OUR GREATEST NATIONAL MONUMENT 



279 



them. We could hear them coming over 

 the mountains long before they reached 

 us. Their frightful roar, as they core 

 their way down through the pass, was for 

 a while more terrifying than the blow 

 when it struck us, as we lay huddled to- 

 gether beneath the tent, wondering what 

 would go next. 



The apparatus tent went first, torn to 

 shreds, exposing all the chemists' instru- 

 ments as well as cameras and other valu- 

 able equipment to the soaking rain and 

 driving pumice, which flew before the 

 wind in sheets. By 10 o'clock the poles 

 of our tent snapped, the broken ends 

 tearing great rents in the fabric as they 

 went down. Fortunately, the poles went 

 one by one, so as to give us time to move 

 our beds and duffle into the grub tent, 

 which now alone remained standing. 



When the last blanket was removed we 

 managed to lay the wreck down and 

 weight it with rocks, to prevent it from 

 being all torn to pieces. It was all we 

 could do to accomplish this, for by this 

 time the fury of the wind was such that 

 one could hardly manage even so small a 

 thing as a prostrate tent, and the hail of 

 flying pumice was impossible to face, even 

 with goggles for protection. We were 

 well repaid for our efforts, however, for 

 the saving of that torn tent was all that 

 made a resumption of the work possible 

 after the storm. 



Crawling into the remaining tent, I 

 stretched out in my sleeping-bag to get a 

 little rest, if I could, against the labors 

 of the morrow. But it was not for long 

 that such relaxation was permitted. It 

 soon became a question whether even so 

 strong a tent frame as ours could with- 

 stand the pressure. 



Before long the spare tent, with which 

 the lee side had been reinforced, gave 

 way and, still holding to the frame by the 

 corners, went flopping around in the wind 

 to increase the general confusion. Two 

 days later, when we returned, we found 

 it, a new tent, torn clear in two ! 



No sort of rest was longer possible, so 

 I got up and packed my bed with a little 

 clothing inside my pack-sack to keep it 

 dry, and put on all my extra sweaters 

 and coats to keep out the cold of the 

 driving rain. Some of the others, who 

 continued to use their bedding as robes, 



were less fortunate, for it was extremely 

 difficult to gather things together and 

 keep them dry in the final break-up. 



About I o'clock the extra tarpaulin 

 lashed to the windward side tore away, 

 leaving only one thin sheet between us 

 and the gale. It did not seem possible 

 that any light cotton fabric could endure 

 the strain that came on that tent. It 

 pulled so that it broke all our boasted 

 guying and was held only by the frame. 

 The pumice came beating against it with 

 the noise of a hailstorm on a tin roof, 

 but the stones were sharp at every corner, 

 not round and smooth like hail. 



The impact was so heavy that our flesh 

 would not tolerate the pain if, trying to 

 keep the tent in place, we pressed our 

 bare hands or arms against the wall. 

 Why the flying pumice did not instantly 

 cut the tent to shreds was more than we 

 could understand. But it held for half 

 an hour more, and then gave way all at 

 once with the crack of a gigantic whip, 

 as a great rent opened from roof to floor. 



A TERRIBLE) HAIIv OP SHARP PUMICE 



The hail of pumice that greeted us as 

 we crawled out to see if anything could 

 be done cannot be imagined. It could 

 not be endured on our flesh for an 

 instant. It hurt clear through our cloth- 

 ing. It drove in around our "dust-proof" 

 goggles, a constant menace to our eyes. 

 Many of the pieces were as large as 

 hickory-nuts and all armed with sharp 

 corners that made them terrible missiles. 



Once the tent had ripped, the wet 

 pumice began to collect all over us — in 

 our hair, down our necks, in our pockets, 

 in our ears, in our noses, in our mouths — 

 everything was permeated with it. Soon 

 it was four inches deep on the floor, 

 though more blew on out through the 

 other side of the tent than lodged within. 



The five of us — Allen, Zies, Fenner, 

 Yori, and I — huddled against the wind- 

 ward corner, that gave the last little 

 shelter remaining. It was suggested that 

 we crawl into a gully, but I reminded the 

 others that such places were but collect- 

 ing grounds for the pumice, which would 

 hail down on us in greater quantities 

 than ever ; so we agreed to stick it out as 

 long as possible, praying fervently for 

 the dawn. 



