LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 22, 25 June 1874, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A TALE OF THE FUTURE. Concluded . 'The affair had not taken more tie i. live minutes, so that Jack had not had time to interfere. His face, at the moment when the American left the room, was a study for an artist. Astonishment, amusement, and a sort of tragic horror were struggling for expression. When the door was fairly shut, he burst into an immoderate fit of laughter which lasted for some time. “ Well, if I did not think it was all a joke,” at last he found breath to say. “ I should say it was as nasty a scrape as ever you got yourself into. Making a bet of £2OOO with an utter stranger. A bet that, if there were anything in it, would compel you to go roaming about the world for three years, and spend fabulous sums of money on nothing at all. I’ll just go after him and explain that, of course nothing was meant by the thing, or else he will let that long tongue of his wag to such an extent, that we shall never hear the last of it.’

*As he got up to leave the room the manager of the hotel came in with a very puzzled expression of countenance. “ Excuse me, sir, but are you Mr Forbes ?” ‘ “Yes, Forbes is my name.” ‘“Well, sir, the American gentleman who has just left the house—very strange gentleman he appears to be —came to me a few moments ago and asked me to give you this slip of paper. But the strange part of the matter is, gentlemen, that he handed me a note of hand for £2OOO, payable this day three years, for which I gave him a receipt. He said it was some bet he had made with you, Mr Forbes, and that you would understand about it.”

* I felt as if I were in a sort of serio-comic dream ; but mechanically took the slip of paper of which the manager had spoken—there were only a very few words on it—- “ This day three years, May 19, 1855, at five in the afternoon, in the smoking-room, Langholm Hotel, N.J.” ‘ “Where is the gentleman now?” I cried, starting from my chair. ' “ Immediately after speaking to me, he left the hotel, and calling a Hansom, drove off.”

* I sank back, seeing that I had been outwitted, and feeling very much inclined to use strong language.

‘ Jack came over to me, and, laying his hand on my shoulder, said; “ He’s a sharp hand at a bargain ; but cheer up, old fellow, we’ll take the wind out of his sails before we’ve done with him. Let me see, now— I’ve just sold out of the 71st, and don’t well know what to do with myself. So I’m your man for any mountainous excrescence from this to Timbuctoo.”

‘ “ Thanks, my dear fellow,” cried I, grasping his hand ; “ but it won’t do. I could not think of letting you go on this wild goose chase with me. Why, heaven only knows how long I shall be away from England ; for do my utmost to win the bet I certainly shall.” ‘ “ Don’t talk any rubbish of that kind, about thanks. Why, I could not think of a more amusing employment, than seeing a little of the world, and at the same time cutting out our friend the Yankee. No, since I was partly the means of getting you into the scrape by talking at all to the man, I certainly mean to sec you well out of it.” ‘ So, after a great deal of talk, it was finally arranged that Jack Hilyar and I were to start together in search of the highest and most difficult mountain to be found. Of course, before anything more was done, we took care to find that Mr Zachariah Johnston was not a penniless adventurer, but had wherewithal to pay his debt, if he should lose. This point having been ascertained, the next great question that arose was, what mountain we should attack. Switzerland had been long used up. Norway was voted too low for our purpose. The highest peak of the Andes had already been attained. So that for a time we were at a loss. I suggested that it might be a good plan to cut out the American on his own soil, by conquering any peaks of the Rocky Mountains that were not already known to the Alpine Club ; but, on careful consideration, we rejected the idea ; as the hunters and trappers are familiar with them, and but little kudos is gained by a second ascent. A happy thought struck Jack. “ I have it,” he cried, “ Central Africa and the Mountains of the Moon.”

