Jaun now removed his empty pipe from his mouth and replaced it by a lucifer match, which, either as an aid to reflection or possibly for medicinal purposes, he chewed as he contemplated the ridge. A miserably cold wind with a remarkable knack of detecting all the rents in our raiment whistled around; above, the summit of the mountain was enveloped in driving thick mist and cloud. Still the final ridge looked fairly easy, and indeed proved to be so. The snow was deep and soft, and the stones below were so arranged as to remind us forcibly of a newly mended road in our native country; big and little, all seemed loose, and all arranged with their sharpest points and edges uppermost. The ridge is moderately broad, and we were able to flounder along with fair rapidity. Spurred on by the unpromising look of the weather [pg 117]and stimulated by the cold wind, which rendered any halts so unpleasant as to be out of the question, we set to work in earnest and found ourselves at the base of the final little snow and rock cone earlier than the length of the ridge had led us to expect. As we stepped on to the summit we experienced the curious sensation usually arising when climbing through clouds, that the mountain itself was sinking away rapidly from under our feet. The panorama was wholly composed of a foreground consisting of mist, and presented therefore comparatively few attractions.
A limited panorama
It was already so late in the afternoon that we could not have afforded to stay in any case, and, as we felt that serious difficulties might possibly be encountered in descending, we set off at once, visions of a warm welcome and a hot bath at Ried rising before our minds. The idea of descending by way of the Baltschieder Joch was negatived without a division. The northern ridge of the Bietschhorn is a counterpart of the one by which we had ascended, with the solitary advantage in our case that we had to go down it and not up. The snow slopes leading down to the Nest Glacier were much broader, and we were strongly tempted more than once to quit the ridge for this western face of the mountain. Ultimately, persuaded that the condition of the snow justified us in so doing, we struck straight down on to the Nest Glacier, skirted round the ridge of rocks dividing the Nest Glacier [pg 118]from the Birch Glacier, and catching sight of a little green patch some way below, threw off the rope and rushed precipitately down to it. Misguided by a few gleams of sunshine breaking out between the driving clouds, we conceived the idea of repose and thought that we might as well be aired and dried. Below, the hotel at Ried was in full view, and it seemed but an hour or two from us: but our troubles were not yet over. The five minutes’ halt on such occasions not uncommonly expand into five-and-fifty, and we rather deliberately averted our gaze from the western view of the valley, up which the thunder-clouds were advancing steadily in close formation. Eventually we decided to move on, in order to avoid getting once more wet through. Vain hope: rapid though our descent was to the level of the forest it was not rapid enough. We ran furiously down the rough slopes, but, as the storm advanced and we perceived that we should be caught, the agitation of our minds gradually equalled the agitation of our bodies. We seemed to get no nearer Ried, while the darkness increased rapidly around us. Knowing the proclivities of guides on such occasions, my companion and I agreed that nothing should induce us to leave a path, should we perchance find one. Now, in a dim light it is exceedingly easy to discover paths, but extremely difficult to discover that variety of track that leads anywhere. Determined, however, to stick [pg 119]to our resolution, we found ourselves continually pursuing level stretches right and left, only to find that, as routes to any particular place, they were snares and delusions; that there was a path with long zigzags we knew, and indeed, finally, a shout from the guides, who skipped about downhill with an utter disregard for the integrity of their joints, and adopted that curious cantering gait considered on the stage to express light-hearted joy, announced that they had discovered the way. With characteristic inconsistency, they had no sooner found what we had been so long searching for than they proposed to leave it and make short cuts, so called; but we were inflexible, and determined not to leave our path or be seduced by the attractions of a perpendicular descent through an unknown territory. The hotel lights were no longer visible, but we knew that they lay straight below us. The question was whether we should turn right or left. The guides settled the matter by darting off ahead, ostensibly from a perfect acquaintance with their situation, but actually as we suspected to avoid being worried with unpleasant topographical questions. Gradually as we followed the track our stern purpose began to waver, for it was pointed out by some one that the path, though undoubtedly a good one in point of construction and general purpose, had two distinct disadvantages from our present point of view; one being that it led uphill, [pg 120]and the other that it ran in the wrong direction. There are certain contingencies in life in which the Briton finds but one adequate method of relieving and expressing his feelings, such, for instance, as when he finds himself bespattered with mud from the passing hansom on a carefully selected shirt-front and a white tie that would have moved to envy; or when, again, as the last to leave his club at night he finds the only remaining head-gear to consist of a well-worn beaver many sizes too large, with fur under the brim and a decoration of little rosettes and bobstays. It is hard to see why the ejaculation of any particular monosyllable should do him good at such a juncture. Hard words unquestionably break no bones, but neither do they mend the broken collar-stud or the ruptured bootlace; and yet if he swallows the expression down it will certainly ferment within him, and fermentation is characterised by multiplication. If, on the contrary, he articulates his feelings, the whole situation suddenly appears changed, and he can view the most untoward circumstances once more with a calm serenity of temper. But the remedy, though potent, specific almost, is too valuable to be resorted to constantly, and should be reserved, like Thursday’s razor, for the most special occasions.
