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diff --git a/old/old/11673.txt b/old/old/11673.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e2633e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/11673.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1169 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stickeen, by John Muir + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Stickeen + +Author: John Muir + +Release Date: March 22, 2004 [EBook #11673] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STICKEEN *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + + + + + + STICKEEN + + BY + JOHN MUIR + + + + + 1909 + + + + + TO + HELEN MUIR + + _Lover of wildness + this icy storm-story + is affectionately + dedicated_ + + + + + TO MY DOG BLANCO + + BY J.G. HOLLAND + + My dear dumb friend, low lying there, + A willing vassal at my feet; + Glad partner of my home and fare, + My shadow in the street; + + I look into your great brown eyes, + Where love and loyal homage shine, + And wonder where the difference lies + Between your soul and mine! + + * * * * * + + I scan the whole broad earth around + For that one heart which, leal and true, + Bears friendship without end or bound, + And find the prize in you. + + * * * * * + + Ah, Blanco! did I worship God + As truly as you worship me, + Or follow where my Master trod + With your humility: + + Did I sit fondly at His feet + As you, dear Blanco, sit at mine, + And watch Him with a love as sweet, + My life would grow divine! + + + + + + +STICKEEN + + +In the summer of 1880 I set out from Fort Wrangel in a canoe to continue +the exploration of the icy region of southeastern Alaska, begun in the +fall of 1879. After the necessary provisions, blankets, etc., had been +collected and stowed away, and my Indian crew were in their places ready +to start, while a crowd of their relatives and friends on the wharf were +bidding them good-by and good-luck, my companion, the Rev. S.H. Young, +for whom we were waiting, at last came aboard, followed by a little +black dog, that immediately made himself at home by curling up in a +hollow among the baggage. I like dogs, but this one seemed so small and +worthless that I objected to his going, and asked the missionary why he +was taking him. + +"Such a little helpless creature will only be in the way," I said; "you +had better pass him up to the Indian boys on the wharf, to be taken home +to play with the children. This trip is not likely to be good for +toy-dogs. The poor silly thing will be in rain and snow for weeks or +months, and will require care like a baby." + +But his master assured me that he would be no trouble at all; that he +was a perfect wonder of a dog, could endure cold and hunger like a bear, +swim like a seal, and was wondrous wise and cunning, etc., making out a +list of virtues to show he might be the most interesting member of the +party. + +Nobody could hope to unravel the lines of his ancestry. In all the +wonderfully mixed and varied dog-tribe I never saw any creature very +much like him, though in some of his sly, soft, gliding motions and +gestures he brought the fox to mind. He was short-legged and +bunchy-bodied, and his hair, though smooth, was long and silky and +slightly waved, so that when the wind was at his back it ruffled, +making him look shaggy. At first sight his only noticeable feature was +his fine tail, which was about as airy and shady as a squirrel's, and +was carried curling forward almost to his nose. On closer inspection you +might notice his thin sensitive ears, and sharp eyes with cunning +tan-spots above them. Mr. Young told me that when the little fellow was +a pup about the size of a woodrat he was presented to his wife by an +Irish prospector at Sitka, and that on his arrival at Fort Wrangel he +was adopted with enthusiasm by the Stickeen Indians as a sort of new +good-luck totem, was named "Stickeen" for the tribe, and became a +universal favorite; petted, protected, and admired wherever he went, and +regarded as a mysterious fountain of wisdom. + +On our trip he soon proved himself a queer character--odd, concealed, +independent, keeping invincibly quiet, and doing many little puzzling +things that piqued my curiosity. As we sailed week after week through +the long intricate channels and inlets among the innumerable islands and +mountains of the coast, he spent most of the dull days in sluggish ease, +motionless, and apparently as unobserving as if in deep sleep. But I +discovered that somehow he always knew what was going on. When the +Indians were about to shoot at ducks or seals, or when anything along +the shore was exciting our attention, he would rest his chin on the edge +of the canoe and calmly look out like a dreamy-eyed tourist. And when he +heard us talking about making a landing, he immediately roused himself +to see what sort of a place we were coming to, and made ready to jump +overboard and swim ashore as soon as the canoe neared the beach. Then, +with a vigorous shake to get rid of the brine in his hair, he ran into +the woods to hunt small game. But though always the first out of the +canoe, he was always the last to get into it. When we were ready to +start he could never be found, and refused to come to our call. We soon +found out, however, that though we could not see him at such times, he +saw us, and from the cover of the briers and huckleberry bushes in the +fringe of the woods was watching the canoe with wary eye. For as soon as +we were fairly off he came trotting down the beach, plunged into the +surf, and swam after us, knowing well that we would cease rowing and +take him in. When the contrary little vagabond came alongside, he