About a fortnight after the flower episode a chance came Godfrey's wayof making an Alp-climbing expedition in the company of somemountaineers. They were friends of the Pasteur who joined the partyhimself, but stayed in a village at the foot of the mountains they wereto climb, since for such exercise he had lost the taste. The first twoexpeditions went off very successfully, Godfrey showing himself mostagile at the sport which suited his adventurous spirit and delightedhim. By nature, notwithstanding his dreamy characteristics, he wasfearless, at any rate where his personal safety was concerned, andhaving a good head, it gave him pleasure to creep along the edge ofprecipices, or up slippery ice slopes, cutting niches with an axe forhis feet.
Then came the third attempt, up a really difficult peak which had notyet been conquered that year. The details of the expedition do notmatter, but the end of it was that at a particularly perilous place oneof the party lost his head or his breath and rolled from the path.
There he lay half senseless, on the brink of a gulf, with a drop of athousand feet or more beneath him. As it happened, they were climbingin lots of three, each of which lots was roped together, but at somedistance between the parties, that with the guide being a good wayahead.
Godfrey was leading his party along the track made by the other, buttheir progress was not very rapid owing to the weakness of the man whohad fallen who, as it afterwards transpired, suffered from his heart,and was affected by the altitude. The climber behind Godfrey was strongand bold; also, as it chanced at the moment of the fall, this man'sfeet were planted upon a lump of projecting rock, so firmly that bythrowing himself forward against the snow slope, grasping another lumpof rock with his left hand and bearing on to the alpenstock with hisright, he was able to sustain the weight of their companion. But therope which bound them together, though strong, was thin; moreover, atthe point where most of the strain came it rested on a knife-like edgeof ice, so sharp that there was momentarily danger of its frayingthrough as the movements of the weight beneath rubbed it against theedge.
When a shout and the stoppage warned Godfrey of what had happened, heturned round and studied the position. Even to his inexperienced eye itwas obvious that a catastrophe was imminent. Now there were two thingswhich might be done; one was to stay in his place and help to bear thestrain of the swinging body, for almost immediately the fainting manslipped from the ledge, and hung above the gulf. The other was to trustto number two to hold his weight, and go to his assistance in the hopeof being able to support him until the guide could return to the firstparty. As by a flash-like working of the mind Godfrey weighed thesealternatives, his quick eye saw what looked like a little bit of fluffappear from the underside of the rope, which told him that one at leastof the strands must have severed upon the edge of ice. Then almostinstinctively he made his choice.
"Can you hold him?" he said swiftly to number two, who answered, "Yes,I think so," in a muffled voice.
"Then I go to help him."
"If you slip, I cannot bear you both," said the muffled voice.
"No," answered Godfrey, and drawing the sheath knife he wore,deliberately cut the rope which joined him to number two.
Then he scrambled down to the ledge without much difficulty, reachingit, but just in time, for now the razor blade of the ice had cut halfthrough the rope, and very soon the swinging of the senseless weightbeneath must complete its work. This ledge, being broad, thoughsloping, was not a particularly bad place; moreover, on it were littlehummocks of ice, resulting from snow that had melted and frozen again,against one of which Godfrey was able to rest his left shoulder, andeven to pass his arm round it. But here came the rub. He could not getsufficient grip of the thin rope with his right hand beyond the pointwhere it was cut, to enable him to support even half the weight thathung below. Should it sever, as it must do very shortly, it would betorn from his grasp.
What then could be done? Godfrey peered over the edge. The man wasswinging not more than two feet below its brink, that is to say, theupdrawn loop of his stout leather belt, to which the rope was fastened,was about that distance from the brink, and on either side of it hehung down like a sack tied round the middle, quite motionless in hisswoon, his head to one side and his feet to the other.
Could he reach and grasp that leather belt without falling himself, andif so, could he bear the man's weight and not be dragged over? Godfreyshrank from the attempt; his blood curdled. Then he pictured, again ina mind-flash, his poor companion whirling down through space to bedashed to pulp at the bottom, and the agony of his wife and childrenwhom he knew, and who had wished to prevent him from climbing that day.Oh! he would try. But still a paralysing fear overcame him, making himweak and nervous. Then it was in Godfrey's extremity that hisimagination produced a very curious illusion. Quite distinctly heseemed to hear a voice, that of Miss Ogilvy, say to him:
"Do it, Godfrey, at once, or it will be too late. We will help you."
This phantasy, or whatever it was, seemed to give him back his nerveand courage. Coolly he tightened the grip of his left arm about theknob of ice, and drawing himself forward a little, so that his neck andpart of his chest were over the edge, reached his right hand downwards.His fingers touched the belt; to grasp it he must have another inch anda half, or two inches. He let himself down that distance. Oh! how easyit seemed to do so--and thrust his fingers beneath the belt. As heclosed them round it, the rope parted and all the weight that it hadborne came upon Godfrey's arm!
How long did he support it, he often wondered afterwards. For ages itseemed. He felt as though his right arm was being torn from the socket,while the ice cut into the muscles of his left like active torture. Hefilled himself with air, blowing out his lower part so that its musclesmight enable him to get some extra hold of the rough ground; he dug histoes deep into the icy snow. His hat fell from his head, rested for amoment in a ridiculous fashion upon the swinging body beneath, thenfloated off composedly into space, the tall feather in it stickingupwards and fluttering a little. He heard voices approaching, and abovethem the shouts of the guide, though what these said conveyed nomeaning to him. He must loose his hold and go too. No, he would not. Hewould not, although now he felt as though his shoulder-joint weredislocated, also that his left arm was slipping. He would die like abrave man--like a brave man. Surely this was death! He wasgone--everything passed away.