of 



At the bottom of the moraine I was forced 

 between two trees that stood close together, 

 and a broken limb of one pierced my open coat 

 just beneath the left armhole, and slit the coat 

 to the bottom. My momentum and the resist- 

 ance of the strong material gave me such a 

 shock that I was flung off my balance, and my 

 left skee smashed against a tree. Two feet of the 

 heel was broken off and the remainder split. I 

 managed to avoid falling, but had to check my 

 speed with my staff for fear of a worse acci- 

 dent. 



Battling breakers with a broken oar or racing 

 with a broken skee are struggles of short dura- 

 tion. The slide did not slow down, and so closely 

 did it crowd me that, through the crashing of 

 trees as it struck them down, I could hear the 

 rocks and splintered timbers in its mass grind- 

 ing together and thudding against obstructions 

 over which it swept. These sounds, and flying, 

 broken limbs cried to me "Faster!" and as I 

 started to descend another steep moraine, I 

 threw away my staff and "let go." I simply 

 flashed down the slope, dodged and rounded a 



14 