A race for home
Our situation on the present occasion fully justified us in resorting to the source of relief vaguely alluded to, and we employed it simultaneously with the [pg 121]happiest results. Now the guides triumphed, and such was our accommodating mood that we actually acceded to their counsel and embarked on a perilous descent down a vertical gully. Scarcely had we turned into it when the storm broke and the rain came down in sheets, and very damp sheets too. Some one now suggested that the wisest plan would be to remain under shelter till the rain had passed off. It was argued against this amendment, and with a certain amount of force, first that there was no probability of the rain stopping, and secondly that there was no shelter: so we went on. Gradually, as we became more wet, we grew more desperate, and before long floundered down as regardless of bumps as a bluebottle in a conservatory: at one moment slithering over wet slabs of rock to which damp tufts of moss were loosely adherent, at another climbing carefully over gigantic toothcombs of fallen trees, then plunging head foremost—sometimes not exactly head foremost—through jungle-like masses of long grass and dwarf brushwood. Soaked to the skin, steamy, damp, and perspiring like bridegrooms, we went on, utterly reckless as to our apparel, and haunted by a perpetual idea that we should find ourselves ultimately at some place whence further descent would be impossible.
Caught out
Within a few minutes the party divided and Jaun and I found ourselves together. By the lightning flashes I saw him from time to time; on one occasion [pg 122]he suddenly disappeared from view, and on joining him cautiously a little while after I found that he had just previously seated himself abruptly on a flat rock, immediately underneath a miniature torrent. The fact that we did not at every ten seconds run against large trees confirmed the idea that we were now almost out of the wood; accordingly we halloaed, as the occasion seemed suitable, but no answer was returned from our companions. Now came the question of how we were to cross the torrent which we knew lay between us and the hotel. Jaun cheerfully remarked that the best plan would be to find the bridge. This was obvious enough, but he confessed that he had forgotten at what part of the river’s course the bridge lay. However, keeping close together, we made towards the right, on which side the stream lay. The slopes were here more level and less carelessly laid out. Our hopes revived, for the hotel could only be a few minutes off, and between the peals of thunder we could hear the roar of the torrent and could hear also the hollow sound due to the boulders rolling over its stony bed. Of a sudden we came on to its banks, and formidable enough the stream looked. The idea of searching for the bridge seemed childish, for the whole of the frail wooden structure had probably been carried away long before down to the Rhone valley. The hotel was only a few yards off, and again the situation was exasperating enough to [pg 123]justify a resort to extreme measures, if it were an extreme measure to express forcibly a wish that the torrent might be—well, temporarily stopped up at some higher point. Jaun now volunteered to wade across. It was quite unnecessary for him to divest himself of any clothing for the purpose, and in fact when he had succeeded very pluckily in reaching the other side he was not in the least degree wetter than when he started. He shouted some observations from the other side, which I took to mean that he would go on to the hotel and procure a lantern. Accordingly I seated myself to await his return, selecting unintentionally a little pool of water, which however did just as well as anything else.
The water jump
Before long a flashing light advancing indicated that Jaun had been successful, and two forms were seen dimly on the opposite side, one with a light. The bearer of the lantern was an aged person in shirt sleeves and a highly excited frame of mind. The aged person, on the distant shore, gesticulated as violently as a marionette doll when its wires have got hitched up wrong, and then, seemingly possessed of a sudden fury, rushed violently down a steep place and beckoned frantically with his lantern. This seemed to mean that I was to descend to a point on the bank opposite to where he stood. It now appeared that there was a bridge within a few yards of us, if a single spiky, submerged, and insecure trunk could be [pg 124]considered such. The old man embraced me warmly when I had made my way across, slapped me hard on the back, and then laughed very loud and suddenly. Then he darted off with the agility and abruptness of movement of an elderly lady from the country crossing in front of an omnibus, or a hen, a foolish animal that always waits to the last moment before running needlessly to the wrong side of the road. Guided by the lantern which the impulsive veteran flourished wildly in every direction, so that no one dared approach him, in another ten minutes we reached the hotel and found ourselves, with the exception of our companions, who had arrived a few minutes before—Heaven only knows how, for they did not—fortunately the only occupants of the hotel. The volatile sexagenarian calmed down, put on his coat, put out his lantern, and retired to repose in an outhouse, a shelter to which I fancy he was relegated owing to certain physical infirmities.
A classical banquet