was +lifted by the neck, held at arm's length a moment to drip, and dropped +aboard. We tried to cure him of this trick by compelling him to swim a +long way, as if we had a mind to abandon him; but this did no good: the +longer the swim the better he seemed to like it. + +Though capable of great idleness, he never failed to be ready for all +sorts of adventures and excursions. One pitch-dark rainy night we landed +about ten o'clock at the mouth of a salmon stream when the water was +phosphorescent. The salmon were running, and the myriad fins of the +onrushing multitude were churning all the stream into a silvery glow, +wonderfully beautiful and impressive in the ebon darkness. To get a +good view of the show I set out with one of the Indians and sailed up +through the midst of it to the foot of a rapid about half a mile from +camp, where the swift current dashing over rocks made the luminous glow +most glorious. Happening to look back down the stream, while the Indian +was catching a few of the struggling fish, I saw a long spreading fan of +light like the tail of a comet, which we thought must be made by some +big strange animal that was pursuing us. On it came with its magnificent +train, until we imagined we could see the monster's head and eyes; but +it was only Stickeen, who, finding I had left the camp, came swimming +after me to see what was up. + +When we camped early, the best hunter of the crew usually went to the +woods for a deer, and Stickeen was sure to be at his heels, provided I +had not gone out. For, strange to say, though I never carried a gun, he +always followed me, forsaking the hunter and even his master to share my +wanderings. The days that were too stormy for sailing I spent in the +woods, or on the adjacent mountains, wherever my studies called me; and +Stickeen always insisted on going with me, however wild the weather, +gliding like a fox through dripping huckleberry bushes and thorny +tangles of panax and rubus, scarce stirring their rain-laden leaves; +wading and wallowing through snow, swimming icy streams, skipping over +logs and rocks and the crevasses of glaciers with the patience and +endurance of a determined mountaineer, never tiring or getting +discouraged. Once he followed me over a glacier the surface of which was +so crusty and rough that it cut his feet until every step was marked +with blood; but he trotted on with Indian fortitude until I noticed his +red track, and, taking pity on him, made him a set of moccasins out of a +handkerchief. However great his troubles he never asked help or made +any complaint, as if, like a philosopher, he had learned that without +hard work and suffering there could be no pleasure worth having. + +Yet none of us was able to make out what Stickeen was really good for. +He seemed to meet danger and hardships without anything like reason, +insisted on having his own way, never obeyed an order, and the hunter +could never set him on anything, or make him fetch the birds he shot. +His equanimity was so steady it seemed due to want of feeling; ordinary +storms were pleasures to him, and as for mere rain, he flourished in it +like a vegetable. No matter what advances you might make, scarce a +glance or a tail-wag would you get for your pains. But though he was +apparently as cold as a glacier and about as impervious to fun, I tried +hard to make his acquaintance, guessing there must be something worth +while hidden beneath so much courage, endurance, and love of +wild-weathery adventure. No superannuated mastiff or bulldog grown old +in office surpassed this fluffy midget in stoic dignity. He sometimes +reminded me of a small, squat, unshakable desert cactus. For he never +displayed a single trace of the merry, tricksy, elfish fun of the +terriers and collies that we all know, nor of their touching affection +and devotion. Like children, most small dogs beg to be loved and allowed +to love; but Stickeen seemed a very Diogenes, asking only to be let +alone: a true child of the wilderness, holding the even tenor of his +hidden life with the silence and serenity of nature. His strength of +character lay in his eyes. They looked as old as the hills, and as +young, and as wild. I never tired of looking into them: it was like +looking into a landscape; but they were small and rather deep-set, and +had no explaining lines around them to give out particulars. I was +accustomed to look into the faces of plants and animals, and I watched +the little sphinx more and more keenly as an interesting study. But +there is no estimating the wit and wisdom concealed and latent in our +lower fellow mortals until made manifest by profound experiences; for it +is through suffering that dogs as well as saints are developed and made +perfect. + +After exploring the Sumdum and Tahkoo fiords and their glaciers, we +sailed through Stephen's Passage into Lynn Canal and thence through Icy +Strait into Cross Sound, searching for unexplored inlets leading toward +the great fountain ice-fields of the Fairweather Range. Here, while the +tide was in our favor, we were accompanied by a fleet of icebergs +drifting out to the ocean from Glacier Bay. Slowly we paddled around +Vancouver's Point, Wimbledon, our frail canoe tossed like a feather on +the massive heaving swells coming in past Cape Spenser. For miles the +sound is bounded by precipitous mural cliffs, which, lashed with +wave-spray and their heads hidden in clouds, looked terribly threatening +and stern. Had our canoe been crushed or upset we could have made no +landing here, for the cliffs, as high as those of Yosemite, sink sheer +into deep water. Eagerly we scanned the wall on the north side for the +first sign of an