. Wild life on the Rockies. t broken portion of the trail. The tempest came on with deadly cold andalmost blinding violence. The wind came withawful surges, and roared and boomed amongthe crags. The clouds dashed and seethed alongthe surface, shutting out all landmarks. I wasevery moment in fear of slipping or being blownover a precipice, but there was no shelter; I wason the roof of the continent, twelve thousand fivehundred feet above sea-level, and to stop in thebitter cold meant death. It was still three miles to timber on the westslope, and I found it impossible to keep the
. Wild life on the Rockies. t broken portion of the trail. The tempest came on with deadly cold andalmost blinding violence. The wind came withawful surges, and roared and boomed amongthe crags. The clouds dashed and seethed alongthe surface, shutting out all landmarks. I wasevery moment in fear of slipping or being blownover a precipice, but there was no shelter; I wason the roof of the continent, twelve thousand fivehundred feet above sea-level, and to stop in thebitter cold meant death. It was still three miles to timber on the westslope, and I found it impossible to keep the to perish if I tried to follow even the gen-eral course of the trail, I abandoned it altogether,and started for the head of a gorge, down whichI thought it would be possible to climb to thenearest timber. Nothing definite could be clouds on the snowy surface and the lightelectrified air gave the eye only optical outline of every object was topsy-turvy anddim. The large stones that I thought to step 16. w>wh-) I o £3< HWW ooo a!W Z Z H Z wz zou w tL, o en W U a on were not there ; and, when apparently passingothers, I bumped into them. Several times I fellheadlong by stepping out for a drift and findinga depression. In the midst of these illusions I walked outon a snow-cornice that overhung a precipice!Unable to see clearly, I had no realization of mydanger until I felt the snow giving way beneathme. I had seen the precipice in summer, andknew it was more than a thousand feet to thebottom ! Down I tumbled, carrying a large frag-ment of the snow-cornice with me. I could seenothing, and I was entirely helpless. Then, justas the full comprehension of the awful thingthat was happening swept over me, the snowfalling beneath me suddenly stopped. I plungedinto it, completely burying myself. Then I, too,no longer moved downward ; my mind graduallyadmitted the knowledge that my body, togetherwith a considerable mass of the snow, had fallenupon a narrow ledge
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