1 The more we talked the thing over, the more we liked it. Utterly unknown to all Europeans, and surrounded by a sort of halo of mystery, these, of all others, were the mountains for us. Within a fortnight we had left London, laden with everything that could by any possibility be of use to us in our distant explorations, and a good many things which certainly could not be so. My life, for a few days before we started, was made a burden to me by the enthusiasm which Jack showed for buying all kinds of strange articles which he asserted might come in handy. Among these, I remember, were a circular saw, a churn, and a barrelorgan. The last he asserted would bo invaluable in appeasing the minds of the natives. In spite of the amount of our impedimenta, we were more successful than most African travellers. Gaining information from every possible source, and accompanied by a perfect gang of natives from various tribes, who, in spite of their assertions, knew as little as we did ourselves, we wandered for nearly four months over hitherto untrodden ground before we even came in sight of the Moon Mountains. See them, however, we did ; and there, in the midst of a mighty group, rose one giant peak, soaring far above the rest, and, in spite of the torrid zone, white with eternal snow. ‘ On asking, as well as we could, of the natives, what the name of the peak was, they replied something that sounded like “Mumph Jomb.” This delighted us immensely, as their name for it corrupt as it seemed to be, was an evident confirmation of the idea contained in the ancient rhyme that Mumbo Jumbo inhabited the Mountains of the Moon.

‘ Well, sir. I need not trouble you with an account of all the difficulties we encountered before wo reached the top of Mumph Jomb. So often were we driven back by storms, and mists, and falling stones, r hat the natives wore confirmed in their original impression of the mountain being haunted, and absolutely refused to go with us any more.

* Jack and I wore thus left alone to figbt it out with the great peak, and at last wo conquered it. It was the third day after we had been left alone -that we cut our way up the last ice slope leading to the top. I happened to be first at the moment, and as the last step was cut, I sprang on to the clear space on the top with a wild cheer. The sight that met my eyes there, however, very nearly made me stagger back over the edge. Quietly seated on the very highest point was our friend Zachariah Johnson, picking his teeth with his bowie-knife. “ I reckon you’re half an hour late, stranger,” he remarked, in a cheerful tone of voice. “While you make tracks up one side of this ere mountain, I did similar up the other : but I guess you’ll have to grease your boots better if you want to beat me at that game.” With that he took off his hat, and with a low, mocking bow, wished us good morning. Three minutes later he was lost to view down the same side of the mountain that he had ascended by. ‘ I need hardly tell you that wo felt greatly crushed by this melancholy termination of our first attempt, and it was in very low spirits indeed that we made our way down the mountain and returned, after some weeks’ travelling, to Cairo. ‘ it was while staving there that a glorious plan developed itself in our brains, more ambitious and more daring than anything than had yet been conceived by man. We were in search of mountains, why not go to the highest of all mountains, the Himalayas? end, amongst these, why not attempt the highest of them all—Mount Everest? The highest mountain the world ! We became perfectly fascinated by the idea. By day we talked of nothing else, and at night, Mount Everest haunted our dreams. < At first, we feared that it would be hopeless attempting it, on account of the very rare state of the atmosphere on the top ; but, on examining records of balloon ascents, we found, to our relief, that aeronauts had been to even greater heights without experiencing any very great difficulty in breathing. Before starting for the Himalayas, we sent to England for several things which wc conceived necessary for our new undertaking ; amongst others, for a small balloon. This last was owing to a suggestion of mine, as I fancied it might, in some cases prove useful. I also wrote to Grindcwakl for two of the best guides at that time in Switzerland —Cachat and Morel, offering them such liberal terms, that I felt sure they would agree to come. Of these two, I knew Cachat personally, and had more than once had occasion to see his skill at ice-work, so you may imagine my annoyance when I got a letter from him, saying that he could not go, as he was already engaged for a distant expedition, by another monsieur; he thought he was an American monsieur who had engaged him. This was unfortunate, but Morel was able to come, and duly met us at Alexandria. After a successful voyage and a somewhat uninteresting journey through the plains of Northern India, wc at last reached the base of the great mountain containing innumerable vast forms, beside which Mont Blanc would appear an insignificant hillock. Well, here began our difficulties ; we were obliged to organise a large body of natives to act as porters. It being quite uncertain how many weeks, or even months, wc might be far removed from human habitation, it wasj of course, necessary to bring a very large supply of provisions, as well as tents, warm clothing, and the implements which we hoped to make use of in the ascent. The best maps of that region which we had been able to procure in Bombay were so utterly inaccurate, that it was impossible to depend on them in the least. Having reached the base of Mount Everest itself, we found it necessary to take a sort of rough survey ourselves, and to make a number of preliminary excursions. Wc established a camp about 12,000 feet above sea level, which, from the vast height of the plateau was scarcely above the base of the mountain itself. We found, however, that the natives could not stand a greater amount of cold than that. Morel, Jack, and 1 used to make expeditions high up on the sides of the neighboring mountains, armed with a good glass, and from thence try to see our best route in attacking Everest. Till about half the distance to .the top had been passed we saw that we should have nothing but vast snow-fields, but then it would be necessary to pass along a terrible arrete —steep, and bounded by frightful precipices. After a careful examination of this through the glass, the Swiss guide pronounced it to be very difficult, but not impossible. Beyond this there seemed to be a perpendicular ice-wall ; but we knew how deceptive such things are when looked at in the face, especially at such a distance, and trusted to being able to cut our way up it. We waited till there seemed to be a prospect of settled fine weather, and then, early one morning, the three of us started from our camp, laden with provisions for several days, blankets, and my precious ballon in a little silk case. In the highest spirits, we ascended steadily, roped, of course,over miles of unbroken snow. C ccasionally one or other of us would disappear down a hidden crevasse, but the others soon pulled him out. When night came on we scooped a large hole in the snow, and wrapped in our blankets, did not feel much the worse for the intense cold. For three days we were on this giant snow slope, and, during this part of the ascent, experienced less difficulty than wc had expected. But on the fourth day, we came to a point where it was necessary to take to the terrible arrete which we had observed previously with the glass. Without exception, it was the most terrific place I have ever found myself on. For seven hours wc had to advance step by step along that fearful knife-likc edge. A perpendicular precipice, nearly four miles in sheer depth, yawned on our right, and on our loft was a snow slope so steep that a single slip must of necessity prove fatal. Fortunately, none of our party did slip ; and at last, to our great relief, we got to the end of the arrete, and found ourselves on a comparatively smooth plateau of frozen snow. We pushed on rapidly, till we came to an ice wall, directly barring our way, and so perpendicular that we could not entertain the thought of cutting our way up it. Under this wc halted for the night, though beginning to feel very much the effects of tho rare atmosphere and the intense cold. None of us w r ero able to close an eye that night and at the earliest dawn 1 got the apparatus ready for filling the ballon. In a couple of hours all was prepared ; and as the littie car would only hold one, I volunteered to be the first to try it. A jong rope was attached to the car, while the others let out as I ascended. As soon as the top of the ice-wall was reached, I got out and fastened the rope to a huge block of icc, and the others, without difficulty, pulled themselves up. We left the rope there to assist our descent, aud

