The free South. (Beaufort, S.C.) 1863-1864, January 30, 1864, Image 1
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VOLUMH li.
f - THE
PROFESSOR'S ADVEMIBE.
Between eight and ten rears ago, I engaged
in a long vacation campaign among
the Alps of Savoy. I was alone. My object
was not amusement, but study. I
occupy a Professor's Chair, anil I was engaged
in the collection of materials for a
ll- ? ~C *1.^ A1,W
WTK Oil me fiuru 111 lUt- ?n^inr? ,
und, to this eml, traveled chiefly on foot.
My route lay away from the Beaten paths
and passes. I often journeyed for days
through regions where tliere were neither
inns cor villages. I often wandered from
dawn till dusk among sterile steeps unknown
even to the herdsmen of the upper
pasturage and untrodded save by the
ohamoi*and the hunter. I thought myself
fortunate at .these times if, toward
evening. 1 succeeded in Blearing my way
down to the nearest chalet, where, in
company with a luilf-savage mountaineer
and a herd of milch goats, I might find
the shelter of a rafter root, and a supper
ot bh.e.1-: bread and whev.
On one particular evening I had gone
farther than usual, in pursuit of the Seueoio
uuflorls, a rare plant which I had hitherto
* "Vved indigenous to the southern
"tail/V y??f Monte Rose, but of which I
had succeeded in finding one or two different
specimens. It was a wild and barren
district, difficult to distinguish with
1 P !- ? ll._ ?...!
aoy ?egiee?U precision (MI nit; , mil
laying among the up|ier detiles of the Fal
de Ungues between the Mount Plcnretir
and the Grand Combin. On the waste
of roeh strewn mass to which I liadelimbed.
there was no sign of human habitation.
Abovei me. by the great iee-tiehls
of Corbassiere, surmounted by the silver
summits of the Graffcuitre and Oombin.
*Fo my left the sun was going down rapidly
l>etweeii an most of small peaks, the
highest of wliieh, as w ell as I could judge
from Ostt i walXsjnap, wgs Mount Plane
derCtiefjon. in ben minutes more, tliese
peaks would be crimson ; in one short
half-hour, it would be night.
To be benighted on an Alpine plateau
towards the latter end oi September is
jiot a desirable position. I kuew Jit by
recent experience, and had no reason to
repeat the experiment I therefore began
retracing my route its rapidly its I could
descending in au north-westerly direction
aud keeping a sharp look-out for any
ohalet that might offer a shelter for the
iglit. Pushing forward thus, I found
myself presently at the head of ft little
verdant ravine, channeled, as it were, in
the fare of the plateau. I hesitated. It j
a/vkmo<1 tlio* nroflw?nii(r ilnrliriiPSL<
as if I couiJ descern vague traces of a
path trampled here and there in the deep
grass. It also seemed as if the ravine
trended down towards the upper pastures
-which were my destination. By following
it I could scarcely go wrong. Where
there is gross, there are generally cattle
and a chalet; and I might possibly find
a nearer resting place than I had anticipated.
At all events I resolved to try
it. i
The ravine proved shorter than I had
cwpeeted and, instead of leading immediately
downward, opened upon a second
plateau, through a well worn footway
atrack off abruptly to the left. Pursuing
the footway with what speed I might, I
-came, in the course of a few minutes, to a
sadden slope at the bottom of which is a
basin almost surrounded by gigantic limestone
cliffs, lay a small dark lake, a few
-fields, and a chalet. The rose tints had
by this time come and gone.; and the
suow had 1 ut on that ghost!} grey which
precedes the dark. Before I could des- ;
<vnd the s.'ope, skirt the lake, and mount i
the little eminence on which the house j
stwxi MtieiitrtMi i\v its oaeK-gromms or ;
rooks, it was already night, ami the stars
wore in liu* sky.
I went nj> to the door and knocked : no
one answered. I opened tlie door: ail
was dark. I paused?1 ioltl lay breath?
listened?fancied 1 could distinguish a
low sound, as of some one breathing i" ;
knocked again. My second knock w;is ;
I -followed by a <uiek nois , like the pushing
c? a chair, and a man's voice, said,
hoafst Iv: *
- Who i, there T A
traveler." I replied, "seeking
shelter for die night.'"
A heavy footstep crossed the floor, a
sharp flrsli si or through the darkness. !
aad 1 saw by the Hiekeiing of tinder, a !
mail's lace bending over a lantern. Having
lighted it, he: said, with scarce a glance
iownrds the door, " Enter, traveler," and
V
; Flu-:
OJ
HKAUFOHT. SOF'iWrCAHO
weut back to his seat beside the empty
hearth. 1
I entered. The chalet was of a better j
! sort than those usually found at so great
- i ? ...,j
! an altitude. consisting 01 n uairj ?n?*
I honseplace, with a loft overhead. A tai
ble, with three or four wooden stools oe1
cnpied the center of the room. The raf|
tors were hung with branches of dried
\ herbs and long strings of Indian com.
