登陆注册
15515300000038

第38章 THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND(2)

Their tradition of the greater world they came from became mythical in colour and uncertain. In all things save sight they were strong and able, and presently chance sent one who had an original mind and who could talk and persuade among them, and then afterwards another. These two passed, leaving their effects, and the little community grew in numbers and in understanding, and met and settled social and economic problems that arose. Generation followed generation. Generation followed generation. There came a time when a child was born who was fifteen generations from that ancestor who went out of the valley with a bar of silver to seek God's aid, and who never returned. Thereabout it chanced that a man came into this community from the outer world. And this is the story of that man.

He was a mountaineer from the country near Quito, a man who had been down to the sea and had seen the world, a reader of books in an original way, an acute and enterprising man, and he was taken on by a party of Englishmen who had come out to Ecuador to climb mountains, to replace one of their three Swiss guides who had fallen ill. He climbed here and he climbed there, and then came the attempt on Parascotopetl, the Matterhorn of the Andes, in which he was lost to the outer world. The story of that accident has been written a dozen times. Pointer's narrative is the best. He tells how the little party worked their difficult and almost vertical way up to the very foot of the last and greatest precipice, and how they built a night shelter amidst the snow upon a little shelf of rock, and, with a touch of real dramatic power, how presently they found Nunez had gone from them. They shouted, and there was no reply; shouted and whistled, and for the rest of that night they slept no more.

As the morning broke they saw the traces of his fall. It seems impossible he could have uttered a sound. He had slipped eastward towards the unknown side of the mountain; far below he had struck a steep slope of snow, and ploughed his way down it in the midst of a snow avalanche. His track went straight to the edge of a frightful precipice, and beyond that everything was hidden. Far, far below, and hazy with distance, they could see trees rising out of a narrow, shut-in valley--the lost Country of the Blind. But they did not know it was the lost Country of the Blind, nor distinguish it in any way from any other narrow streak of upland valley. Unnerved by this disaster, they abandoned their attempt in the afternoon, and Pointer was called away to the war before he could make another attack. To this day Parascotopetl lifts an unconquered crest, and Pointer's shelter crumbles unvisited amidst the snows.

And the man who fell survived.

At the end of the slope he fell a thousand feet, and came down in the midst of a cloud of snow upon a snow-slope even steeper than the one above. Down this he was whirled, stunned and insensible, but without a bone broken in his body; and then at last came to gentler slopes, and at last rolled out and lay still, buried amidst a softening heap of the white masses that had accompanied and saved him. He came to himself with a dim fancy that he was ill in bed; then realized his position with a mountaineer's intelligence and worked himself loose and, after a rest or so, out until he saw the stars. He rested flat upon his chest for a space, wondering where he was and what had happened to him. He explored his limbs, and discovered that several of his buttons were gone and his coat turned over his head. His knife had gone from his pocket and his hat was lost, though he had tied it under his chin. He recalled that he had been looking for loose stones to raise his piece of the shelter wall. His ice-axe had disappeared.

He decided he must have fallen, and looked up to see, exaggerated by the ghastly light of the rising moon, the tremendous flight he had taken. For a while he lay, gazing blankly at the vast, pale cliff towering above, rising moment by moment out of a subsiding tide of darkness. Its phantasmal, mysterious beauty held him for a space, and then he was seized with a paroxysm of sobbing laughter . . . .

After a great interval of time he became aware that he was near the lower edge of the snow. Below, down what was now a moon-lit and practicable slope, he saw the dark and broken appearance of rock-strewn turf He struggled to his feet, aching in every joint and limb, got down painfully from the heaped loose snow about him, went downward until he was on the turf, and there dropped rather than lay beside a boulder, drank deep from the flask in his inner pocket, and instantly fell asleep . . . .

He was awakened by the singing of birds in the trees far below.

