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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23175-0.txt b/23175-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..88f1fb4 --- /dev/null +++ b/23175-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1762 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Terminal Moraine, by Frank E. Stockton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: My Terminal Moraine + 1892 + +Author: Frank E. Stockton + +Release Date: October 24, 2007 [EBook #23175] +Last Updated: March 12, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY TERMINAL MORAINE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +MY TERMINAL MORAINE + +By Frank E. Stockton + +Copyright, 1892, by P. F. Collier + + +A man's birth is generally considered the most important event of his +existence, but I truly think that what I am about to relate was more +important to me than my entrance into this world; because, had not these +things happened, I am of the opinion that my life would have been of no +value to me and my birth a misfortune. + +My father, Joshua Cuthbert, died soon after I came to my majority, +leaving me what he had considered a comfortable property. This consisted +of a large house and some forty acres of land, nearly the whole of which +lay upon a bluff, which upon three sides descended to a little valley, +through which ran a gentle stream. I had no brothers or sisters. My +mother died when I was a boy, and I, Walter Cuthbert, was left the sole +representative of my immediate family. + +My estate had been a comfortable one to my father, because his income +from the practice of his profession as a physician enabled him to keep +it up and provide satisfactorily for himself and me. I had no profession +and but a very small income, the result of a few investments my father +had made. Left to myself, I felt no inducement to take up any profession +or business. My wants were simple, and for a few years I lived without +experiencing any inconvenience from the economies which I was obliged +to practice. My books, my dog, my gun and my rod made life pass very +pleasantly to me, and the subject of an increase of income never +disturbed my mind. + +But as time passed on the paternal home began to present an air of +neglect and even dilapidation, which occasionally attracted my attention +and caused, as I incidentally discovered, a great deal of unfavorable +comment among my neighbors, who thought that I should go to work and +at least earn money enough to put the house and grounds in a condition +which should not be unworthy the memory of the good Dr. Cuthbert. In +fact, I began to be looked upon as a shiftless young man; and, now and +then, I found a person old enough and bold enough to tell me so. + +But, instead of endeavoring to find some suitable occupation by which I +might better my condition and improve my estate, I fell in love, which, +in the opinion of my neighbors, was the very worst thing that could have +happened to me at this time. I lived in a thrifty region, and for a man +who could not support himself to think of taking upon him the support of +a wife, especially such a wife as Agnes Havelot would be, was considered +more than folly and looked upon as a crime. Everybody knew that I was in +love with Miss Havelot, for I went to court her as boldly as I went to +fish or shoot. There was a good deal of talk about it, and this finally +came to the ears of Mr. Havelot, my lady's father, who, thereupon, +promptly ordered her to have no more to do with me. + +The Havelot estate, which adjoined mine, was a very large one, +containing hundreds and hundreds of acres; and the Havelots were rich, +rich enough to frighten any poor young man of marrying intent. But I +did not appreciate the fact that I was a poor young man. I had never +troubled my head about money as it regarded myself, and I now did not +trouble my head about it as it regarded Agnes. I loved her, I hoped she +loved me, and all other considerations were thrown aside. Mr. Havelot, +however, was a man of a different way of thinking. + +It was a little time before I became convinced that the decision of +Agnes's father, that there should be no communication between that dear +girl and myself, really meant anything. I had never been subjected to +restrictions, and I did not understand how people of spirit could submit +to them; but I was made to understand it when Mr. Havelot, finding me +wandering about his grounds, very forcibly assured me that if I should +make my appearance there again, or if he discovered any attempt on my +part to communicate with his daughter in any way, he would send her from +home. He concluded the very brief interview by stating that if I had any +real regard for his daughter's happiness I would cease attentions which +would meet with the most decided disapprobation from her only surviving +parent and which would result in exiling her from home, I begged for one +more interview with Miss Havelot, and if it had been