That morning it was winter indeed; but the adventurer's heart was warm, and the way through the mountains was plain, while the exertion sent the blood tingling through his veins till he glowed as the rugged miles were mastered.

Then there was the halt and a seat on the sledge for a hasty meal upon the tough provisions; but how delicious every mouthful was!

Then forward again, refreshed for the journey onward, to some snugly sheltered spot where he could camp for the night and sleep in his fur bag, regardless of any number of degrees of frost.

But as the afternoon wore on, the sledge seemed to grow more heavy, the way wilder and more stern, and the stoppages frequent.

He unpacked and rested and refreshed himself. Then he grew cheery once more.

"Lightens the load and me too," he said with a laugh, as he thrust his head through the loop and tugged at the sledge; but it did not seem lighter. It grew more heavy, and the obstacles were terrible to surmount.

But he knew he was in the right track through the pathless waste of heaped-up snow. There was no mistaking that awful gorge, with the rocks piled up like t.i.tanic walls on either side. He knew that he could not go wrong. All he had to do was to persevere, and he plodded on.

"Never mind if it's only yards instead of miles surmounted," he muttered. "They are so many yards nearer the winning post."

At last, as he fought his way on, with his unwonted exertions beginning to tell mentally and bodily, he broke out talking wildly to fight back the horrible sensation of depression, and was brought to a standstill, the sledge having jammed between two blocks of ice-covered rock; and he stood for some minutes gazing round hopelessly at the fast-dimming scene, which had looked picturesque in the morning, but appeared awful now.

"I ought to have had a companion," he muttered, "if it had only been a dog."

He stood still, staring at the precipices on either side, whose chasms were beginning to look black; then at his jammed-in sledge; and he felt that he must drag it out and go on again, for night was coming on, and he could not camp where he was.

Then as he was wearily and slowly stooping down to drag the sledge back, he made a sudden bound as if electrified, tried to run, tripped, and fell heavily.

For all at once there was a roar like thunder, a terrible rushing sound, the echoes of the mountains seemed to have been let loose, and his hair began to bristle, while a cold perspiration gathered on his face as he listened to the sounds dying away in rumbling whispers.

"Away up to the right," he said to himself as he gazed in that direction, realising that it was a snow-fall. Thousands of tons had gone down somewhere out of sight; but he was safe, and giving the sledge a jerk, he set it free, guided it over the snow, and prepared for another start.

But that avalanche had somewhat unnerved him, for he had been looking out for a place to camp, and it now seemed madness to think of coming to a halt there.

"Must find a safer place," he thought; and now fresh dangers began to suggest themselves. Would there be wolves in these mountains?

Certainly there must be bears; and dragging off one of his big fur gloves, he took out and examined his revolver, before replacing it in its leather holster. He glanced, too, at his rifle in its woollen case, bound on the top of the loaded sledge.

"Bah! how cowardly one can turn!" he muttered. "Of course, there will be all those troubles to face. I'm f.a.gged--that's what it is. Now, then, old fellow, gee up! I'll camp in the first sheltered nook I see; I'm sure to find one soon. Then supper in the warm bag and a good night's rest. Sleep? I could lie down and sleep here in the snow.

Pull up! That's the way. I wonder how much gold I could drag on a sledge like this?"

For quite another hour he toiled on, and perhaps got over a quarter of a mile, always gazing anxiously ahead for a suitable shelter, but looking in vain.

Then he utterly broke down, catching his foot against a block which the darkness hid from his fast-dimming eyes; and with a sob of misery as he saved himself from striking his face, at the expense of a heavy wrench to one wrist, he lay perfectly still, feeling a strange drowsy sensation creeping over him.

"This will not do," he cried aloud in alarm, for he knew that giving way to such a feeling in the snow meant resigning himself to death; and he painfully rose to his knees, and then remained, staring wildly before him, wondering whether he was already dreaming. For not far away, flashing and quivering in reflections from the precipice wall on his left, there was a light which kept rising and falling.

No dream, but the reflected light of a camp fire. Others, bound upon the same mission as himself, must be close at hand; and staggering now to his feet, he placed his gloved hands to his lips and gave forth a loud echoing "Ahoy!"

The next moment his heart beat high with joy, and the horrible perils of frost and darkness in that unsheltered place faded away into nothingness, for his hail was answered from close at hand.

"Ahoy! Who is it?" came echoing back.

"Help!" shouted the adventurer; and then he sank upon his sledge with heart throbbing and a strange giddiness attacking him.

CHAPTER TWO.

FALLEN AMONG THIEVES.

"Hullo, there!" cried a rough voice. "Why don't you come on?" and the next minute a couple of figures seemed to start out of the darkness.

"I'm f.a.gged out. Can you lend me a hand?"

"Lend you a hand? Yes," said another voice. "Where's your mate?"

"I'm alone."

"Alone? No pal with you?"

"No, and my sledge has stuck fast. Will you help me as far as your fire?"

"Got a sled, hev you? All right, mate. Where's the line? Lay hold, Leggy, while I give it a hyste. That's your sort. Come on." It seemed like a dream, and as if all the peril and horror had pa.s.sed away, as the two men dragged the sledge along and the adventurer staggered on beside them, till they halted in the ruddy light of a great fire, lit at the foot of a stupendous wall of glistening ice-covered rock. The fire of pine-boughs crackled and flashed, and lit up the face of a third man, a big red-bearded fellow, who was kneeling down tending the embers and watching a camp kettle slung from three sticks, the contents of which were beginning to steam.

"Here we are, Beardy," said one of the rescue party. "Comp'ny gent on his travels."