Evening Star Newspaper, January 25, 1931, Page 86

1931. C. JANUARY 25, D. g e Z o1 7] < B THE SUNDAY STAR, A Crisis in the Life - of a Mongrel That Showed No Emotion Until the Big Moment—Crossing anIce Bridge Where a Single Slip Meant Annihilation. BY JOHN MUIR. EDITOR’S NOTE — This fascinating subtie analysis of character he ment of ertreme peril tore reticence jrom the soul of t alooj lttle creature and showed dashing, 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 “Here he halted and I feared he might i fifi TRt mmam MM“WW mm mnmm i dutis: dEals mum.uu N T and mm in fact, all Mlaed.ndhmehy-bo‘hl. , though smooth, was ufldbhwnved.nmm h&lrmed.muuldm IS master assured me that he would be no muofl.&hthemspedeum dndo:,oulldendmooldndhnpr bear, swim like a seal, tbeunllevlfiueo. n a i uuMuu N:w u:: T it uldtell. by But the most trying part of the working my ppln(anotber the safe position had I been so long under got up that cliff I never co humedseolfintbunlvunfiln beyond our call or know! At such times one’s whole body is common skill and fortitude are thing seemed to have been done else. pressed wes the abyss on either hand I studiously ignored. power before How I m Nbl wle I could possibly umm» mfl i time he got back, baffled of course, I had made & step or two. AL § Belid m,mmm u 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. Whellgflnedtheotherlidemm louder than ever, and after running back and forth in vain search for a way of escape he Mlntmwthebmkdthemm the bridge, moaning and wailing as sliver-bridge that crossed bitterness of death. crevmefromnurmemldllleolm it seems wonderful that he should have been able to weigh and appreciate it so justly. The danger was enough to daunt anybody, bat that we were mwwm i mm ._m Pk | H mmmwm | Mmmw | m mmMm 1L mmuhmm@m“ K MM it T had e oould'lk Oould this be the silent, philosophic Stickeen? I shouted encouragement, tel it easlly. But he was afraid o try. S0 small an animal should be big, wise fears! was not s0 bad as it looked flat and safe for his feet, and hi is nerve-trying discovery I ran back -brlfie and cautiously ‘examined of the crevasse was here about sliver diagonally was , its thin knife-edge near the 25 or 30 feet below , and the upcurving ends hchodbhlflulorloleetbelow §21 §iRid | ittt 1 i 28 mM u!d mm .md 1m mm wmmemme mm,m mmm m i hen Stickeen ished. and old I e They looked as It was lik his equanimity van 1 awoke early, called not serenity of nature. IS strength of charac young and as wild. into them. scape, but they were sma and had no explaining give out particulars. _A day came, however, w broke, made memorable by that W Which had been on my mind al H It other by & nig y 11 His natural composure and. ieom'ue. hnfl vanished utterly in a tumultuous storm of mmma mm_ mm mmw m.“~ So hidden before, he was now transpavent, - l-don.oouldseetheworumathh wandering on mountains and mind like the movements of a seemed so plain and stern this. Had the danger been less his distress have seemed ridiculous. But in this merciless abyss lay the shadow of death. of its oase. His voice and gestures, h Kuu.mnperlecuyhumfiutlol. other side were seemed all but’ perils encoun- vertical wall to the 24 o m S5t !nmy mmmmmm its surface broken into wave-shaped blades and shattered blocks, suggesting ' thé wildest: up>