CHAPTER XVIII 

 A SWISS INTERLUDE 



AFTER the hot summer of 1911 I escaped from 

 London in September and made straight for Inter- 

 laken. Thence 1 was " wafted " by the electric railway to 

 the " Schynige Platte" a wonderful hill-side, 4500 feet 

 above the " Bodeli," the flat meadowland in which Inter- 

 laken is placed. At the Schynige Platte we are separated 

 to the south from the Jungfrau and the great Oberland 

 range of mountains only by a deep rift in which rushes 

 the " Black Liitschine," coming down from Grindelwald 

 to join its " white " brother-torrent close beneath us at 

 Zweiliitschinen. To reach the " Platte " we creep in our 

 train up the northern side of the mountain one of whose 

 peaks is known by the curious name " Gummihorn " 

 for more than an hour without a glimpse of what is on 

 the other side. Then, when we are 6000 feet above 

 sea-level, we enter a short tunnel in the shoulder of the 

 mountain, and all is dark. When the train emerges 

 every one in it gasps. You hear a cry from every mouth 

 for the scene is astounding ! Coming through that 

 tunnel we have stolen surreptitiously upon a band of 

 gigantic snow-white brethren the Wetterhorner, the 

 Schreckhorner, the Eiger, the Monch, the Jungfrau, the 

 Mittaghorn, the Breithorn, and the Tschingelhorn. There 

 they are lying close to us, unaware of our approach 

 naked and unashamed, glistening in the sunlight, variously 



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