granted I should +have assured her of the state of my affections, no matter if there were +reasons to suppose that I would never see her again; but her father very +sternly forbade anything of the kind, and I went away crushed. + +It was a very hard case, for if I played the part of a bold lover and +tried to see Agnes without regard to the wicked orders of her father, +I should certainly be discovered; and then it would be not only myself, +but the poor girl, who would suffer. So I determined that I would submit +to the Havelot decree. No matter if I never saw her again, never heard +the sound of her voice, it would be better to have her near me, to have +her breathe the same air, cast up her eyes at the same sky, listen to +the same birds, that I breathed, looked at and listened to, than to have +her far away, probably in Kentucky, where I knew she had relatives, +and where the grass was blue and the sky probably green, or at any +rate would appear so to her if in the least degree she felt as I did in +regard to the ties of home and the affinities between the sexes. + +I now found myself in a most doleful and even desperate condition of +mind. There was nothing in the world which I could have for which I +cared. Hunting, fishing, and the rambles through woods and fields +that had once been so delightful to me now became tasks which I seldom +undertook. The only occupation in which I felt the slightest interest +was that of sitting in a tower of my house with a telescope, endeavoring +to see my Agnes on some portion of her father's grounds; but, although I +diligently directed my glass at the slightest stretch of lawn or bit +of path which I could discern through openings in the foliage, I never +caught sight of her. I knew, however, by means of daily questions +addressed to my cook, whose daughter was a servant in the Havelot +house, that Agnes was yet at home. For that reason I remained at home. +Otherwise, I should have become a wanderer. + +About a month after I had fallen into this most unhappy state an old +friend came to see me. We had been school-fellows, but he differed from +me in almost every respect. He was full of ambition and energy, and, +although he was but a few years older than myself, he had already made +a name in the world. He was a geologist, earnest and enthusiastic in his +studies and his investigations. He told me frankly that the object of +his visit was twofold. In the first place, he wanted to see me, and, +secondly, he wanted to make some geological examinations on my grounds, +which were situated, as he informed me, upon a terminal moraine, +a formation which he had not yet had an opportunity of practically +investigating. + +I had not known that I lived on a moraine, and now that I knew it, I did +not care. But Tom Burton glowed with high spirits and lively zeal as he +told me how the great bluff on which my house stood, together with the +other hills and wooded terraces which stretched away from it along the +side of the valley, had been formed by the minute fragments of rock and +soil, which, during ages and ages, had been gradually pushed down from +the mountains by a great glacier which once occupied the country to the +northeast of my house. “Why, Walter, my boy,” he cried, “if I had not +read it all in the books I should have known for myself, as soon as +I came here, that there had once been a glacier up there, and as it +gradually moved to the southwest it had made this country what it is. +Have you a stream down there in that dell which I see lies at right +angles with the valley and opens into it?” + +“No,” said I; “I wish there were one. The only stream we have flows +along the valley and not on my property.” + +Without waiting for me Tom ran down into my dell, pushed his way through +the underbrush to its upper end, and before long came back flushed with +heat and enthusiasm. + +“Well, sir,” he said, “that dell was once the bed of a glacial stream, +and you may as well clear it out and plant corn there if you want to, +for there never will be another stream flowing through it until there is +another glacier out in the country beyond. And now I want you to let +me dig about here. I want to find out what sort of stuff the glacier +brought down from the mountains. I will hire a man and will promise you +to fill up all the holes I make.” + +I had no objection to my friend's digging as much as he pleased, and +for three days he busied himself in getting samples of the soil of my +estate. Sometimes I went out and looked at him, and gradually a little +of his earnest ardor infused itself into me, and with some show of +interest I looked into the holes he had made and glanced over the +mineral specimens he showed me. + +“Well, Walter,” said he, when he took leave of me, “I am very sorry that +I did not discover that the glacier had raked out the bed of a gold mine +from the mountains up there and brought it down to you, or at any rate, +some valuable iron ore. But I am obliged to say it did not do anything +of the