with me into the air, struck and leaped the 

 low ledge, rammed the rear end of the passing 

 slide, and landed me, snowshoes down, on top 

 of it. 



The top was unstable and dangerous; it 

 lurched, burst up, curled under, yawned, and 

 gave off hissing jets of snow powder; these and 

 the plunging movements kept me desperately 

 active, even with my broad snowshoes, to avoid 

 being swallowed up, or overturned and smoth- 

 ered, or crushed in the chaotic, Assuring mass. 



As its speed increased, I now and then caught 

 a glimpse, through flying, pelting snow-parti- 

 cles, of shooting rocks which burst explosively 

 through the top. At timber-line the gorge walls 

 abruptly ended and the channel curved swiftly 

 to the left in a broad, shallow ravine. The mo- 

 mentum of this monster carried it out of the 

 ravine and straight ahead over a rough, 

 forested ridge. 



Trees before it were crushed down, and those 

 alongside were thrown into a wild state of ex- 

 citement by the violence of swiftly created and 

 entangling gale-currents. From the maelstrom 



93 



