Argosy, Vol. 1 (1882) — page 132: what you’re looking at

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

BEYOND -THE GREAT SOUTH WALL. With broken sentences and half co- herent words we arranged the order of our ascent, and were hauled up one by one. With grateful lungs and dazzled eyes we greeted the freshness of the glacier slopes, though it was- with dejected mien we slunk back to the ship. | We sought victual, and later, tobac- co, discussing the same on deck for ap- preciable minutes before any one ven- tured to refer to our adventure, even Lessaution’s fund of conversation being dried up by his sense of defeat. It was Gdrlicke who opened the con- versation, and from a sporting point of view. He isa sort of last appeal on the subject of weapons of the chase, being a noted man at the running deer and such like competitions, as well as a keen game shot. | He demonstrated that the sporting Manlicher rifle was the instrument marked out for the destruction of the Monster, giving his reasons for sup- posing that its bullet would penetrate any hide, provided that the missile had a hollow point. He regretted intensely that he had not had one of these useful implements at hand during the late reuconire. Then the babble joined upon this is- sue and others flowing from it, and we felt our nerves grov: back to us with our words, each of us expressing the opinion that to the determined man, armed with modern weapons, Dino- saurs were not necessarily invulner- able, and each asking, on reflection, no better than to beard the Beast again in his lair with suitable arms. In which wordy tournament Lessau- tion, as was to be expected, rode tri- umphant down the lists, being willing, as he assured us, to compete with the Great Atrocity, equipped with no more than his native intelligence and a squirt. This latter he proposed to fill with diluted prussic acid—of the commodity in question we possessed not a mole- cule, which he regarded as beside the question—and therewith advance down 123 the passage up which two hours before he had so ingloriously fled. Arriving within range of the gaping mouth, he would fill it with the fatal fluid. But one frightful writhe and M. le Dinosaure would lie dead at his feet. V'la tout. : This versatile proposal was met with abounding laughter, the which daunted him in no degree, but cheered us all immensely. For with laughter returned self respect, which had dropped from us in its entirety during the disgraceful rout of the morning, and we shook our fear from us as dogs shake their drip- ping coats. To each came great resolves to per- sonally seek out and destroy the Mon- ster, and complacent with the future re- nown thus inwardly promised, each turned patronizing attention to the talk of his fellows, using their banal -con- versation to cloak the deep and secret devices that seethed within his own brain. } SO content grew beneath the cloud of tobacco smoke, and pleasant talk ex- panded itself, and finally the ladies, un- der the persuasive tinkling of Gerry’s banjo, consented to enliven the rocky solitudes with a song. \ CHAPTER XVII. A LITTLE DOG’S STUMBLE. IT was as Gwen began to lift her voice sweetly in the opening notes of “ Just a Little Bit of String,” that, with harassing appropriateness, the hawser, which had that morning again been tightened between the anchor and the ship, snapped with a ringing crack. The deck quivered villainously, and I who had just risen to reach for more tobacco, fell upon my chair and smashed it to matchwood. The doors of the companion flapped to and fro, and the rigging quivered and thrummed. We could hear the jar of the rattled machinery in the engine room CONMICLOO© SS) eo