"Your horse is sure to roll over once or twice in the glacier streams, and you can save yourself if you"re riding astride," said a fourth.
"You"re certain to get into quicksand somewhere on the trip, and if all your weight is on one side of your horse, you"ll pull him down and he"ll fall on top of you," said a fifth.
In the face of all these cheerful horrors, our escort said:--
"Ride any way you please. If a woman can keep her head, she will pull through everything in Alaska. Besides, we are not going along for nothing!"
So we chose side-saddles, that having been our manner of riding since childhood.
We had waited three weeks for the glacial flood at the eastern side of the town to subside, and could wait no longer. It was roaring within ten steps of the back door of our hotel; and in two minutes after mounting, before our feet were fairly settled in the stirrups, we had ridden down the sloping bank into the boiling, white waters.
One of the gentlemen rode ahead as guide. I watched his big horse go down in the flood--down, down; the water rose to its knees, to its rider"s feet, to _his_ knees--
He turned his head and called cheerfully, "Come on!" and we went on--one at a time, as still as the dead, save for the splashing and snorting of our horses. I felt the water, icy cold, rising high, higher; it almost washed my foot from the red-slippered stirrup; then I felt it mounting higher, my skirts floated out on the flood, and then fell, limp, about me. My glance kept flying from my horse"s head to our guide, and back again. He was tall, and his horse was tall.
"When it reaches _his_ waist," was my agonized thought, "it will be over _my_ head!"
The other gentleman rode to my side.
"Keep a firm hold of your bridle," said he, gravely, "and watch your horse. If he falls--"
"Falls! _In here!_"
"They do sometimes; one must be prepared. If he falls--of course you can swim?"
"I never swam a stroke in my life; I never even tried!"
"Is it possible?" said he, in astonishment. "Why, we would not have advised you to come at this time if we had known that. We took it for granted that you wouldn"t think of going unless you could swim."
"Oh," said I, sarcastically, "do all the women in Valdez swim?"
"No," he answered, gravely, "but then, they don"t go over the trail.
Well, we can only hope that he will not fall. When he breaks into a swim--"
"_Swim!_ Will he do that?"
"Oh, yes, he is liable to swim any minute now."
"What will I do then?" I asked, quite humbly; I could hear tears in my own voice. He must have heard them, too, his voice was so kind as he answered.
"Sit as quietly and as evenly as possible, and lean slightly forward in the saddle; then trust to heaven and give him his head."
"Does he give you any warning?"
"Not the faintest--ah-h!"
Well might he say "ah-h!" for my horse was swimming. Well might we all say "ah-h!" for one wild glance ahead revealed to my glimmering vision that all our horses were swimming.
I never knew before that horses swam so _low down_ in the water. I wished when I could see nothing but my horse"s ears that I had not been so stubborn about the saddle.
The water itself was different from any water I had ever seen. It did not flow like a river; it boiled, seethed, rushed, whirled; it pushed up into an angry bulk that came down over us like a deluge. I had let go of my reins and, leaning forward in the saddle, was clinging to my horse"s mane. The rapidly flowing water gave me the impression that we were being swept down the stream.
The roaring grew louder in my ears; I was so dizzy that I could no longer distinguish any object; there was just a blur of brown and white water, rising, falling, about me; the sole thought that remained was that I was being swept out to sea with my struggling horse.
Suddenly there was a shock which, to my tortured nerves, seemed like a ship striking on a rock. It was some time before I realized that it had been caused by my horse striking bottom. He was walking--staggering, rather, and plunging; his whole neck appeared, then his shoulders; I released his mane mechanically, as I had acted in all things since mounting, and gathered up the reins.
"That was a nasty one, wasn"t it?" said my escort, joining me. "I stayed behind to be of service if you required it. We"re getting out now, but there are, at least, ten or fifteen as bad on the trail--if not worse."
As if anything _could_ be worse!
I chanced to lift my eyes then, and I got a clear view of the ladies ahead of me. Their appearance was of such a nature that I at once looked myself over--and saw myself as others saw me! It was the first and only time that I have ever wished myself at home when I have been travelling in Alaska.
"Cheer up!" called our guide, over his broad shoulder. "The worst is yet to come."
He spoke more truthfully than even he knew. There was one stream after another--and each seemed really worse than the one that went before.
From Valdez Glacier the ice, melted by the hot July sun, was pouring out in a dozen streams that spread over the immense flats between the town and the mouth of Lowe River. There were miles and miles of it. Scarcely would we struggle out of one place that had been washed out deep--and how deep, we never knew until we were into it--when we would be compelled to plunge into another.
At last, wet and chilled, after several narrow escapes from whirlpools and quicksand, we reached a level road leading through a cool wood for several miles. From this, of a sudden, we began to climb. So steep was the ascent and so narrow the path--no wider than the horse"s feet--that my horse seemed to have a series of movable humps on him, like a camel; and riding sidewise, I could only lie forward and cling desperately to his mane, to avoid a shameful descent over his tail.
Actually, there were steps cut in the hard soil for the horses to climb upon! They pulled themselves up with powerful plunges. On both sides of this narrow path the gra.s.s or "feed," as it is called, grew so tall that we could not see one another"s heads above it, as we rode; yet it had been growing only six weeks.
Mingling with young alders, fireweed, devil"s-club and elderberry--the latter sprayed out in scarlet--it formed a network across our path, through which we could only force our way with closed eyes, blind as Love.
Bad as the ascent was, the sudden descent was worse. The horse"s humps all turned the other way, and we turned with them. It was only by constant watchfulness that we kept ourselves from sliding over their heads.
After another ascent, we emerged into the open upon the brow of a cliff.
Below us stretched the valley of the Lowe River. Thousands of feet below wound and looped the blue reaches of the river, set here and there with islands of glistening sand or rosy fireweed; while over all trailed the silver mists of morning. One elderberry island was so set with scarlet sprays of berries that from our height no foliage could be seen.
After this came a scented, primeval forest, through which we rode in silence. Its charm was too elusive for speech. Our horses" feet sank into the moss without sound. There was no underbrush; only dim aisles and arcades fashioned from the gray trunks of trees. The pale green foliage floating above us completely shut out the sun. Soft gray, mottled moss dripped from the limbs and branches of the spruce trees in delicate, lacy festoons.
Soon after emerging from this dreamlike wood we reached Camp Comfort, where we paused for lunch.
This is one of the most comfortable road houses in Alaska. It is situated in a low, green valley; the river winds in front, and snow mountains float around it. The air is very sweet.
It is only ten miles from Valdez; but those ten miles are equal to fifty in taxing the endurance.
We found an excellent vegetable garden at Camp Comfort. Pansies and other flowers were as large and fragrant as I have ever seen, the coloring of the pansies being unusually rich. They told us that only two other women had pa.s.sed over the trail during the summer.
While our lunch was being prepared, we stood about the immense stove in the immense living room and tried to dry our clothing.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Copyright by E. A. Hegg, Juneau
Courtesy of Webster & Stevens, Seattle
WHITE HORSE RAPIDS IN WINTER]
This room was at least thirty feet square. It had a high ceiling and a rough board floor. In one corner was a piano, in another a phonograph.
The ceiling was hung with all kinds of trail apparel used by men, including long boots and heavy stockings, guns and other weapons, and other articles that added a picturesque, and even startling, touch to the big room.