; A clock ticked in a corner ; a kind of a j
t stood in a recess
! beside the fn^phS^Wt through a l it- \
! tice. at the farthest end, I co"^ hear the
! cows feeding in the outhousevi>''.vo,1|h 1
Somewhat perplexed at the li^niior of |
! my reception. I unstrapped mySK^jl'' I
sack and specimen-box, took possessmNkl
I of the nearest stool, and asked if I couhlf
1 have supper.
My host looked up with the air of a i
j man intent on other things. I repeated
! the inquiry.
"Yes," he .'aid, wearily; "you can
| cat, traveler."
j With this he crossed to the oilier side j
of flu* hearth stooped over a dark object i
J which until now I had not observed. '
-.Touched in the comer, and muttered a I
I word or two of uiiint-. ligible patois. Tho|
j object rcoamd ; lifted u]> a hcwildcrod !
; woman's white face : and rose slowly ;
from the floor. The herdsman pointed !
j to the table, and went back to his stool j
"iid his former attitude. The. woman. !
i after pausing* helpless, sis if the effort to i
I remember soiucthibg, went oat into the j
the dairy, came back with a brown loaf i
and u pan of milk, and set them before'
! me on the table.
As long us I live I shall never forget j
: the expression of that woman's face. She j
! was young and very pretty; but her beau- .
1 ty set med turned to stone. Every feai
lure bore the seal of unspeakable terror.
; Every gotuie was mechanical. In the
lines that furrowed her brow was a liag!
gardness more terrible then haggarduess
[ of age. In the loeking of her lips there
j waa an anguish beyond the utterance of
( words. Though she served lue. I do
I not think she saw me. There was no
1 recognition in lier eyes; no apparent
| consciousness of any object Jor circnm
stance external to the secret of her own!
j despair. All this I noticed during the
I brief moments in which she brought me
j my supper. That done, she crept away,
exactly, into the same dark corner, and j
j sank down again a mere huddled heap of
clothing.
As for her husband there was something
| unnatural in the singular immobility of
his attitude. There he sat, his body bent
i forward, his chin resting on his palins,
j his eyes staring fixed at the blackened j
ueunil, UUU IJUli evfll lUC UIVUIUUUUJ I
quiver of a nerve to show that he lived |
i and breathed. I could not determine
his ape, analyze and observe his features
| us I might. Ho looked old enough to be
| fifty, and vouug enough to be forty ; and
j wiis a fine muscular mountaineer, with
' that grave cast of countenance which is
[ peculiar to the Valasian peasant.
! I could not cat. The kecness of mv
j mountain appetite was gone. I sat as if
i fac-sinated in the presence of this strange
i pair ; observing both and apparently, by
j both as much forgotten as it I had never
' crossed their threshold. We remained
! thus, by the dim light of the lantern and
! the monotonous ticking of the clock, for
} some forty minutes or more jus profoundly
silent. Sometimes the woman stirred,
as if in pain ; sometimes the cows struck
their horns against the manger in the outhouse.
The herdsman idone sat motionless,
liko a man cast in bronze. At
length the clock struck nine. I hud by this
time became so nervous that I almost
dreaded to hear my own voice interrupt
the silence. However, I pushed my plate
noisily asiae. ami said, wun as mucii !
show of case an I could muster :
41 Hnvo you any place, friend, in wliicli
I 0:111 sleei> to-night ?"
He shifted his position uneasily and
without looking round replied in the
same form of words as before :
4- Yes, you can sleep traveler."
44 Where. In the loft above?"
He nodded affirmatively, too!: the lantern
from the table and turned toward
the dairy. As we parsed, the light streamed
for a moment over the crouched figure
in the corner.
44 Is your wife ill?" I ashed pausing
and looking back.
His eyes met mine for 1I10 first time,
and a shudder passed over his body.
\
E SOI
A * / I / / /
./ fa 1 V t tl I * "
UNA, JANUARY JO. 1804.
" Yes," ho .saiil, with an effort. " .She t t
r
I was about to ask what ailed her, but s
annething in his face arrested the <{ues??n
on my lips. I knew not, to this hour, t
^hat that something was. I could not t
(Spline it then ; I cannot describe it now : , t
Jit I hope I may never see it in a living j 1
we again. i \
Jl followed him to the foot of a h dder 1
the further end of the dairy. *
Up there," lie said; placed the lan- i
tern in my hand, and strode heavily luck t
ilto the darkness. t
I went up, and found nivsel? in a long ?
granary, stored with corn sticks, hay, 011- t
ious, rock salt, cheeses, and fanning im- ; :
piemen's. In one corner were the una- ?