同类推荐
  • 周易浅述

    周易浅述

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 医原

    医原

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 童子经念诵法

    童子经念诵法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 西征日录

    西征日录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 鹖冠子

    鹖冠子

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • O型蔷薇女孩

    O型蔷薇女孩

    O型女孩唐雪薇今年13岁,她并不出众,但她交了许多知心朋友,她们一起快乐的生活着,之间发生了很多有趣多彩的故事!
  • 吾乃恨天道

    吾乃恨天道

    莫伤乃是地球天道继承人之一,仇恨的代表,为求力量,曾经心碎一次,之后莫伤为不辜负冰璃而穿越时空寻找力量……莫伤从此走上了水晶宫的不归之路……
  • 裹尸皮

    裹尸皮

    我叫张善水,上善若水的善水。爷爷偶得一张油皮纸充满了神秘,我迫不及待地想要解开这个秘密。远走四川,追寻爷爷的脚迹。可谁知环环紧扣,越陷越深!墓下的神秘鬼影,棺椁里的第三具尸体,乾陵立的无字碑!那些不为人知的种种到底是否存在?这到底是一个人的阴谋?还是整个世界的阴谋?
  • 婚然天成:唐少的闪婚萌妻

    婚然天成:唐少的闪婚萌妻

    订婚前夕,她闺蜜陷害,被送入“地痞流氓”的房里。不曾想,那人居然是唐氏财团的总裁,她名义上的“姐夫”。订婚那天,闺蜜挑拨,她被当场退婚,是他出现带走了她。他说:沈洛,呆在我身边,我可以给你无尽的尊荣和宠爱。可是为什么到最后,伤她最深的也是他?
  • 别让管理败在穷忙瞎忙上

    别让管理败在穷忙瞎忙上

    在我们身边,不乏夜以继日加班、身先士卒的管理者,他们一边用“拼命三郎”的精神工作,一边抱怨下属的能力不够。也有一些管理者,自己不懂管理瞎指挥,害得员工东跑西颠,还完不成任务,要赔上周末和假期。团队管理的本质不是管理者事必躬亲,什么都懂。不是整个团队以晚下班、常加班为荣,以朝九晚五、准点走为耻。而是要求管理者高瞻远瞩、统筹全局。对一个管理者来说,忙不是他的功劳,忙不是他做不好管理者的理由。定计划、分任务、跟踪检查,促成团队目标完成,才是管理者的本职工作。
  • 燃尽华颜

    燃尽华颜

    她,前世是唐门门主,因被门内长老杀害。重生于玄云大陆,这一世她要活出自己的风采。可,真的能如她所愿吗?作为“暗”的小姐,她背负着数人的命运。面对这个世界的家人,朋友,她会毫不留情面吗?
  • 穿越回到古时候

    穿越回到古时候

    一次意外,现代女孩穿越到古代,成了侯府小姐。换了灵魂的她不堪欺负,愤而撕碎休书,当场要求全城百姓见证休夫,一时之间,轰动全京城。他是绝色皇爷,妖娆,冷漠,绝代风华!这女人,胆大包天,竟敢当众唱狐狸叫,还给他送加长版苏菲。胆子肥的有意思!那他就陪她好好玩玩,妖魅的眸中浮上诡谋……
  • 楚辞芳草谱

    楚辞芳草谱

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 诛仙之为爱平凡

    诛仙之为爱平凡

    一段尘封千百年的爱恨情仇,一个绿衣女子无怨无悔的痴情,一个坚毅的男子耗尽光阴,一个冷漠的白衣女子最温柔的守护,他到底会如何选择?究竟何去何从?蚩尤魔剑带来的重重危机,他们是否会不离不弃,为爱坚信不疑?故事注定纠缠下去,演绎着一场痛心,却又无法言喻的玄幻神话!
  • 盗墓笔记同人文之吴邪是女的

    盗墓笔记同人文之吴邪是女的

    张起灵,其实,我是女的,自从第一次下墓遇见你,我便在心中认定了你,你何时能知道我的心呢?