Argosy, Vol. 1 (1882) — page 126: what you’re looking at

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

BEYOND THE GREAT SOUTH WALL. 117 of every kind is vain. Stability in leav- ing the earth leaves all else unstable, and your spirit dies within you. Nothing is impregnable or unassail- able thereafter. You are, to put it tersely, most horribly afraid. At any rate I was. For at least six weeks and possibly for a year we were to live under this shadow of death. The cave that we had chosen as a refuge, should the beast crawl down upon us, had now become a possible death trap more horrible than his maw itself. The mountain was obviously volcanic, and as obviously was the cleft the result of volcanic action. Suppose it to_close when we were in it. Like worms beneath a cart wheel we should be crushed. Suppose it to suddenly widen. Like worms again should we be dropped into the very bowels of earth to be hopelessly cast away. So again I cursed my fate and those who had been its arbiters, and assumed a cheerful countenance. ‘“T think that’s all for the present,” I remarked courteously to the company at large, “so if you have seen all you require perhaps you'll attend to busi- ness.” They turned from their starings at the mountain, and Gerry chucked down the lever he still held with a surly air. ‘So we’re to start all over again? ” said he. “Have you anything else to sug- t? 93 He found no answer but a grunt, and I explained that Captain Waller’s proposition seemed the only feasible one. We must reduce the launch to sections, and carry them one by one to the cliff top. I invited amendments, but none were forthcoming, and collecting spanners, we turned wearily to work again. By good luck the lost plan of con- struction turned up.. It was ingenious, but fiendishly intricate, and it was hours before we properly mastered it. Then with wrenches and screw drivers we flung ourselves upon the boat, covering ourselves with dirt and wretchedness. This, however, only after stupendous wranglings over the writing and the in- terpretation thereof; in which wordy mélée Gerry and Lessaution nearly came to blows, sneering over every ortise, and displaying directly oppo- site views about every nut and screw. Yet within the course of the next day, by superhuman exertions, we managed to dismember the boat, and transport it in sections to the cliff top. Here we found that the undoing of her was but child’s play to the putting of her together again. During the next three days language, temper, and filth1- ness of person bore hideous rule, and discomfort enveloped us like a fog. Across: these things I draw a discreet veil. Suffice it to say that on the even- ing of the third day, somehow or other, we had got the boat patched together and ready for lowering. Then we trans- ported one of the ship’s windlasses up the rocks, and fixed it firmty with stanchions at the edge of the crags. We made a sort of cradle of hawsers. Then with immense care, and with ropes thickly parceled to avoid the fray- ings of the ledges, and with fenders firmly fastened to her sides, we were enabled to lower the cutter by slow de- grees to the water, and to see her sit thereon unharmed. Rafferty slid down to her, and there were lowered to him tow, chisels, and a pot of pitch. With these he contrived to give her an inside calk where hér seams leaked worst from her unhandy rebuilding. We left her floating for the night, with two men aboard to keep watch and watch lest the sea rising should dash her against the cliffs, or the floe bear down to nip her against the rocks. Up- on the cliff top two more camped to be within rope’s reach of the boatmen if need arose. No misfortune happily occurred, and the next day found us toiling up the cliff with stores for her provisicaing,) aar< eo