of 



this cloud over the crest in an inverted cas- 

 cade. 



All this showed for a few seconds until the 

 snowy spray began to separate and vanish in 

 the air. The snow-cloud settled downward and 

 began to roll forward. Then monsters of massed 

 snow appeared beneath the front of the cloud 

 and plunged down the slopes. Wildly, grandly 

 they dragged the entire snow-cloud in their 

 wake. At the same instant the remainder of 

 the snow-cornice was suddenly enveloped in 

 another explosive snow-cloud effect. 



A general slide had started. I whirled to 

 escape, pointed my skees down the slope, and 

 went. In less than half a minute a tremendous 

 snow avalanche, one hundred or perhaps two 

 hundred feet deep and five or six hundred feet 

 long, thundered over the spot where I had stood. 



There was no chance to dodge, no time to 

 climb out of the way. The only hope of escape 

 lay in outrunning the magnificent monster. It 

 came crashing and thundering after me as swift 

 as a gale and more all-sweeping and destructive 

 than an earthquake tidal wave. 1 



8 



