fore taking hold it -would have been all over with
my friend.
The Summit Attained by the Two Explorers
SUCH experiences shake the strongest nerves,
and we sat on the shelf we had attained for
fully a quarter of an hour before we ventured
to attack the next precipice which hung beetling
directly above us. It was not as lofty as the one we
had just ascended, but it impended to such a de-
gree that we saw we should have to climb our rope
while it swung free in the air!
Luckily we had little difficulty in getting a grip
for the prongs, and we took every precaution to
test the security of the anchorage, not only putting
our combined weight repeatedly upon the rope, but
flipping and jerking it with all our strength. The
grapple resisted every effort to dislodge it, and
finally I started up, insisting on my turn as leader.
The height I had to ascend did not exceed one
hundred feet, but that is a very great distance to
climb on a swinging rope, without a wall within
reach to assist by its friction and occasional friendly
projections. In a little while my movements, to-
gether with the effect of the slight wind, had im-
parted a most distressing oscillation to the rope.
This sometimes carried me with a nerve-shaking
bang against a prominent point of the precipice,
where I would dislodge loose fragments that kept
Hall dodging for his life, and then I would swing
out, apparently beyond the brow of the cliff below,
so that, as I involuntarily glanced downward, I
seemed to be hanging in free space,, while the steep
mountainside, looking ten times steeper than it
really was, resembled the vertical wall of an ab-
solutely bottomless abyss, as if I were suspended"
over the edge of the world.
I avoided thinking of what the grapple might be
about, and in my haste to get through with the
awful experience I worked myself fairly out of
breath, so that, when at last I reached the rounded
brow of the cliff, I had to stop and cling there for
fully a minute before I could summon strength
enough to lift myself over it.
When I was assured that the grapple was still
securely fastened I signalled to Hall, and he soon
stood at my side, exclaiming, as he wiped the
perspiration from his faee;
"I think I'll try wings next time!"
But our difficulties had only begun. As we had
foreseen, it was a case of Alp above Alp, to the very
limit of human strength and patience. However, it
would have been impossible to go back. In order
to descend the two precipices we had surmounted
it would have been necessary to leave our life-lines
clinging to the rocks, and we had not rope enough to
do that. If we could not reach the top we were
A View from the Summit and Spying on Dr. Syx
HAVING refreshed ourselves with a bite to
eat and a little stimulant, we resumed the
climb. After several hours of the most ex-
hausting work I have ever performed we pulled our
weary limbs upon the narrow ridge, but a few
square yards in area, which constitutes the apex of
the Grand Teton. A little below, on the opposite side
of a steep-walled gap which divides the top of the
mountain into two parts, we saw the singular en-
closure of stones which the early white explorers
found there, and which they ascribed to the In-
dians, although nobody has ever known who built
it or what purpose it served.
The view was, of eourae, superb, but while I was
admiring it in all its wonderful extent and variety,
Hall, who had immediately pulled out his binocular,
was busy inspecting the Syx works, the top of whose
great tufted smoke column was thousands of feet
beneath our level. Jackson's Lake, Jenny's Lake,
Leigh's Lake, and several lakelets glittered in the
sunlight amid the pale grays and greens of Jack-
son's Hole, while many a bending reach of the Snake
Kiver shone amid the wastes of sage-brush and
rock.
"There!" suddenly exclaimed Ha!L.J[ thought I
should find it."
"What?"
"Take a look through my glass at the roof of
Syx's mill. Look just in the centre."
"Why, it's open in the middle!" I cried as soon as
I had put the glass to my eyes. "There's a big cir-
cular hole in the centre of the roof."
"Look inside! Look inside!" repeated HalL im-
patiently.
"I see nothing there except something bright."
"Do you call it nothing because it is bright!"
"Well, no," I replied, laughing. "What I mean is
that I see nothing that I can make anything of ex-
cept a shining object, and all I can make of that is
that it is bright"
"You've been in the Syx works many times,
haven't you?"
"Yes."
"Did you ever see the opening in the roof 7**
"Never."
"Then Dr. Syx doesn't show his visitors ©very-
thing that is to be seen."
"Evidently' not since, as we know, he concealed
the double tunnel and the room under the fur-
Dr. Syx An Alchemist
- ( I " ^" ^^ ^ as concea ' e ^ a bigger secret than
fj 1 that," Hall responded, "and the Grand A^r Teton has helped me to a glimpse of it. For several minutes my friend was absorbed in thought. Then he broke out: "X tell you he's the most wonderful man in the world !" "Who, Dr. Syx? Well, I've long thought that." "Yes, but I mean in a different way from what you are thinking of. Do you remember my asking you once if you believed in alchemy?" "I remember being greatly surprised by your question to! that effect." "Well, now," said Hal], rubbing his hands with a satisfied air, while his eyes glanced keen and bright with the reflection of some passing thought, "Max Syx is greater than any alchemist that ever lived. If those old fellows in the dark ages had accom- plished everything ihey set out to do, they would have been of no more consequence in comparison, with our black-browed friend down yonder than — i than my head is of consequence in comparison with the moon."