pressed on to tho summit. Wo were now on a small level plateau, from the centre of which rose a cone. This we could sec at a glance must be the top. It was with great difficulty that we could breathe but the excitement made us forget everything. The three of us together rushed up the cone, and in another moment a frantic shout —frantic though weak and quavering —announced that we had attained to the summit of Mount Everest—that wc stood on the highest spot in the world. I cannot describe to you the cctasy of the moment —more than repaying the long months of preparation, ami toil, and weariness which wc had gone through. Aud above all the thought that now at length ray honour was secured —that there was no danger of the American ever rivaling the feat of to-day. ‘ But soon came another and nobler thoughts. “ How wonderful it is to consider,” I soliloquised, “ that this snow has never been trodden by the foot of man—that never, during tho thousands of years which have rolled over the world since the time of the flood, has the eternal stillness of the mountain-top been broken by aught save the howling of the blast.” ‘ “ That’s a very fine idea of yours about the Hood,” interrupted Jack, “ but hanged if I ever knew before the Antediluvians used to go in for soda-water.” ‘As he spoke, he held up a soda-water bottle which he had noticed sticking up through the snow. I feci sure that 1 grew very pale as I snatched it from his hand, and drew out the cork. A slip of paper was inido, and on it wore written the following words : ‘ “ Zachariah Johnston, April Ist, 1884.” Just a week before the day I read it. ‘Well, sir, 1 need hardly finish my story ; I think I have gone far enough to show that I have good reason to dislike betting. Hebbekt Wilson.