OUR GREATEST NATIONAL MONUMENT 



285 



that the time had come when we must 

 try it down the valley. 



Zies had a little flash-light, which made 

 it possible to gather together the things 

 we needed most ; but before they were 

 collected Allen came out and was almost 

 literally carried away before the wind. 

 Feeling that it was of the utmost impor- 

 tance for safety's sake that we keep to- 

 gether, I made frantic efforts to detain 

 him, but he was gone like a ghost in the 

 night, beyond recall, out of earshot al- 

 most at once. I turned my efforts to 

 hurrying the others. 



PICKED UP BODILY BY THE WIND 



To face the gale was impossible; so I 

 started backing toward the tent, bracing 

 myself against the wind. Suddenly I 

 found myself flying through the air, 

 scared to death. I shall never forget the 

 feeling of gratitude I experienced when 

 my face landed in the mud, two gullies 

 away. My feet kept on and nearly turned 

 me another somersault, but I was safe on 

 the ground again. The feeling that I was 

 being carried bodily down the valley by 

 the wind was one of the most terrible 

 experiences in my life. 



After that I decided it was useless to 

 try to go back, so I started on to try to 

 catch Allen and slow him down. Down 

 the hill I sped, carried by the wind, with 

 little chance of choosing my course. In 

 the distance I spied the gray smoke of 

 one of the big fumaroles dead ahead. I 

 knew that I must avoid the yawning 

 chasm by which it issued if I were to live. 



By desperate scratching I managed to 

 deflect my course a little, but slid by so 

 close that had another gust, such as had 

 picked me up, come just then I could not 

 have avoided it. 



It was some time before I could find 

 Fenner and Zies, who were waiting for 

 Charlie and me in a deep gulley. They 

 had seen Allen go by down below, and 

 we soon caught him and proceeded down 

 the valley in somewhat more orderly, if 

 none the less precipitate fashion. 



The wind came obliquely over Baked 

 Mountain, so that it was extremely diffi- 

 cult to avoid being drifted out into the 

 middle of the valley, whereas safety re- 

 quired us to keep to the east side in order 

 to make the ford of Knife Creek above 



the point where it plunges into an im- 

 passable canyon. If we missed the ford, 

 our flight would have ended in a cul-de- 

 sac among the canyons, from which there 

 would have been no escape. 



When we reached the shelter of Ukak, 

 which trip we made in record time, de- 

 spite the accumulated weariness of the 

 day before and the strain of the night, 

 we found, as we had hoped, that the camp 

 was full. Every one jumped up to let us 

 crawl into the warm sleeping-bags and we 

 were soon sound asleep. 



The gale continued all that day, but in 

 the night it calmed down enough to per- 

 mit us to visit the ruins the following 

 day. The site of our former happy camp 

 presented such a scene of desolation as 

 can hardly be imagined. Everything was 

 covered with pumice, blown onto the 

 fallen heaps until no more could stick on. 



Pumice had drifted a foot deep against 

 the big stone we had rolled over the sleep- 

 ing tent. It was so heavy on the tent that 

 it took the united strength of Yori and 

 me to roll back the fallen roof so as to 

 expose the things that lay on the floor. 



The single cot, which had served pri- 

 marily as a bench for keeping the photo- 

 graphic materials off the ground, was re- 

 moved from the fallen tent by "Caesarian 

 section," and the scattered effects gath- 

 ered together and stowed on it in a secure 

 cache until it was finally decided to move 

 the camp over in front of Alt. Cerberus, 

 which experience had meanwhile proven 

 to be sheltered from the severest winds 

 (see pages 251 and 252). 



BEAUTIFUL DIVERSIFIED LAKE AND FOREST 

 CLOSE TO THE SMOKES 



It will have become clear to the reader 

 before this that life in the valley, even 

 under the most favorable circumstances, 

 has certain limitations which render the 

 presence of a base camp in a less-devas- 

 tated region a necessity ; but it is doubtful 

 if many realize how near the Valley of 

 Ten Thousand Smokes lies to country 

 possessed of the greatest charms of natu- 

 ral beauty. Within five miles of the 

 fumaroles one enters heavily timbered 

 country, which was little injured by the 

 eruption and supports an abundance of 

 wild life. 



The whole of the Katmai National 



