Around the Wetterhorn hung a feathery cloud, like a woolbag, and a
threatening cloud too, for as it sunk lower it increased in size, and
concealed within was a “föhn,”
fearful in its violence should it break loose.
This journey, with its varied incidents,-the wild paths, the night passed on
the mountain, the steep rocky precipices, the hollow clefts, in which the
rustling waters from time immemorial had worn away passages for
themselves through blocks of stone,-all these were firmly impressed on
Rudy’s memory.
In a forsaken stone building, which stood just beyond the seas of snow,
they one night took shelter. Here they found some charcoal and pine
branches, so that they soon made a fire. They arranged couches to lie on as
well as they could, and then the men seated themselves by the fire, took out
their pipes, and began to smoke. They also prepared a warm, spiced drink,
of which they partook and Rudy was not forgotten-he had his share. Then
they began to talk of those mysterious beings with which the land of the
Alps abounds; the hosts of apparitions which come in the night, and carry
off the sleepers through the air, to the wonderful floating town of Venice; of
the wild herds-man, who drives the black sheep across the meadows. These
flocks are never seen, yet the tinkle of their little bells has often been heard,
as well as their unearthly bleating. Rudy listened eagerly, but without fear,
for he knew not what fear meant; and while he listened, he fancied he could
hear the roaring of the spectral herd. It seemed to come nearer and roar
louder, till the men heard it also and listened in silence, till, at length, they
told Rudy that he must not dare to sleep. It was a “fohn,” that violent storm-
wind which rushes from the mountain to the valley beneath, and in its fury
snaps asunder the trunks of large trees as if they were but slender reeds, and
carries the wooden houses from one side of a river to the other as easily as
we could move the pieces on a chess-board. After an hour had passed, they
told Rudy that it was all over, and he might go to sleep; and, fatigued with
his long walk, he readily slept at the word of command.
Very early the following morning they again set out. The sun on this day
lighted up for Rudy new mountains, new glaciers, and new snow-fields.
