WIND-RAPIDS ON THE HEIGHTS 89 



yond. Here the interrupted current lifted me 

 upward. I had little else to do than guide myself. 

 Rapidly it boosted to the top. Standing on the 

 edge of the summit I turned for a moment to look 

 back down this icy slope which later I must some- 

 how retrace. 



The summit of Long's Peak is 14,255 feet above 

 the sea and about four hundred feet in diameter. 

 It is comparatively level though not smooth. 

 Granite stones and slabs of various sizes cover the 

 top. 



In terrific, weighty rushes the wind splendidly 

 thundered against the west wall of the summit. 

 All this time the wind was continuously roaring 

 round lower pinnacles and terrifically booming 

 against the lower obstructions. The old Peak met 

 these cyclonic rushes with strange impassiveness, 

 without a tremble. Deflected by the west wall, 

 the current shot upward for a hundred feet or so. 

 The top of the Peak was thus left in comparative 

 calm. 



I ventured too close to the west edge, and my 

 hat was torn off. It started skyward like a rocket, 

 but less than one hundred feet above the Peak it 

 fell out of the uprush and into the large, slowly 

 rotating eddy that covered the space over the top. 

 Slowly around in a large air whirlpool the hat was 

 carried. I threw a number of stones, trying to 

 bring it back to earth. Presently the forward cur- 

 rent caught it. Then like a duck in a wind the 



