A CHROMATIC BEAR HUNT 



mendous sound echoed behind us and we 

 whirled to see such a sight as I had but vaguely 

 dreamed of. Directly opposite the point of 

 our encounter with the wave a towering 

 column of ice had split itself away from the 

 face and was leaning slowly outward. Faster 

 and faster it moved, its summit describing a 

 great arc, until with one terrific roar it plunged 

 its length across the flood, flinging tons of 

 water up, up until they seemed to reach the 

 level of the glacier top itself, only to fall back 

 and add to the chaos beneath. The ice did 

 not crumble nor break, but fell proudly in 

 solid column, stretching a third of the distance 

 across the river's bed, its vast bulk damming 

 the stream. 



It was much as if the Flatiron Building had 

 leaned forth from its foundations and plunged 

 to destruction. At the moment of impact 

 there was an explosion as if from a terrific 

 charge of powder, which hurled missiles a 

 hundred pounds in weight in long parabolas 

 across the torrent and far into the brush 

 beyond. Then out from beneath the mass 

 rushed a gigantic wave, growing as it raced 

 towards the shore where we had been but a 

 few moments before. 



89 