opening fiord or harbor, all of us anxious except +Stickeen, who dozed in peace or gazed dreamily at the tremendous +precipices when he heard us talking about them. At length we made the +joyful discovery of the mouth of the inlet now called "Taylor Bay," and +about five o'clock reached the head of it and encamped in a spruce grove +near the front of a large glacier. + +While camp was being made, Joe the hunter climbed the mountain wall on +the east side of the fiord in pursuit of wild goats, while Mr. Young and +I went to the glacier. We found that it is separated from the waters of +the inlet by a tide-washed moraine, and extends, an abrupt barrier, all +the way across from wall to wall of the inlet, a distance of about three +miles. But our most interesting discovery was that it had recently +advanced, though again slightly receding. A portion of the terminal +moraine had been plowed up and shoved forward, uprooting and +overwhelming the woods on the east side. Many of the trees were down and +buried, or nearly so, others were leaning away from the ice-cliffs, +ready to fall, and some stood erect, with the bottom of the ice plow +still beneath their roots and its lofty crystal spires towering high +above their tops. The spectacle presented by these century-old trees +standing close beside a spiry wall of ice, with their branches almost +touching it, was most novel and striking. And when I climbed around the +front, and a little way up the west side of the glacier, I found that it +had swelled and increased in height and width in accordance with its +advance, and carried away the outer ranks of trees on its bank. + +On our way back to camp after these first observations I planned a +far-and-wide excursion for the morrow. I awoke early, called not only by +the glacier, which had been on my mind all night, but by a grand +flood-storm. The wind was blowing a gale from the north and the rain +was flying with the clouds in a wide passionate horizontal flood, as if +it were all passing over the country instead of falling on it. The main +perennial streams were booming high above their banks, and hundreds of +new ones, roaring like the sea, almost covered the lofty gray walls of +the inlet with white cascades and falls. I had intended making a cup of +coffee and getting something like a breakfast before starting, but when +I heard the storm and looked out I made haste to join it; for many of +Nature's finest lessons are to be found in her storms, and if careful +to keep in right relations with them, we may go safely abroad with them, +rejoicing in the grandeur and beauty of their works and ways, and +chanting with the old Norsemen, "The blast of the tempest aids our oars, +the hurricane is our servant and drives us whither we wish to go." So, +omitting breakfast, I put a piece of bread in my pocket and hurried +away. + +Mr. Young and the Indians were asleep, and so, I hoped, was Stickeen; +but I had not gone a dozen rods before he left his bed in the tent and +came boring through the blast after me. That a man should welcome +storms for their exhilarating music and motion, and go forth to see God +making landscapes, is reasonable enough; but what fascination could +there be in such tremendous weather for a dog? Surely nothing akin to +human enthusiasm for scenery or geology. Anyhow, on he came, +breakfastless, through the choking blast. I stopped and did my best to +turn him back. "Now don't," I said, shouting to make myself heard in the +storm, "now don't, Stickeen. What has got into your queer noddle now? +You must be daft. This wild day has nothing for you. There is no game +abroad, nothing but weather. Go back to camp and keep warm, get a good +breakfast with your master, and be sensible for once. I can't carry you +all day or feed you, and this storm will kill you." + +But Nature, it seems, was at the bottom of the affair, and she gains her +ends with dogs as well as with men, making us do as she likes, shoving +and pulling us along her ways, however rough, all but killing us at +times in getting her lessons driven hard home. After I had stopped again +and again, shouting good warning advice, I saw that he was not to be +shaken off; as well might the earth try to shake off the moon. I had +once led his master into trouble, when he fell on one of the topmost +jags of a mountain and dislocated his arm; now the turn of his humble +companion was coming. The pitiful little wanderer just stood there in +the wind, drenched and blinking, saying doggedly, "Where thou goest I +will go." So at last I told him to come on if he must, and gave him a +piece of the bread I had in my pocket; then we struggled on together, +and thus began the most memorable of all my wild days. + +The level flood, driving hard in our faces, thrashed and washed us +wildly until we got into the shelter of a grove on the east side of the +glacier near the front, where we stopped awhile for breath and to +listen and look out. The exploration of the glacier was my main object, +but the wind was too high to allow excursions over its open surface, +where one might be dangerously shoved while balancing for a jump on the +brink of a crevasse. In the mean time the storm was a fine study. Here +the end of the glacier, descending an abrupt swell of resisting rock +about five hundred feet high, leans forward and falls in ice cascades. +And as the storm came down the glacier from the north, Stickeen and I +were beneath the main current of the blast, while favorably located to +see and hear it. What a psalm the storm was singing, and how fresh the +smell of the washed earth and leaves, and how sweet the still small +voices of the storm! Detached wafts and swirls