sort. But I can tell you one thing it brought you, and, although +it is not of any great commercial value, I should think you could make +good use of it here on your place. You have one of the finest deposits +of gravel on this bluff that I have met with, and if you were to take +out a lot of it and spread it over your driveways and paths, it would +make it a great deal pleasanter for you to go about here in bad weather +and would wonderfully improve your property. Good roads always give +an idea of thrift and prosperity.” And then he went away with a +valise nearly full of mineral specimens which he assured me were very +interesting. + +My interest in geological formations died away as soon as Tom Burton had +departed, but what he said about making gravel roads giving the place an +air of thrift and prosperity had its effect upon my mind. It struck +me that it would be a very good thing if people in the neighborhood, +especially the Havelots, were to perceive on my place some evidences +of thrift and prosperity. Most palpable evidences of unthrift and +inpecuniosity had cut me off from Agnes, and why might it not be that +some signs of improved circumstances would remove, to a degree at least, +the restrictions which had been placed between us? This was but a very +little thing upon which to build hopes; but ever since men and women +have loved they have built grand hopes upon very slight foundations. I +determined to put my roadways in order. + +My efforts in this direction were really evidence of anything but +thriftiness, for I could not in the least afford to make my drives +and walks resemble the smooth and beautiful roads which wound over the +Havelot estate, although to do this was my intention, and I set about +the work without loss of time. I took up this occupation with so much +earnestness that it seriously interfered with my observations from the +tower. + +I hired two men and set them to work to dig a gravel-pit. They made +excavations at several places, and very soon found what they declared +to be a very fine quality of road-gravel. I ordered them to dig on +until they had taken out what they believed to be enough to cover all +my roads. When this had been done, I would have it properly spread and +rolled. As this promised to be a very good job, the men went to work in +fine spirits and evidently made up their minds that the improvements I +desired would require a vast deal of gravel. + +When they had dug a hole so deep that it became difficult to throw up +the gravel from the bottom, I suggested that they should dig at some +other place. But to this they objected, declaring that the gravel was +getting better and better, and it would be well to go on down as long as +the quality continued to be so good. So, at last, they put a ladder into +the pit, one man carrying the gravel up in a hod, while the other +dug it; and when they had gone down so deep that this was no longer +practicable, they rigged up a derrick and windlass and drew up the +gravel in a bucket. + +Had I been of a more practical turn of mind I might have perceived that +this method of working made the job a very long and, consequently, to +the laborers, a profitable one; but no such idea entered into my head, +and not noticing whether they were bringing up sand or gravel I allowed +them to proceed. + +One morning I went out to the spot where the excavation was being made +and found that the men had built a fire on the ground near the opening +of the pit, and that one of them was bending over it warming himself. +As the month was July this naturally surprised me, and I inquired the +reason for so strange a performance. + +“Upon my soul,” said the man, who was rubbing his hands over the blaze, +“I do not wonder you are surprised, but it's so cold down at the bottom +of that pit that me fingers is almost frosted; and we haven't struck any +wather neither, which couldn't be expected, of course, a-diggin' down +into the hill like this.” + +I looked into the hole and found it was very deep. “I think it would be +better to stop digging here,” said I, “and try some other place.” + +“I wouldn't do that just now,” said the other man, who was preparing to +go down in the bucket; “to be sure, it's a good deal more like a well +than a gravel-pit, but it's bigger at the top than at the bottom, and +there's no danger of its cavin' in, and now that we've got everything +rigged up all right, it would be a pity to make a change yet awhile.” + +So I let them go on; but the next day when I went out again I found that +they had come to the conclusion that it was time to give up digging in +that hole. They both declared that it almost froze their feet to stand +on the ground where they worked at the bottom of the excavation. The +slow business of drawing up the gravel by means of a bucket and windlass +was, therefore, reluctantly given up. The men now went to work to dig +outward from this pit toward the edge of the bluff which overlooked +my little dell, and gradually made a wide