te was up the bed of a torrent frozen hard and covered
with snow. It was very heavy work, but Short assured us that it would
not last long, so we pushed on.

Obed, Short, and I, with others, were clearing the way with our spades,
when suddenly, without the slightest warning, the two first, who were
ahead of me, went right through the ice and disappeared. Horror almost
overcame me, for I knew that the torrent would have the power of
sweeping them down in an instant far out of our sight. Obed was my
greatest friend. Short's loss to all the party was irreparable. The
three other men with me and I shouted to our friends, several of whom
had long poles to assist their progress, to hasten to our aid.
Fastening four of these together, two and two, I secured a rope round my
body, which the others held, and then worked myself forward till I was
over the hole. Another rope was made fast to the poles; by this I
descended. I was surprised to find the chasm so deep, for I thought
that I should see the water rushing down a little below the surface.
Instead of that, there was below the hole a hard, very nearly smooth,
floor, I lowered myself gently, and found it perfectly firm and strong;
but, alas! neither Obed nor Short were to be seen.

Under other circumstances I should have been delighted with the
appearance of the place in which I found myself. It was like a
magnificent cavern of the purest white marble, ornamented with glass
stalactites of the most brilliant rainbow hues. I should call it rather
a gallery, because it extended up and down to an indefinite distance.
No work of art could be more light or graceful.

But my thoughts were with my friends, and all the beauty which
surrounded me seemed only to mock my anxiety for their fate. I heard
those above, Laban Ragget and his sons, asking eagerly if I had found
them, and I had to answer mournfully, "No." Still I saw that they could
not have gone through the ice into the stream itself, for that
everywhere appeared unbroken. Then it struck me that, as the floor was
an inclined plane, they had probably slipped down over the smooth
surface without meeting anything to stop them. This was a solution of
the problem of the cause of their disappearance, but it did not relieve
my anxiety as to their fate. I sung out to my friends above to lengthen
the rope as far as they could, for I had no inclination to proceed
without it, and slid down to as great a distance as its leng