To Win or to Die | Page 9

a sigh as of one in pain.
At this one of the listeners thrust out a hand, and the other joined in an earnest grip, which told of mutual trust and determination to stand by each other to the death, making them feel that the terrible emergency had made them, not acquaintances of an hour's length, but staunch friends, both strong and tried. Then they loosened the warm, manly grip, and were ready for the worst.
For there was no longer any doubt: the enemy was close at hand, waiting the moment for the deadly rush. The only question was whether they should fire at once--not with the thought of hitting, but to teach the scoundrels how thoroughly they were on the alert, and in the hope of driving them into taking to flight once more.
But they doubted. A few shots had done this once, but now that the miscreants had had time to recover from their panic, would it answer again?
Thud! thud! in front, and then a far heavier one behind them. They could not hold out much longer. The enemy was creeping towards them.
At this moment there was a tremendous crack, a hissing roar, and a terrific concussion, the defenders of the tiny fort being struck down behind their little breastwork.
But this onslaught was not from the enemy they awaited. The ever-gathering snow from far above, loosened by the hot current of air ascending from the fire, had come down in one awful charge, and the marauders' camp was buried in an instant beneath thousands of tons of snow.
CHAPTER FIVE.
HAND IN HAND.
There was the sense of a terrible weight pressing the sufferers down, with their chests against the soft load bound upon the sledge in front; and utterly stunned, they lay for a time motionless, and almost breathless.
Then one began to struggle violently, striving to draw himself back, and after a tremendous effort succeeding, to find that beneath him the snow was loose, there being a narrow space along by the side of the sledge, and that though his breath came short he could still breathe.
He had hardly grasped this fact when the movement on his right told of a similar action going on, and he began to help his companion in misfortune, who directly after crouched down beside him, panting heavily, in the narrow space, which their efforts had, however, made wider.
"Horrible!" panted the second at last. "An avalanche. Surely this does not mean death."
There was no reply, and in the awful darkness a hand was stretched out and an arm grasped.
"Why don't you say something?" whispered the speaker hoarsely.
"What can I say, man? God only knows."
"But it is only snow. We must burrow our way out. Wait a moment. This way is towards the open valley."
"No, no; this. Beyond you is the wall of rock. Let me try."
For the next ten minutes there was the sound of one struggling to get through the snow, and then it ended with the hoarse panting of a man lying exhausted with his efforts.
"Let me come and try now," came in smothered accents.
"It is of no use. The snow was loose at first, but farther on it is pressed together hard like ice. Try your way."
The scuffling and tearing commenced now to the right.
"Yes; it's quite loose now, and falls down. Ah! no good; here is the solid rock running up as far as I can reach."
"I can hardly breathe. It is growing hotter every moment."
"No; it is cooler here. I can reach right up and stand against the rock."
The speaker's companion in the terrible peril crept over the snow to his side and rose to his feet, to find the air purer; and, like a drowning man who had raised his head for the moment above water, he drank in deep draughts of the cold, sweet air.
"Hah!" he gasped at last hoarsely, after reaching up as high as he could, "the rock has saved us for the moment. The snow slopes away from it like the roof of a shed."
"Yes; if we had been a few feet farther from it we should have been crushed to death. Let's try and tear a way along by the foot of the rock."
They tried hard in turn till they were utterly exhausted and lay panting; but the only result was that the loose snow beneath them became trampled down. No, not the only result; they increased the space within what was fast becoming a snow cavern, one of whose walls was the solid rocky side of the ravine.
"Are we to die like this?"
"Is this to be the end of all our golden hopes? Oh, heaven help us! What shall we do? The air is growing hotter; we have nearly exhausted it all, and suffocation is coming on fast. I can't, I won't die yet.