trench, which they deepened +until--and I am afraid to say how long they worked before this was +done--they could walk to the original pit from the level of the dell. +They then deepened the inner end of the trench, wheeling out the gravel +in barrows, until they had made an inclined pathway from the dell to the +bottom of the pit. The wheeling now became difficult, and the men soon +declared that they were sure that they had quite gravel enough. + +When they made this announcement, and I had gone into some financial +calculations, I found that I would be obliged to put an end to my +operations, at least for the present, for my available funds were gone, +or would be when I had paid what I owed for the work. The men were +very much disappointed by the sudden ending of this good job, but they +departed, and I was left to gaze upon a vast amount of gravel, of which, +for the present at least, I could not afford to make the slightest use. + +The mental despondency which had been somewhat lightened during my +excavating operations now returned, and I became rather more gloomy and +downcast than before. My cook declared that it was of no use to prepare +meals which I never ate, and suggested that it would save money if I +discharged her. As I had not paid her anything for a long time, I did +not see how this would benefit me. + +Wandering about one day with my hat pulled down over my eyes and my +hands thrust deep into my pockets, I strolled into the dell and stood +before the wide trench which led to the pit in which I had foolishly +sunk the money which should have supported me for months. I entered this +dismal passage and walked slowly and carefully down the incline until I +reached the bottom of the original pit, where I had never been before. +I stood here looking up and around me and wondering how men could bring +themselves to dig down into such dreary depths simply for the sake of +a few dollars a week, when I involuntarily began to stamp my feet. They +were very cold, although I had not been there more than a minute. I +wondered at this and took up some of the loose gravel in my hand. It was +quite dry, but it chilled my fingers. I did not understand it, and I did +not try to, but walked up the trench and around into the dell, thinking +of Agnes. + +I was very fond of milk, which, indeed, was almost the only food I now +cared for, and I was consequently much disappointed at my noonday meal +when I found that the milk had soured and was not fit to drink. + +“You see, sir,” said Susan, “ice is very scarce and dear, and we can not +afford to buy much of it. There was no freezin' weather last winter, +and the price has gone up as high as the thermometer, sir, and so, +between the two of 'em, I can't keep things from spoilin'.” + +The idea now came to me that if Susan would take the milk, and anything +else she wished to keep cool in this hot weather, to the bottom of the +gravel-pit, she would find the temperature there cold enough to preserve +them without ice, and I told her so. + +The next morning Susan came to me with a pleased countenance and said, +“I put the butter and the milk in that pit last night, and the butter's +just as hard and the milk's as sweet as if it had been kept in an +ice-house. But the place is as cold as an ice-house, sir, and unless I +am mistaken, there's ice in it. Anyway, what do you call that?” And she +took from a little basket a piece of grayish ice as large as my fist. +“When I found it was so cold down there, sir,” she said, “I thought +I would dig a little myself and see what made it so; and I took a +fire-shovel and hatchet, and, when I had scraped away some of the +gravel, I came to something hard and chopped off this piece of it, which +is real ice, sir, or I know nothing about it. Perhaps there used to be +an ice-house there, and you might get some of it if you dug, though +why anybody should put it down so deep and then cover it up, I'm sure I +don't know. But as long as there's any there, I think we should get it +out, even if there's only a little of it; for I can not take everything +down to that pit, and we might as well have it in the refrigerator.” + +This seemed to me like very good sense, and if I had had a man I should +have ordered him to go down to the pit and dig up any lumps of ice +he might find and bring them to the house. But I had no man, and I +therefore became impressed with the opinion that if I did not want to +drink sour milk for the rest of the summer, it might be a good thing for +me to go down there and dig out some of the ice myself. So with pickaxe +and shovel I went to the bottom of the pit and set myself to work. + +A few inches below the surface I found that my shovel struck something +hard, and, clearing away the gravel from this for two or three square +feet, I looked down upon a solid mass of ice. It was dirty and begrimed, +but it was truly ice. With my pick I detached some large pieces of it. +These, with some discomfort, I carried out into the dell where Susan +might come with