1890. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



201 



dull mind, goes with the shoep across 

 the glacier to spend the summer months 

 iu solitiiry tending of the browsing herds 

 the girl and her m-w lover take longer 

 journeys and are altogetlier inseparable. 



A montli passes all too swiftly for the 

 lovers. Then one evening, when the two 

 have been away longer than usual, a 

 telegram is left at the hotel for Athei- 

 st an. ayduey reads the message hur- 

 riedly aud crumples it into his pocket 

 with a muttered ejaculation. 



"Mother i.s dead!" he says in a strain- 

 ed voice. "I must go home at once — to- 

 morrow morning. I will go aud pack 

 up a few things now. 



"It will be fine today," says Gisola, 

 the guide. And the others nod and ac- 

 quiesce, for is she not as weatherwise 

 as any man of them, as familiar with 

 every nook and cranny of the mountains, 

 with the paths of the avalanches, the 

 portent of the south wind singing in the 

 glaciers, the meaning of the flush and 

 the fall of the rivers? Yes, it will be 

 fine today if Gisela says so. 



And the tourists hope it will be fine, 

 for they are going to the Mer de Glace, 

 which is a day's excursion from Cha- 

 mouui, where they are staying. Mrs. 

 Athelstan has not been to Switzerland 

 before aud is delighted with all she 

 sees. Her husband has memories of a 

 visit in the bygone years and hopes the 

 sunbrowned woman with the flashing 

 eyes — who insists on guiding them — 

 does not remember him. She does not 

 appear to recognize his features at first, 

 though she starts at the sound of his 

 voice, and a passing paleness crosses her 

 handsome face. S.he goes on before 

 them, chatting indefatigably all the 

 way. 



It is so much better for two people to 

 go thus, with one trusty guide, than to 

 loiter in parties, she says, as they are 

 crossing the meadows in the valley. 

 There is less danger of accident with 

 fewer travelers together, except on the 

 high peaks, where the rope is useful. 



And so she leads them on, stepping 

 over the furious river and climbing the 

 precipices by a rugged path, now wind- 

 ing amid the firs- and now throngh the 

 verdant grass until they reach Montau- 

 vert, where you can stand on the edge 

 of the plateau and look down on one 

 side into the frozen sea and on the other 



Into the val(^ of Chamouni. 



From the surface of the sea of frozen 

 billows the granite needles rise toward 

 the sky, void of snow or ice, bidding de- 

 fiance alike to the lightning aud the 

 tempests and the glacier sweeping past 

 their base. They are grand, impressive, 

 sublime, says Gisela, leading her com- 

 panions by the side of the ice, where 

 the rock and gravel are raised in a gigan- 

 tic furrow by the frost and the av- 

 alanches and the crystal ocean grinding 

 down its mountain bed; then, taking 

 them out a little upon the bosom of the 

 frozen sea and showing them the fissures 

 and crevasses where the ice glitters 

 clearer and up from the depths rolls the 

 thunder of the ice masses falling from 

 the roof of the crystal cavern at the foot 

 of the glacier, where at intervals, bend- 

 ing low, you may hear the ripple of the 

 rills that are hastening down to join 

 and issue in the cold and muddy torrent 

 of the ice born Arve. 



Then upward again, past the violet 

 and gentian sprinkled verdure of the 

 lateral moraines and the gorgeous beds 

 of rhododendrons, to which the bees of 

 Chamouni resort for honey, past the 

 grassy slopes where the shepherds drive 

 their herds across from Moutauvert 

 every year, Gisela leads them, talking 

 fast but thinking faster, until they 

 stand cnx a narrow ledge of rock at the 

 foot of a glittering snow slope that 

 overlooks the Glacier des Pelerhines 

 and the cascade of that name. 



"Speak softly here," she says, lower- 

 ing her voice to a whisper. "The snow 

 is insecure, aud a sudden jarring of the 

 air will surely bring an avalanche upon 

 ns. I have lieard the shepherds and the 

 guides caution each other against this 

 place, for once before a snowslide swept 

 down here. It was the wind made by 

 its swift descent that snapped and felled 

 the trees yonder. " 



Athelstan gazed down at the twisted, 

 broken aud prostrated trunks with a 

 suddenly awakened fear. They are 

 mutely, fiercely, eloquent of what fate 

 awaits him aud his wife should a word 

 be spoken heedlessly or a foot ring in- 

 cautiously against a stone. 



"Why have you brought us here, 

 then?" he asks in a whisper. "There is 

 no special view." 



"No, m'sicur, but there is special 

 danger. I have waited for your return 