were coming through the +woods, with music from the leaves and branches and furrowed boles, and +even from the splintered rocks and ice-crags overhead, many of the tones +soft and low and flute-like, as if each leaf and tree, crag and spire +were a tuned reed. A broad torrent, draining the side of the glacier, +now swollen by scores of new streams from the mountains, was rolling +boulders along its rocky channel, with thudding, bumping, muffled +sounds, rushing towards the bay with tremendous energy, as if in haste +to get out of the mountains; the waters above and beneath calling to +each other, and all to the ocean, their home. + +Looking southward from our shelter, we had this great torrent and the +forested mountain wall above it on our left, the spiry ice-crags on our +right, and smooth gray gloom ahead. I tried to draw the marvelous scene +in my note-book, but the rain blurred the page in spite of all my pains +to shelter it, and the sketch was almost worthless. When the wind began +to abate, I traced the east side of the glacier. All the trees standing +on the edge of the woods were barked and bruised, showing high-ice mark +in a very telling way, while tens of thousands of those that had stood +for centuries on the bank of the glacier farther out lay crushed and +being crushed. In many places I could see down fifty feet or so beneath +the margin of the glacier-mill, where trunks from one to two feet in +diameter were being ground to pulp against outstanding rock-ribs and +bosses of the bank. + +About three miles above the front of the glacier I climbed to the +surface of it by means of axe-steps made easy for Stickeen. As far as +the eye could reach, the level, or nearly level, glacier stretched away +indefinitely beneath the gray sky, a seemingly boundless prairie of ice. +The rain continued, and grew colder, which I did not mind, but a dim +snowy look in the drooping clouds made me hesitate about venturing far +from land. No trace of the west shore was visible, and in case the +clouds should settle and give snow, or the wind again become violent, I +feared getting caught in a tangle of crevasses. Snow-crystals, the +flowers of the mountain clouds, are frail, beautiful things, but +terrible when flying on storm-winds in darkening, benumbing swarms or +when welded together into glaciers full of deadly crevasses. Watching +the weather, I sauntered about on the crystal sea. For a mile or two out +I found the ice remarkably safe. The marginal crevasses were mostly +narrow, while the few wider ones were easily avoided by passing around +them, and the clouds began to open here and there. + +Thus encouraged, I at last pushed out for the other side; for Nature can +make us do anything she likes. At first we made rapid progress, and the +sky was not very threatening, while I took bearings occasionally with a +pocket compass to enable me to find my way back more surely in case the +storm should become blinding; but the structure lines of the glacier +were my main guide. Toward the west side we came to a closely crevassed +section in which we had to make long, narrow tacks and doublings, +tracing the edges of tremendous transverse and longitudinal crevasses, +many of which were from twenty to thirty feet wide, and perhaps a +thousand feet deep--beautiful and awful. In working a way through them I +was severely cautious, but Stickeen came on as unhesitating as the +flying clouds. The widest crevasse that I could jump he would leap +without so much as halting to take a look at it. The weather was now +making quick changes, scattering bits of dazzling brightness through the +wintry gloom; at rare intervals, when the sun broke forth wholly free, +the glacier was seen from shore to shore with a bright array of +encompassing mountains partly revealed, wearing the clouds as garments, +while the prairie bloomed and sparkled with irised light from myriads of +washed crystals. Then suddenly all the glorious show would be darkened +and blotted out. + +Stickeen seemed to care for none of these things, bright or dark, nor +for the crevasses, wells, moulins, or swift flashing streams into which +he might fall. The little adventurer was only about two years old, yet +nothing seemed novel to him, nothing daunted him. He showed neither +caution nor curiosity, wonder nor fear, but bravely trotted on as if +glaciers were playgrounds. His stout, muffled body seemed all one +skipping muscle, and it was truly wonderful to see how swiftly and to +all appearance heedlessly he flashed across nerve-trying chasms six or +eight feet wide. His courage was so unwavering that it seemed to be due +to dullness of perception, as if he were only blindly bold; and I kept +warning him to be careful. For we had been close companions on so many +wilderness trips that I had formed the habit of talking to him as if he +were a boy and understood every word. + +We gained the west shore in about three hours; the width of the glacier +here being about seven miles. Then I pushed northward in order to see as +far back as possible into the fountains of the Fairweather Mountains, in +case the clouds should rise. The walking was easy along the margin of +the forest, which, of course, like that on the other side, had been +invaded and crushed by the swollen, overflowing glacier. In an hour or +so, after passing a massive headland, we came suddenly on a branch of +the glacier, which, in the form of a magnificent ice-cascade two miles +wide, was pouring over the rim of the main basin in a westerly +direction, its surface broken into wave-shaped blades and shattered +blocks, suggesting the wildest updashing, heaving, plunging motion of a +great river cataract. Tracing it