her basket and get them. + +For several days Susan and I took out ice from the pit, and then I +thought that perhaps Tom Burton might feel some interest in this frozen +deposit in my terminal moraine, and so I wrote to him about it. He did +not answer my letter, but instead arrived himself the next afternoon. + +“Ice at the bottom of a gravel-pit,” said he, “is a thing I never heard +of. Will you lend me a spade and a pickaxe?” + +When Tom came out of that pit--it was too cold a place for me to go with +him and watch his proceedings--I saw him come running toward the house. + +“Walter,” he shouted, “we must hire all the men we can find and dig, +dig, dig. If I am not mistaken something has happened on your place that +is wonderful almost beyond belief. But we must not stop to talk. We must +dig, dig, dig; dig all day and dig all night. Don't think of the cost. +I'll attend to that. I'll get the money. What we must do is to find men +and set them to work.” + +“What's the matter?” said I. “What has happened?” + +“I haven't time to talk about it now; besides I don't want to, for fear +that I should find that I am mistaken. But get on your hat, my dear +fellow, and let's go over to the town for men.” + +The next day there were eight men working under the direction of my +friend Burton, and although they did not work at night as he wished +them to do, they labored steadfastly for ten days or more before Tom was +ready to announce what it was he had hoped to discover, and whether or +not he had found it. For a day or two I watched the workmen from time to +time, but after that I kept away, preferring to await the result of +my friend's operations. He evidently expected to find something worth +having, and whether he was successful or not, it suited me better to +know the truth all at once and not by degrees. + +On the morning of the eleventh day Tom came into the room where I was +reading and sat down near me. His face was pale, his eyes glittering. +“Old friend,” said he, and as he spoke I noticed that his voice was +a little husky, although it was plain enough that his emotion was not +occasioned by bad fortune--“my good old friend, I have found out what +made the bottom of your gravel-pit so uncomfortably cold. You need not +doubt what I am going to tell you, for my excavations have been complete +and thorough enough to make me sure of what I say. Don't you remember +that I told you that ages ago there was a vast glacier in the country +which stretches from here to the mountains? Well, sir, the foot of that +glacier must have reached further this way than is generally supposed. +At any rate a portion of it did extend in this direction as far as this +bit of the world which is now yours. This end or spur of the glacier, +nearly a quarter of a mile in width, I should say, and pushing before it +a portion of the terminal moraine on which you live, came slowly toward +the valley until suddenly it detached itself from the main glacier and +disappeared from sight. That is to say, my boy”--and as he spoke Tom +sprang to his feet, too excited to sit any longer--“it descended to +the bowels of the earth, at least for a considerable distance in that +direction, Now you want to know how this happened. Well, I'll tell you. +In this part of the country there are scattered about here and there +great caves. Geologists know one or two of them, and it is certain that +there are others undiscovered. Well, sir, your glacier spur discovered +one of them, and when it had lain over the top of it for an age or two, +and had grown bigger and bigger, and heavier and heavier, it at last +burst through the rock roof of the cave, snapping itself from the +rest of the glacier and falling in one vast mass to the bottom of the +subterranean abyss. Walter, it is there now. The rest of the glacier +came steadily down; the moraines were forced before it; they covered +up this glacier spur, this broken fragment, and by the time the climate +changed and the average of temperature rose above that of the glacial +period, this vast sunken mass of ice was packed away below the surface +of the earth, out of the reach of the action of friction, or heat, or +moisture, or anything else which might destroy it. And through all the +long procession of centuries that broken end of the glacier has been +lying in your terminal moraine. It is there now. It is yours, Walter +Cuthbert. It is an ice-mine. It is wealth, and so far as I can make out, +it is nearly all upon your land. To you is the possession, but to me is +the glory of the discovery. A bit of the glacial period kept in a cave +for us! It is too wonderful to believe! Walter, have you any brandy?” + +It may well be supposed that by this time I was thoroughly awakened to +the importance and the amazing character of my friend's discovery, and +I hurried with him to the scene of operations. There he explained +everything and showed me how, by digging away a portion of the face of +the bluff, he had found that this vast fragment of the glacier, +which