Page:The Father Confessor, Stories of Danger and Death.djvu/195

Rh "They have slipped to the edge of a crevasse," he said. "Three men. My God! Two of them are over, the third man is trying to keep them up; but he can't do it—he can't do it! He is slipping—slipping—no! he has stopped; he has driven his axe into the ground—it holds. One of the fallen men is struggling to mount the rope, but cannot! The other is still—perhaps unconscious, dead! The rope is twisting and turning them round and round in the awful air. O God! the third man is giving way—his axe is broken, or has lost its hold. He is slipping towards the edge—he is on the edge. Heaven help him! he is over. No! The rope has broken; he saves himself—he saves himself! He lies in the snow, like one dead, poor chap!"

Here the watcher was pushed aside by a frantic woman, who took his place. She looked through the glass, trying to focus it to eyes dimmed with agony.

"There is one safe, you say!" she cried; "it is my son! is it not—my only son?"

The men draw her aside. No one could be sure at the distance, they tell her, trying to calm her. Pray God it be her son. Then,