down three or four miles, I found that +it discharged into a lake, filling it with icebergs. + +I would gladly have followed the lake outlet to tide-water, but the day +was already far spent, and the threatening sky called for haste on the +return trip to get off the ice before dark. I decided therefore to go +no farther, and, after taking a general view of the wonderful region, +turned back, hoping to see it again under more favorable auspices. We +made good speed up the caņon of the great ice-torrent, and out on the +main glacier until we had left the west shore about two miles behind us. +Here we got into a difficult network of crevasses, the gathering clouds +began to drop misty fringes, and soon the dreaded snow came flying thick +and fast. I now began to feel anxious about finding a way in the +blurring storm. Stickeen showed no trace of fear. He was still the same +silent, able little hero. I noticed, however, that after the +storm-darkness came on he kept close up behind me. The snow urged us to +make still greater haste, but at the same time hid our way. I pushed on +as best I could, jumping innumerable crevasses, and for every hundred +rods or so of direct advance traveling a mile in doubling up and down in +the turmoil of chasms and dislocated ice-blocks. After an hour or two of +this work we came to a series of longitudinal crevasses of appalling +width, and almost straight and regular in trend, like immense furrows. +These I traced with firm nerve, excited and strengthened by the danger, +making wide jumps, poising cautiously on their dizzy edges after +cutting hollows for my feet before making the spring, to avoid possible +slipping or any uncertainty on the farther sides, where only one trial +is granted--exercise at once frightful and inspiring. Stickeen followed +seemingly without effort. + +Many a mile we thus traveled, mostly up and down, making but little real +headway in crossing, running instead of walking most of the time as the +danger of being compelled to spend the night on the glacier became +threatening. Stickeen seemed able for anything. Doubtless we could have +weathered the storm for one night, dancing on a flat spot to keep from +freezing, and I faced the threat without feeling anything like despair; +but we were hungry and wet, and the wind from the mountains was still +thick with snow and bitterly cold, so of course that night would have +seemed a very long one. I could not see far enough through the blurring +snow to judge in which general direction the least dangerous route lay, +while the few dim, momentary glimpses I caught of mountains through +rifts in the flying clouds were far from encouraging either as weather +signs or as guides. I had simply to grope my way from crevasse to +crevasse, holding a general direction by the ice-structure, which was +not to be seen everywhere, and partly by the wind. Again and again I was +put to my mettle, but Stickeen followed easily, his nerve apparently +growing more unflinching as the danger increased. So it always is with +mountaineers when hard beset. Running hard and jumping, holding every +minute of the remaining daylight, poor as it was, precious, we doggedly +persevered and tried to hope that every difficult crevasse we overcame +would prove to be the last of its kind. But on the contrary, as we +advanced they became more deadly trying. + +At length our way was barred by a very wide and straight crevasse, which +I traced rapidly northward a mile or so without finding a crossing or +hope of one; then down the glacier about as far, to where it united with +another uncrossable crevasse. In all this distance of perhaps two miles +there was only one place where I could possibly jump it, but the width +of this jump was the utmost I dared attempt, while the danger of +slipping on the farther side was so great that I was loath to try it. +Furthermore, the side I was on was about a foot higher than the other, +and even with this advantage the crevasse seemed dangerously wide. One +is liable to underestimate the width of crevasses where the magnitudes +in general are great, I therefore stared at this one mighty keenly, +estimating its width and the shape of the edge on the farther side, +until I thought that I could jump it if necessary, but that in case I +should be compelled to jump back from the lower side I might fail. Now, +a cautious mountaineer seldom takes a step on unknown ground which seems +at all dangerous that he cannot retrace in case he should be stopped by +unseen obstacles ahead. This is the rule of mountaineers who live long, +and, though in haste, I compelled myself to sit down and calmly +deliberate before I broke it. + +Retracing my devious path in imagination as if it were drawn on a chart, +I saw that I was recrossing the glacier a mile or two farther up stream +than the course pursued in the morning, and that I was now entangled in +a section I had not before seen. Should I risk this dangerous jump, or +try to regain the woods on the west shore, make a fire, and have only +hunger to endure while waiting for a new day? I had already crossed so +broad a stretch of dangerous ice that I saw it would be difficult to +get back to the woods through the storm, before dark, and the attempt +would most likely result in a dismal night-dance on the glacier; while +just beyond the present barrier the surface seemed more promising, and +the east shore was now perhaps about as near as the west. I was +therefore eager to go on. But this wide jump was a dreadful obstacle. + +At length, because of the dangers already behind me, I determined to +venture against those that might be ahead, jumped and landed well, but +with so little to