had been so miraculously preserved, ended in an irregularly +perpendicular wall, which extended downward he knew not how far, and the +edge of it on its upper side had been touched by my workmen in digging +their pit. “It was the gradual melting of the upper end of this +glacier,” said Tom, “probably more elevated than the lower end, that +made your dell. I wondered why the depression did not extend further up +toward the spot where the foot of the glacier was supposed to have been. +This end of the fragment, being sunk in deeper and afterward covered up +more completely, probably never melted at all.” + +“It is amazing--astounding,” said I; “but what of it, now that we have +found it?” + +“What of it?” cried Tom, and his whole form trembled as he spoke. “You +have here a source of wealth, of opulence which shall endure for the +rest of your days. Here at your very door, where it can be taken out and +transported with the least possible trouble, is ice enough to supply the +town, the county, yes, I might say, the State, for hundreds of years. +No, sir, I can not go in to supper. I can not eat. I leave to you the +business and practical part of this affair. I go to report upon its +scientific features.” + +“Agnes,” exclaimed, as I walked to the house with my hands clasped and +my eyes raised to the sky, “the glacial period has given thee to me!” + +This did not immediately follow, although I went that very night to +Mr. Havelot and declared to him that I was now rich enough to marry his +daughter. He laughed at me in a manner which was very annoying, and made +certain remarks which indicated that he thought it probable that it was +not the roof of the cave, but my mind, which had given way under the +influence of undue pressure. + +The contemptuous manner in which I had been received aroused within me a +very unusual state of mind. While talking to Mr. Havelot I heard not +far away in some part of the house a voice singing. It was the voice +of Agnes, and I believed she sang so that I could hear her. But as her +sweet tones reached my ear there came to me at the same time the harsh, +contemptuous words of her father. I left the house determined to crush +that man to the earth beneath a superincumbent mass of ice--or the +evidence of the results of the ownership of such a mass--which would +make him groan and weep as he apologized to me for his scornful and +disrespectful utterances and at the same time offered me the hand of his +daughter. + +When the discovery of the ice-mine, as it grew to be called, became +generally known, my grounds were crowded by sightseers, and reporters +of newspapers were more plentiful than squirrels. But the latter were +referred to Burton, who would gladly talk to them as long as they could +afford to listen, and I felt myself at last compelled to shut my gates +to the first. + +I had offers of capital to develop this novel source of wealth, and I +accepted enough of this assistance to enable me to begin operations on a +moderate scale. It was considered wise not to uncover any portion of the +glacier spur, but to construct an inclined shaft down to its wall-like +end and from this tunnel into the great mass. Immediately the leading +ice company of the neighboring town contracted with me for all the ice I +could furnish, and the flood-gates of affluence began slowly to rise. + +The earliest, and certainly one of the greatest, benefits which came +to me from this bequest from the unhistoric past was the new energy and +vigor with which my mind and body were now infused. My old, careless +method of life and my recent melancholy, despairing mood were gone, and +I now began to employ myself upon the main object of my life with an +energy and enthusiasm almost equal to that of my friend, Tom Burton. +This present object of my life was to prepare my home for Agnes. + +The great piles of gravel which my men had dug from the well-like pit +were spread upon the roadways and rolled smooth and hard; my lawn was +mowed; my flower-beds and borders put in order; useless bushes and +undergrowth cut out and cleared away; my outbuildings were repaired +and the grounds around my house rapidly assumed their old appearance of +neatness and beauty. + +Ice was very scarce that summer, and, as the wagons wound away from the +opening of the shaft which led down to the glacier, carrying their loads +to the nearest railway station, so money came to me; not in large sums +at first, for preparations had not yet been perfected for taking out the +ice in great quantities, but enough to enable me to go on with my work +as rapidly as I could plan it. I set about renovating and brightening +and newly furnishing my house. Whatever I thought that Agnes would +like I bought and put into it. I tried to put myself in her place as I +selected the paper-hangings and the materials with which to cover the +furniture. + +Sometimes, while thus employed selecting ornaments or useful articles +for my house, and using as far as was possible the taste and