Hhil luxuries of a mattress, a rug, and 1
fhree legged stool. My first care was to t
Midce a systematic inspection of the loft ;
ainffH that it contained : my next to open
a KttP glazed lattice with a sliding ?i
shatter.!'1^ opposite my bed.
The lSjjffiw)?!'. brilliant, and a stream '
of fresh air and mi^j^hi poured in.?
Oppress 1 by a stnin^V11 defined seL4e ,
of trouble, i I.muga, :
and stood looking ouVupon the suloaTu"
peaks and glaciers. Their solifctiu1 seemed
to bo more than usually awful; their
silence more than usually profound. I
could not help associating them in some
vague way with the mystery in the lion;?. .
I perplexed myself with all kinds of wild .
conjectures as to what the mvture of that
mystery might be. The woman's face
haunted me like a dream. Again and
again I went from the lattice, vainly listening
for any sound in the r;*?nn below.
A longtime went by thus, until a' length,
overpowered ov the fatigu ? of tho day,
I stretched myself on tin* mattress, I > >k
my knapsack for a pillow, an I fell fast
asleep.
I inn guess neither how long my sleep
lusted, nor from what cause I awok *. 1
only know that my sleep was dreamless .
and jm/ound ; and that I started from
. i, i ...i_ i.i.i.. ir.. .
it smuieuiy, uiiueeouniuiuy, irnaijua,; 1:1
ever,'t nerve, and possessed by an overwhelming
sense of danger.
IVjiger! Danger of what hind? From
what/ From whence? I looked round?
I was alone, and the quiet mo >11 was shining
in as serenely as when I fell ad.vp.
I got up, walked to undiro, reasoned rfitn
myself; all in vain. I could not stay t!i? j
beatings of my heart. I could nut master
?lie horror tiiat oppressed my brain. I
felt that I dared not lie down again ; that
I mu*t get out of the house so.a j tow and
at once; that to stay would be deat:i ;
that the instinct by which I was governed
must at nil costs be obeyed.
I could net bear it. I resolved to escape,
or at all events to sell liie dearly. I !
strapped on my knapsack, armed myself
- *1.1 . __ 1 J 1 _1 4. 1. L 1
wini my iron-ueaaeu aipensioon, toon uiy
large clasp-knife between my teeth, and
began cautiously and noiselessly to descend
the ladder. When I was about
half way down, the alpenstock, whiah I j
was studiously keeping clear of the ladder,
encountered some dairy vessel, and J
8? ut it clattering to the ground. Caution, j
alter this, was useless. I sprang forward,
reached the outer room at a bound, and |
found it, to my amazement, deserted, .
with tiitMoor wide open, and the moon- ,
light streaming in. Suspecting a trap,
my first impulse was to stand still, with <
my back against the wall prepared for a ;
desperate defense. All was silent. I
could only bear the ticking )f the clock, !
and the heavy beating of my own heart. 1
The pallet was empty. The bread and 1
milk were still standing where I had left
them on the table. The herdsman's stool
still occupied the same spot by the desolate
hearth. But he and his wife were :
gone?gone in the dead 6f night -driving I
me, a stronger, in the solo occupation of
their home.
While I was yet irresolute whether to !
go or stayi and while I w;is wondering at
the strangeness of my position, I hear 1.
or fancied*: heard something tint might
Ttovu 1 T vlml S!iv?? fifiK f !-.? v.-.,*
no air sfbring?something thmight,
have bee^thv' v.aiiiug of a human voic\
I liekl Dit breath?heurd it again?followed
it a:i it died away. * ' i ha.l
not far to go. A line of light gleaming
under the (Roor of a shed at the bark of
the chalet, kind a cry morebitt a* an.I rnn\"
piercing tinin any 1 had yet heard, guided
me direct t<t the spot
I looked in?recoiled with horror?wen1 .
back, as if fascinated; and so stood for
some moments unable to move, to think,
to do anything but stare helplessly upon '
A ? J
TH.
NUMBER 4.
lie wuiie before me. To this day, I canlot
recall it without something of the
ome sickening sensation.