spare that I more than ever dreaded being compelled to +take that jump back from the lower side. Stickeen followed, making +nothing of it, and we ran eagerly forward, hoping we were leaving all +our troubles behind. But within the distance of a few hundred yards we +were stopped by the widest crevasse yet encountered. Of course I made +haste to explore it, hoping all might yet be remedied by finding a +bridge or a way around either end. About three-fourths of a mile +upstream I found that it united with the one we had just crossed, as I +feared it would. Then, tracing it down, I found it joined the same +crevasse at the lower end also, maintaining throughout its whole course +a width of forty to fifty feet. Thus to my dismay I discovered that we +were on a narrow island about two miles long, with two barely possible +ways of escape: one back by the way we came, the other ahead by an +almost inaccessible sliver-bridge that crossed the great crevasse from +near the middle of it! + +After this nerve-trying discovery I ran back to the sliver-bridge and +cautiously examined it. Crevasses, caused by strains from variations in +the rate of motion of different parts of the glacier and convexities in +the channel, are mere cracks when they first open, so narrow as hardly +to admit the blade of a pocket-knife, and gradually widen according to +the extent of the strain and the depth of the glacier. Now some of these +cracks are interrupted, like the cracks in wood, and in opening, the +strip of ice between overlapping ends is dragged out, and may maintain a +continuous connection between the sides, just as the two sides of a +slivered crack in wood that is being split are connected. Some crevasses +remain open for months or even years, and by the melting of their sides +continue to increase in width long after the opening strain has ceased; +while the sliver-bridges, level on top at first and perfectly safe, are +at length melted to thin, vertical, knife-edged blades, the upper +portion being most exposed to the weather; and since the exposure is +greatest in the middle, they at length curve downward like the cables of +suspension bridges. This one was evidently very old, for it had been +weathered and wasted until it was the most dangerous and inaccessible +that ever lay in my way. The width of the crevasse was here about fifty +feet, and the sliver crossing diagonally was about seventy feet long; +its thin knife-edge near the middle was depressed twenty-five or thirty +feet below the level of the glacier, and the upcurving ends were +attached to the sides eight or ten feet below the brink. Getting down +the nearly vertical wall to the end of the sliver and up the other side +were the main difficulties, and they seemed all but insurmountable. Of +the many perils encountered in my years of wandering on mountains and +glaciers none seemed so plain and stern and merciless as this. And it +was presented when we were wet to the skin and hungry, the sky dark with +quick driving snow, and the night near. But we were forced to face it. +It was a tremendous necessity. + +Beginning, not immediately above the sunken end of the bridge, but a +little to one side, I cut a deep hollow on the brink for my knees to +rest in. Then, leaning over, with my short-handled axe I cut a step +sixteen or eighteen inches below, which on account of the sheerness of +the wall was necessarily shallow. That step, however, was well made; its +floor sloped slightly inward and formed a good hold for my heels. Then, +slipping cautiously upon it, and crouching as low as possible, with my +left side toward the wall, I steadied myself against the wind with my +left hand in a slight notch, while with the right I cut other similar +steps and notches in succession, guarding against losing balance by +glinting of the axe, or by wind-gusts, for life and death were in every +stroke and in the niceness of finish of every foothold. + +After the end of the bridge was reached I chipped it down until I had +made a level platform six or eight inches wide, and it was a trying +thing to poise on this little slippery platform while bending over to +get safely astride of the sliver. Crossing was then comparatively easy +by chipping off the sharp edge with short, careful strokes, and hitching +forward an inch or two at a time, keeping my balance with my knees +pressed against the sides. The tremendous abyss on either hand I +studiously ignored. To me the edge of that blue sliver was then all the +world. But the most trying part of the adventure, after working my way +across inch by inch and chipping another small platform, was to rise +from the safe position astride and to cut a step-ladder in the nearly +vertical face of the wall,--chipping, climbing, holding on with feet and +fingers in mere notches. At such times one's whole body is eye, and +common skill and fortitude are replaced by power beyond our call or +knowledge. Never before had I been so long under deadly strain. How I +got up that cliff I never could tell. The thing seemed to have been +done by somebody else. I never have held death in contempt, though in +the course of my explorations I have oftentimes felt that to meet one's +fate on a noble mountain, or in the heart of a glacier, would be blessed +as compared with death from disease, or from some shabby lowland +accident. But the best death, quick and crystal-pure, set so glaringly +open before us, is hard enough to face, even though we feel gratefully +sure that we have already had happiness enough for a dozen lives. + +But poor Stickeen, the wee, hairy, sleekit beastie, think of him! When I +had decided to dare the bridge, and while I was on my knees chipping a +hollow on the rounded brow above it, he came behind me, pushed his head +past my shoulder, looked down and across, scanned the sliver and its +approaches with his mysterious eyes, then looked me in the face with a +startled air of surprise and concern, and began to mutter and whine; +saying as plainly as if speaking with words, "Surely, you are not going +into that awful place." This was the first time I had seen him gaze +deliberately into a crevasse, or into my face with an eager, speaking, +troubled look. That he should have recognized and appreciated the danger +at the first glance showed wonderful sagacity. Never before had the +daring midget seemed to know that ice was slippery or that there was any +such thing as danger anywhere. His looks and tones of voice when he +began to complain and speak his fears were so human that I unconsciously +talked to him in sympathy as I would to a frightened boy, and in trying +to calm his fears perhaps in some measure moderated my own. "Hush your +fears, my boy," I said, "we will get across safe, though it is not going +to be easy. No right way is easy in this rough world. We must risk our +lives to save them. At the worst we can only slip, and then how grand a +grave we will have, and by and by our nice bones will do good in the +terminal moraine." + +But my sermon was far from reassuring him: he began to cry, and after +taking another piercing look at the tremendous gulf, ran away in +desperate excitement, seeking some other crossing. By the time he got +back, baffled of course, I had made a step or two. I dared not look +back, but he made himself heard; and when he saw that I was certainly +bent on crossing he cried aloud in despair. The danger was enough to +daunt anybody, but it seems wonderful that he should have been able to +weigh and appreciate it so justly. No mountaineer could have seen it +more quickly or judged it more wisely, discriminating between real and +apparent peril. + +When I gained the other side, he screamed louder than ever, and after +running back and forth in vain search for a way of escape, he would +return to the brink of the crevasse above the bridge, moaning and +wailing as if in the bitterness of death. Could this be the silent, +philosophic Stickeen? I shouted encouragement, telling him the bridge +was not so bad as it looked, that I had left it flat and safe for his +feet, and he could walk it easily. But he was afraid to try. Strange so +small an animal should be capable of such big, wise fears. I called +again and again in a reassuring tone to come on and fear nothing; that +he could come if he would only try. He would hush for a moment, look +down again at the bridge, and shout his unshakable conviction that he +could never, never come that way; then lie back in despair, as if +howling, "O-o-oh! what a place! No-o-o, I can never go-o-o down there!" +His natural composure and courage had vanished utterly in a tumultuous +storm of fear. Had the danger been less, his distress would have seemed +ridiculous. But in this dismal, merciless abyss lay the shadow of +death, and his heartrending cries might well have called Heaven to his +help. Perhaps they did. So hidden before, he was now transparent, and +one could see the workings of his heart and mind like the movements of a +clock out of its case. His voice and gestures, hopes and fears, were so +perfectly human that none could mistake them; while he seemed to +understand every word of mine. I was troubled at the thought of having +to leave him out all night, and of the danger of not finding him in the +morning. It seemed impossible to get him to venture. To compel him to +try through fear of being abandoned, I started off as if leaving him to +his fate, and disappeared back of a hummock; but this did no good; he +only lay down and moaned in utter hopeless misery. So, after hiding a +few minutes, I went back to the brink of the crevasse and in a severe +tone of voice shouted across to him that now I must certainly leave him, +I could wait no longer, and that, if he would not come, all I could +promise was that I would return to seek him next day. I warned him that +if he went back to the woods the wolves would kill him, and finished by +urging him once more by words and gestures to come on, come on. + +He knew very well what I meant, and at last, with the courage of +despair, hushed and breathless, he crouched down on the brink in the +hollow I had made for my knees, pressed his body against the ice as if +trying to get the advantage of the friction of every hair, gazed into +the first step, put his little feet together and slid them slowly, +slowly over the edge and down into it, bunching all four in it and +almost standing on his head. Then, without lifting his feet, as well as +I could see through the snow, he slowly worked them over the edge of the +step and down into the next and the next in succession in the same way, +and gained the end of the bridge. Then, lifting his feet with the +regularity and slowness of the vibrations of a seconds pendulum, as if +counting and measuring _one-two-three_, holding himself steady against +the gusty wind, and giving separate attention to each little step, he +gained the foot of the cliff, while I was on my knees leaning over to +give him a lift should he succeed in getting within reach of my arm. +Here he halted in dead silence, and it was here I feared he might fail, +for dogs are poor climbers. I had no cord. If I had had one, I would +have dropped a noose over his head and hauled him up. But while I was +thinking whether an available cord might be made out of clothing, he was +looking keenly into the series of notched steps and finger-holds I had +made, as if counting them, and fixing the position of each one of them +in his mind. Then suddenly up he came in a springy rush, hooking his +paws into the steps and notches so quickly that I could not see how it +was done, and whizzed past my head, safe at last! + +And now came a scene! "Well done, well done, little boy! Brave boy!" I +cried, trying to catch and caress him; but he would not be caught. Never +before or since have I seen anything like so passionate a revulsion +from the depths of despair to exultant, triumphant, uncontrollable joy. +He flashed and darted hither and thither as if fairly demented, +screaming and shouting, swirling round and round in giddy loops and +circles like a leaf in a whirlwind, lying down, and rolling over and +over, sidewise and heels over head, and pouring forth a tumultuous flood +of hysterical cries and sobs and gasping mutterings. When I ran up to +him to shake him, fearing he might die of joy, he flashed off two or +three hundred yards, his feet in a mist of motion; then, turning +suddenly, came back in a wild rush and launched himself at my face, +almost knocking me down, all the time screeching and screaming and +shouting as if saying, "Saved! saved! saved!" Then away again, dropping +suddenly at times with his feet in the air, trembling and fairly +sobbing. Such passionate emotion was enough to kill him. Moses' stately +song of triumph after escaping the Egyptians and the Red Sea was nothing +to it. Who could have guessed the capacity of the dull, enduring little +fellow for all that most stirs this mortal frame? Nobody could have +helped crying with him! + +But there is nothing like work for toning down excessive fear or joy. +So I ran ahead, calling him in as gruff a voice as I could command to +come on and stop his nonsense, for we had far to go and it would soon be +dark. Neither of us feared another trial like this. Heaven would surely +count one enough for a lifetime. The ice ahead was gashed by thousands +of crevasses, but they were common ones. The joy of deliverance burned +in us like fire, and we ran without fatigue, every muscle with immense +rebound glorying in its strength. Stickeen flew across everything in his +way, and not till dark did he settle into his normal fox-like trot. At +last the cloudy mountains came in sight, and we soon felt the solid rock +beneath our feet, and were safe. Then came weakness. Danger had +vanished, and so had our strength. We tottered down the lateral moraine +in the dark, over boulders and tree trunks, through the bushes and +devil-club thickets of the grove where we had sheltered ourselves in the +morning, and across the level mud-slope of the terminal moraine. We +reached camp about ten o'clock, and found a big fire and a big supper. A +party of Hoona Indians had visited Mr. Young, bringing a gift of +porpoise meat and wild strawberries, and Hunter Joe had brought in a +wild goat. But we lay down, too tired to eat much, and soon fell into a +troubled sleep. The man who said, "The harder the toil, the sweeter the +rest," never was profoundly tired. Stickeen kept springing up and +muttering in his sleep, no doubt dreaming that he was still on the brink +of the crevasse; and so did I, that night and many others long +afterward, when I was overtired. + +Thereafter Stickeen was a changed dog. During the rest of the trip, +instead of holding aloof, he always lay by my side, tried to keep me +constantly in sight, and would hardly accept a morsel of food, however +tempting, from any hand but mine. At night, when all was quiet about the +camp-fire, he would come to me and rest his head on my knee with a look +of devotion as if I were his god. And often as he caught my eye he +seemed to be trying to say, "Wasn't that an awful time we had together +on the glacier?" + + * * * * * + +Nothing in after years has dimmed that Alaska storm-day. As I write it +all comes rushing and roaring to mind as if I were again in the heart of +it. Again I see the gray flying clouds with their rain-floods and snow, +the ice-cliffs towering above the shrinking forest, the majestic +ice-cascade, the vast glacier outspread before its white mountain +fountains, and in the heart of it the tremendous crevasse,--emblem of +the valley of the shadow of death,--low clouds trailing over it, the +snow falling into it; and on its brink I see little Stickeen, and I hear +his cries for help and his shouts of joy. I have known many dogs, and +many a story I could tell of their wisdom and devotion; but to none do I +owe so much as to Stickeen. At first the least promising and least known +of my dog-friends, he suddenly became the best known of them all. Our +storm-battle for life brought him to light, and through him as through a +window I have ever since been looking with deeper sympathy into all my +fellow mortals. + +None of Stickeen's friends knows what finally became of him. After my +work for the season was done I departed for California, and I never saw +the dear little fellow again. In reply to anxious inquiries his master +wrote me that in the summer of 1883 he was stolen by a tourist at Fort +Wrangel and taken away on a steamer. His fate is wrapped in mystery. +Doubtless he has left this world--crossed the last crevasse--and gone +to another. But he will not be forgotten. To me Stickeen is +immortal. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Stickeen, by John Muir + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STICKEEN *** + +***** This file should be named 11673.txt or 11673.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/6/7/11673/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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