The Purple Flame
CHAPTER XVII AGE SERVES YOUTH
The two girls had carried no suit-case, satchel or duffel bag on thistrip. Their spare clothing was stowed away in their sleeping bags. Whentheir host had lighted their way to the room that was to be theirs forthe night, and had retired to his large room, they tip-toed back to theirsleds, unlashed their sleeping bags and carried them as they were totheir room.
For some hours Marian had not thought of the ancient treasure found inthe cave, but once she began unrolling her sleeping bag she was remindedof it. A piece of old ivory went clattering to the floor. With a cry ofsurprise she picked it up, then carefully removed the other pieces ofivory, copper and ancient pottery and stood them in a row against thewall.
Again there came the temptation to give them a thorough examination.Events transpired later that caused her to wish that she had done so. Butweary and troubled by the turn affairs had taken, she again put off thisinviting task. She slipped at once into her sleeping gown and plungedbeneath the covers of the most delightful bed she had ever known. Attatakfollowed her a few seconds later.
They found themselves lying upon a bed of springy moss mixed with thefragrant tips of balsam. Over this had been thrown wolfskin robes. Withone of these beneath them, and two above, they snuggled down until onlytheir noses were showing.
They did not sleep at once. Left to himself, the mysterious old man hadseated himself at his organ, and now sent forth such wild, pealing tonesas Marian had never heard before. He was doing Dvorjak's wildestsymphony, and making it wilder and more weird than even the composerhimself could have dreamed it might be made.
Throughout its rendition, Marian lay tense as a bow-string. As it endedwith a wild, racing crash, she settled back with a shiver, wondering whatcould throw such a spell over an old man as would cause him to play inthat manner.
Had she known the reason she would have done little sleeping that night.The aged host was tuning his soul to such a key as would nerve him for aHerculean task.
Since Marian did not know, she puzzled for a time over the trail theymust travel in the morning; wondered vaguely how her host was to keep hispromise of bringing their sleds safely past the rapids; then fell asleep.
As for their host, fifteen minutes after the last note of his wildsymphony had died away, he tip-toed down the silent corridor which led tothe door of the room in which the girls were sleeping. Having convincedhimself by a moment of listening that they were asleep, he made his wayto the spot where their two sleds had been left. These he examinedcarefully. After straightening up, he murmured:
"Took their sleeping-bags. That's bad. Didn't need 'em. Can't disturb 'emnow. Guess it can be managed."
After delivering himself of this monologue, he proceeded to wrap thecontents of each sled in a water-proof blanket, then dragged them outinto the moonlight.
Having strapped an axe, a pick and a shovel on one sled, he tied theother sled to it and began pulling them over the smooth downhill trailthat led toward the falls.
For a full mile he plodded stolidly on. Then he halted, separated thesleds, and with the foremost sled gliding on before him, plunged down asteep bank to the right. Presently he came toiling back up the hill forthe other sled.
At the bottom once more, he stood for a moment staring into the foamingdepths of a roaring torrent.
"Pretty bad," he muttered. "Never did it before at this time of year.Might fail. Might--"
Suddenly he broke off and began humming, "Tum--te--tum--tum--tum." He wasgoing over and over that mad symphony. It appeared to give him strengthand courage, and seizing the pick, he began hacking away at some objectthat lay half buried in the snow.
Fifteen minutes later he had exhumed a short, square raft.
"Built you for other purposes, but you'll do for this," he muttered."Other logs where you came from."
He set both sleds carefully upon the raft; then with yards upon yards ofrawhide rope, lashed them solidly to it.
This done, he began running out a heavier rope. This he carried up thebank to a spot where there was a mass of jagged rock covered here andthere by hard packed snow.
More than once he slipped, but always he struggled upward until at lasthe stood upon the topmost pinnacle. A heroic figure silhouetted in themoonlight, he stood for a full five minutes staring down at the racingwaters below. Dancing in the moonlight, they appeared to reach out blackhands to grasp and drag him down.
Before him, on the opposite side, gleamed a high white bank. A sheerprecipice of ice fifty feet high, this was the end of a glacier thatevery now and again sent a thousand tons of ice thundering into the deeppool at its foot.
Beneath this ice barrier the water had worn a channel. A boat driftingdown on the rushing waters would certainly be sucked down beneath thisice and be crushed like an eggshell.
What the old man intended to do was evident enough. He meant to set theraft, laden with the sleds and trappings so precious to his young guests,afloat in those turbulent waters and then to attempt by means of the ropeto hold it from being drawn beneath the ice, and to guide it a half miledown the river to quieter waters below. There was no path for him tofollow. Jagged rocks and ice-like snow, slippery as glass, awaited him;yet he dared to try it.
Here was a task fit for the youngest and the strongest; yet there hestood, the spirit of a hero flowing in his veins--age serving youth. Thegallantry of a great and perfect gentleman bowing to fair ladies anddaring all. How Marian would have thrilled at sight of this daring act.
With a swift turn he tightened the rope, then with the "de--de--dum" ofhis symphony upon his lips, strained every muscle until he felt the ropeslack, then eased away as he saw the raft tilt for the glide. Then herelaxed his muscles and stood there watching.
With a slow graceful movement the small raft glided out upon the water.An eddy seized it and whirled it about. Three times it turned, then thecurrent caught it, and whirled it away. The rope was tight now, and everymuscle of the grand old man was tense. A battle had begun which was todecide whether or not the two girls were to reach the station and fulfilltheir mission.