Ayesha:The Return of She

owing that at least we had no more avalanches to fear. That night it froze sharply, so that had it not been for the yak's hide and the other rugs and

eave this. If we have to die, I would rather do

s start. If the snow won't

although the mount was under two hundred feet high, its base, fortunately for us - for otherwise it must have been swept away by

ank. As there was nothing to be gained by waiting, off we went, Leo leading and step by step trying the snow. To our joy we discovered that the sharp night frost had so hardened its surface that it would support us. About half

rush. Leo slipped over safely, but I, following a yard or two to his right, of a sudden felt the hard crust yield beneath me. An ill-judged but quite natural

, till at length I seemed to reach a rock which alone saved me from disappearing for ever. Now I felt the snow closing above me and with it came darkness and a sense of suffocation. So soft was the drift, however, that before I was overco

r me - my mind flew back to Ayesha. I seemed to behold her and a man at her side, standing over me in some dark, rocky gulf. She was wrapped in a long travelling cloak, and her lovely eyes were wild with fear. I ros

, considered in connection with a certain subsequent event, in

senses

t despairingly, and there came a strain. It was useless, I did not move. Then, bethinking me, I drew up my legs and by chance or the mercy of Heaven, I know not, got my feet agains

ngth upon the very edge of the precipice. I sat up, drawing in the air with great gasps, and oh! how sweet it was. My eyes fell upon

Leo, who sat at my side, wiping off the

ly twenty minutes

centuries. How did you get me out? Yo

and it was not far off. At last I saw your finger tips; they were so blue that for a few seconds I took them for rock, but thrust the butt of the rifle

ld fellow," I

Come, if you have got your breath, let us be getting on. You have been sleeping in a cold bed and want exercise. Look, my rifle

a church swept down just in front of us, and once a great boulder loosened from the mountain rushed at us suddenly like an attacking lion, or the stones thrown by Polyphemus at the ship of Ody

n the snow. The sight of them affected me, for it seemed strange that we should have lived to look up

he glacier

o the tongue of ice reached to the foot of it we were unable to tell, since about two thirds of the way down it arched inwards, like the end of a bent bow, and the conformation

oss those mountains without food or guns to shoot it with? Here death, for we must sit an

you sank into the bed of dust, and gave me wit and strength to dig you out of your grave of snow? And what is it that has preserved us through seventeen years of dangers such as

had guns, food, and yaks, I would not turn back upon our spoor, since

" I a

and he pointed

road to

they believe. If we die now, we shall die travelling our path, and in the country

d we will end it together. Perhaps Ayesha knows and will help u

into strips and knotted these together into two serviceable ropes, which we fastened about

. This done, we took the remainder of our gear and heavy robes and, having placed stones in them, threw them over the brink of the precipice, trusting to find them again, should w

, weary travellings, and now - the end. I could not bear to think of that splendid man, my ward, my most dear friend, the companion of my life, who stood before me so full of beauty and of vigour, but who must within a few short minutes be t

nerved himself to the last endeavour, I was proud of him. So in broken accents I blessed him and wished him well through all the aeons, praying

r, and made none. About a quarter of the way down we paused, standing upon a great boulder that was embedded in the ice, and, turning round cautiously, leaned our backs against the glacier an

ers were more difficult, for the stones were fewer and once or twice we must slide to reach them, not knowing if we should ever stop again. But the ropes which we threw ove

could judge, about two hundred and fifty feet from its lip, and say one hundred and fifty from the dar

ok," said L

hang over the bend and discover what lay below. We read each other's thou

lp me," and he began to fasten the end of his rope to a stron

e slid forward till his body vanished to the middle. What he saw does not matter, for I saw it all afterwards, but what h

ch prompts a man to save his own life. If so, may I be forgiven, but had I held on

really said was -"Don't come." But indeed - and may it go to my credit - I did not pause t

outwards, so that my descent was not sheer. Moreover, at the end of it the trickling of water, or some such accident, had worn away the ice, leaving a little ledge as broad, perhaps, as a man's hand. There were roughnesses on the surface below the curve, upon

and out of reach of the cliff; as he hung turning slowly round and round, much as - for in a dreadful, inconsequent fashion the absurd similarity struck me even the

ping excrescences on which a bird could scarcely have found a foothold; round and below me dizzy space. T

pider to its cord, Leo turn

in it slip and tighten, and I remember wondering which would give first, the hide

such a one as this. Agony took hold of me; a cold sweat burst from every pore. I could feel it running down my face like tears; my hair bristled upon m

out, if he had struggled, it would have been better. But to know that he was alive

uscle. They ached horribly, or so I thought, and ben

ardy friend of mine had ascended the Second Pyramid alone, and become thus crucified upon its shining cap, where he remained for a whole half hour with four hundred feet of space beneath him. I

istless avalanche, of the snow-grave into which I had sunk - oh! years and years ago; of Ayesha demanding

drawn. He was hacking at the cord with it fiercely, fiercely, to make an end. And the sound was that of the no

upper and lower lips of an angry dog, whilst that which was unsevered stretched out slowly, slowly, till it grew

lesh and bone as I had pictured him. I could not bear it. My nerve and human dignity came back. I would not wait until, my

he movement gave me. Then balanced upon my heels, I stood upright, took my last

above my head and dived as a bather di