Argosy, Vol. 1 (1882) — page 124: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

BEYOND THE GREAT SOUTH WALL. The little loose pebbles sang and clat- tered as they rolled down the slope, run- ning together and leaping upon one another in little swirls and piles. A giant crag fell from the glacier foot. The roar of it slammed across the hollow ponderously, the splinters scattering on the hard flooring of the lake bed, shooting out and across the smooth granite in a thousand chips of glancing, flashing crystal. The sun glistened upon them gloriously in many hued, rainbow rays. Behind us a great pinnacle of basalt was flung from the peak, falling on the glacier with the crash of an artillery sa- lute. A moan trembled out from the vitals of the riven glacier, as if from a prisoned soul within. The impulse of the crushed ice billowed out a dark spate of water at its foot. Awe inspiring as were these manifes- tations, they did not affect us as did one slighter, but close at hand. A grate ° and crack from below made us turn swiftly. The fissure across which our ship was buttressed with walls of boulder gaped widely. Into this sudden cleft the Rac- coon slipped to the level of her bul- warks ; the hawsers strained, tightened, thrummed tensely, and then snapped apart like the flick of returning thongs. The masts whipped to and fro quiv- ering, and the stays shook uneasily. Then, with a grinding of copper, the ship sagged over and lay still, propped by the ragged edge of the rock. As we raced back across the lake bed towards her, a round, middle aged shriek broke the stillness of the after quiet. Lady Delahay was vomited up from the saloon as Baines and the cook erupted from the galley. She stumbled across the deck, and with the aid of the valet’s deferential hand, mounted upon the bulwarks. The rocks were now level with the stanchions, and she stepped upon them to sink down thereon in desolate help- lessness, Baines hanging over her with well bred but astonished sympathy. II§ Gwen and Vi had been upon the heights above us, trying to sketch the line of needle-like pinnacles that crowned the ridge. Gwen, it appeared, had been engaged upon the very one that had fallen upon the glacier, and had been utterly stupefied, as it bowed towards her and then precipitated itself into the depths below. Both of them were dismayed beyond measure by the upheaval and the partial disappearance of the ship, and came fly- ing down the slope, frightened to death by the roar and thrilling of the solid earth, confidently expecting further shocks and total engulfment. We met around Lady Delahay’s prostrate form amid much excitement. Nothing further occurred, but an op- pressive silence seemed to have fallen over the land. The cries of the sea birds melted out seawards, and not one -f them showed far or near. The glacier stream had swept all its volume into that one great spout of a few minutes back, and not a single splash came from the empty opening in the ice. Nosound was to be heard from the cliffs, though a minute or two be- fore the fall and return of the surges liad risen to us mellow and distinct. We climbed the slope to look abroad upon the sea. It was oily and glass smooth as quicksilver, and far west the glow of the sunset was beginning to show upon its bosom, but not clear and gleaming. It was lurid, and suffused as with vapor mist. The floe was clustered in strange herdings, and ringed beside the larger bergs were floating splinters from their summits. The dark lanes of water be- tween the wails of ice were strangely regular—almost like the parallel lines of irrigation works. The usual motion of the unending swell had ceased ut- terly. Suddenly Rafferty gave a shout. ‘“ Saints in glory!” he exclaimed ex- citedly, “ ’tis the mountain that’s afire.” We wheeled round to face the peak behind us. The torn scan ieft ler toe eo