judgment +of another instead of my own, the idea came to me that perhaps Agnes had +never heard of my miraculous good fortune. Certainly her father would +not be likely to inform her, and perhaps she still thought of me, if she +thought at all, as the poor young man from whom she had been obliged to +part because he was poor. + +But whether she knew that I was growing rich, or whether she thought I +was becoming poorer and poorer, I thought only of the day when I could +go to her father and tell him that I was able to take his daughter and +place her in a home as beautiful as that in which she now lived, and +maintain her with all the comforts and luxuries which he could give her. + +One day I asked my faithful cook, who also acted as my housekeeper and +general supervisor, to assist me in making out a list of china which I +intended to purchase. + +“Are you thinking of buying china, sir?” she asked. “We have now quite +as much as we really need.” + +“Oh, yes,” said I, “I shall get complete sets of everything that can be +required for a properly furnished household.” + +Susan gave a little sigh. “You are spendin' a lot of money, sir, and +some of it for things that a single gentleman would be likely not to +care very much about; and if you was to take it into your head to travel +and stay away for a year or two, there's a good many things you've +bought that would look shabby when you come back, no matter how careful +I might be in dustin' 'em and keepin' 'em covered.” + +“But I have no idea of traveling,” said I. “There's no place so pleasant +as this to me.” + +Susan was silent for a few moments, and then she said: “I know very well +why you are doing all this, and I feel it my bounden duty to say to you +that there's a chance of its bein' no use. I do not speak without good +reason, and I would not do it if I didn't think that it might make +trouble lighter to you when it comes.” + +“What are you talking about, Susan; what do you mean?” + +“Well, sir, this is what I mean: It was only last night that my daughter +Jane was in Mr. Havelot's dining-room after dinner was over, and Mr. +Havelot and a friend of his were sitting there, smoking their cigars and +drinking their coffee. She went in and come out again as she was busy +takin' away the dishes, and they paid no attention to her, but went on +talkin' without knowing, most likely, she was there. Mr. Have-lot and +the gentleman were talkin' about you, and Jane she heard Mr. Havelot say +as plain as anything, and she said she couldn't be mistaken, that even +if your nonsensical ice-mine proved to be worth anything, he would +never let his daughter marry an ice-man. He spoke most disrespectful of +ice-men, sir, and said that it would make him sick to have a son-in-law +whose business it was to sell ice to butchers, and hotels, and +grog-shops, and pork-packers, and all that sort of people, and that he +would as soon have his daughter marry the man who supplied a hotel with +sausages as the one who supplied it with ice to keep those sausages from +spoiling. You see, sir, Mr. Havelot lives on his property as his father +did before him, and he is a very proud man, with a heart as hard and +cold as that ice down under your land; and it's borne in on me very +strong, sir, that it would be a bad thing for you to keep on thinkin' +that you are gettin' this house all ready to bring Miss Havelot to when +you have married her. For if Mr. Havelot keeps on livin', which there's +every chance of his doin', it may be many a weary year before you get +Miss Agnes, if you ever get her. And havin' said that, sir, I say no +more, and I would not have said this much if I hadn't felt it my bounden +duty to your father's son to warn him that most likely he was workin' +for what he might never get, and so keep him from breakin' his heart +when he found out the truth all of a sudden.” + +With that Susan left me, without offering any assistance in making out a +list of china. This was a terrible story; but, after all, it was founded +only upon servants' gossip. In this country, even proud, rich men like +Mr. Havelot did not have such absurd ideas regarding the source of +wealth. Money is money, and whether it is derived from the ordinary +products of the earth, from which came much of Mr. Havelot's revenue, +or from an extraordinary project such as my glacier spur, it truly could +not matter so far as concerned the standing in society of its possessor. +What utter absurdity was this which Susan had told me! If I were to go +to Mr. Havelot and tell him that I would not marry his daughter because +he supplied brewers and bakers with the products of his fields, would he +not consider me an idiot? I determined to pay no attention to the idle +tale. But alas! determinations of that sort are often of little avail. I +did pay attention to it, and my spirits drooped. + +The tunnel into the glacier spur had now attained considerable length, +and the ice in the interior was found to be of a much finer quality than +that first met