Inside the hut, by the light of a pineoreli
thrust. into :in iron sconce against
he wall, I saw the herdsman kneeling by
lie body of his wife; grieving over her.
ike an Othello ; kissing her white lips,
viping the blood stains from her yellow
uiir, raving out inarticulate cries of pasiiou
ite remorse, an 1 calling down all the
nrse?of Heaven up vi his own liei1, ami
hat of .some or her man who had brought
his crime upon him! i un.lerstoo l it all
iow?all till mvst tv. sill the f tivir nil
ii'? despair. Sli h i 1 -inn-l rigiin-ii hini.
mil lit' had slain !it, S'l ? was lit:*
lend. The very k lif \ with its hideous
'stiniony fresh up >n tho 1;Iide, lay near
he door. *
1t in.ed ari l fl ! -Yinl'v, wildly. like
i man with l?! ??Iho.in la mi his tr.i*'; ;
low, st.imbihi.g over "stones; now. torn
,y briars; now, puming h Mnnvut to
a'l-j breath : r.phiug forv/ir I ful
i ; now, battiin ? up hill wi'u
draining iiii;aud^ tre n aun r
ar.l casting never a h'lvuy* bohinl! At
length I rnaahed a bare pi itasu shoe the
line ik vegetation, where 1 dropped
hr.ust.ed. Here 1 lay to" a lon<* ti:u .
beaten and sfupeiod, nni.il the intense
col l of approaching d rvn fared n > > ?
me tlie necessity of [ rose an i
looked sirouu 1 on tiu* .ve:i , u ? ?Vifnr of
which w is familiar t ? me. lh'ie very s:i > vjieaks,
t'lonjii 1 knew lli??v mist I e the
same,! ;ukcd unlike tile peaks of vesfe.-1 v;.
T.:" very ghvvrs, re m iro:n a -rent
point of view. n-T-Mi-ue.l u?Mv forms, as if o:i
pnrp )s;? to b; "1 m *. Thus perpV eccd T
i:.i 1 ii > r co ;rv but i > climb ffhe w'vn st
heigh: !'i .. ? . u\ it v.is pi'O'.mbia thai it
gem r.il vie v might. b? ooCaill".!. I did
so, jssr a< the l ist belt of p trplo mist
t ti'uel f .olilcii in til : east, uu t the s in
ros \
A s :p p momma lay stretched before
mo, p i': beyond pe ik. gla *;?? beyond
glacier. val'ey an 1 pine for-st nail pasture
slop", all 11 iwimil and palpitating in fit"
crimson vapors of the Auni. Here aid
there I could trace tin* foam of a waterr??
4i. . : i? ? x' ? e ?
Mil, in.: Mivcr uirca i <?i Torr?T.5 :
lu re tin>l tliuvthe e?u??py of fa; it bhv
smoke that wave-p.l upward from sonic
liurnlct unions the hill*. Suddenly my
eye fell upon a iit'.l* l ike?a sullen pool?
laying in the shale of an amphitheatre
of locks some eight hundred feet below.
Until that moment, the night and its terrors
a ppeared to havcpusel like a wicked
vision ; but now the very sky se ?me*l darkened
above nie. Y ?s, t!i re it lay at lay
feet. Yoinl r was the path by which I had
desceuded from the plateau, and, lower
still, the accursed chalet with its background
of rugged cliff and overhanging
precipice*. Well might chey lay in shadow!
Well might the sunlight refuse to
touch the ripples of that lake with gold,
and to light up the windows of that liouso
with au illumination direct from Heavenf
Thus standing, thus looking down, I
became aware of a strrnge sound, a sound
singularly distinct, but far away, a sound
sharper and holiower than the fall of an
avalanche, aud unlike anything timt I
remembered to have heard. While I was
jet asking myself what it was or whence
it came, X saw a considerable fragment of
rock detach itself from one of tlie heights
overhanging the lake, l?ound rapidly from ,
ledge to ledge, and fall with a heavy plash
into the water below. It was followed by
a cloud of dust, and a prolouged reverberation,
like the rolling of distant thunder.
Next niomenf a dark iissnre sprang into
sight all down the i'acc of the pieci|mre?
the fissure became a chasm?the whole
cliff wavered before my eyes?wavered,
p irfced, sent up a cataract of earth ana
stones, and slid slowly down, down into
the valley.
Deafened by the crash, and minded by
the dii't, I Vovered my i.tce with my
hands, and anticipated install*- ueotr.ic
tio:i. Till* OcilO'S. lloWrW, <1 (\1 >1 V/r'.y,
an I w lv Kiuweilod I)}* a solciua Hili'iuv.
The plateau on which I stood, remained
iir.a nail unshaken. 1 looked up.
Tii?? .s.iii was shiniirjr ;vs ser. adv. the
landscape hIoi-jm?!',' aspen vf.diy a; Ooloiv.
>.1;lug was .save taal a wid
white svur now lU-lai.-a ail on i Mile of the
jivat limestone basin below. and a ?*li;u>tiy
mciiud i*i ram iiuta t ie vuni i to its uiut.
Beneath that uioia. d i::y buried all record,
o: winch 1 had been an un