"
We made the final arrangements while the little torrent was swelling to a
river. Before it became too broad and deep we managed to place the car
across the center of its course, the sleds forming outriders. Then all
took their places and waited. Higher and higher rose the waters, while
avalanches, continually increasing in size and number, thundered down the
heights, and vast cataracts leaped and poured from the precipices. It was
a mercy that we were so situated that the avalanches could not reach the
car. But we received some pretty hard knocks before the stream became
deep and steady enough to float us off. Shall I ever forget that moment?
There came a sudden wave, forced onward by a great slide of ice, which
lifted car and sleds on its crest, and away we went! The car proved more
buoyant than I had believed possible. The sleds, fastened on each side,
tended to give it extra stability, and it did not sink deeper than the
middle of the windows. The latter, though formed of very thick glass,
might have been broken by the tossing ice if they had not been divided
into small panes separated by bars of steel, which projected a few inches
outside.
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