with, which was of a grayish hue and somewhat inclined to +crumble. When the workmen reached a grade of ice as good as they could +expect, they began to enlarge the tunnel into a chamber, and from this +they proposed to extend tunnels in various directions after the fashion +of a coal-mine. The ice was hauled out on sledges through the tunnel and +then carried up a wooden railway to the mouth of the shaft. + +It was comparatively easy to walk down the shaft and enter the tunnel, +and when it happened that the men were not at work I allowed visitors +to go down and view this wonderful ice-cavern. The walls of the chamber +appeared semi-transparent, and the light of the candles or lanterns gave +the whole scene a weird and beautiful aspect. It was almost possible +to imagine one's self surrounded by limpid waters, which might at any +moment rush upon him and ingulf him. + +Every day or two Tom Burton came with a party of scientific visitors, +and had I chosen to stop the work of taking out ice, admitted the public +and charged a price for admission, I might have made almost as much +money as I at that time derived from the sale of the ice. But such a +method of profit was repugnant to me. + +For several days after Susan's communication to me I worked on in my +various operations, endeavoring to banish from my mind the idle nonsense +she had spoken of; but one of its effects upon me was to make me feel +that I ought not to allow hopes so important to rest upon uncertainties. +So I determined that as soon as my house and grounds should be in a +condition with which I should for the time be satisfied, I would go +boldly to Mr. Havelot, and, casting out of my recollection everything +that Susan had said, invite him to visit me and see for himself the +results of the discovery of which he had spoken with such derisive +contempt. This would be a straightforward and business-like answer to +his foolish objections to me, and I believed that in his heart the old +gentleman would properly appreciate my action. + +About this time there came to my place Aaron Boyce, an elderly farmer of +the neighborhood, and, finding me outside, he seized the opportunity to +have a chat with me. + +“I tell you what it is, Mr. Cuthbert,” said he, “the people in this +neighborhood hasn't give you credit for what's in you. The way you +have fixed up this place, and the short time you have took to do it, is +enough to show us now what sort of a man you are; and I tell you, sir, +we're proud of you for a neighbor. I don't believe there's another +gentleman in this county of your age that could have done what you have +done in so short a time. I expect now you will be thinking of getting +married and startin' housekeepin' in a regular fashion. That comes just +as natural as to set hens in the spring. By the way, have you heard that +old Mr. Havelot's thinkin' of goin' abroad? I didn't believe he would +ever do that again, because he's gettin' pretty well on in years, but +old men will do queer things as well as young ones.” + +“Going abroad!” I cried. “Does he intend to take his daughter with +him?” + +Mr. Aaron Boyce smiled grimly. He was a great old gossip, and he had +already obtained the information he wanted. “Yes,” he said, “I've heard +it was on her account he's going. She's been kind of weakly lately, they +tell me, and hasn't took to her food, and the doctors has said that what +she wants is a sea voyage and a change to foreign parts.” + +Going abroad! Foreign parts! This was more terrible than anything I had +imagined. I would go to Mr. Havelot that very evening, the only time +which I would be certain to find him at home, and talk to him in a way +which would be sure to bring him to his senses, if he had any. And if +I should find that he had no sense of propriety or justice, no sense of +his duty to his fellow-man and to his offspring, then I would begin a +bold fight for Agnes, a fight which I would not give up until, with her +own lips, she told me that it would be useless. I would follow her to +Kentucky, to Europe, to the uttermost ends of the earth. I could do it +now. The frozen deposits in my terminal moraine would furnish me with +the means. I walked away and left the old farmer standing grinning. No +doubt my improvements and renovations had been the subject of gossip +in the neighborhood, and he had come over to see if he could find out +anything definite in regard to the object of them. He had succeeded, but +he had done more: he had nerved me to instantly begin the conquest of +Agnes, whether by diplomacy or war. + +I was so anxious to begin this conquest that I could scarcely wait for +the evening to come. At the noon hour, when the ice-works were deserted, +I walked down the shaft and into the ice-chamber to see what had been +done since my last visit. I decided to insist that operations upon a +larger scale should be immediately begun, in order that I might have +plenty of money with which to carry on my contemplated campaign. Whether +it was one of peace or war, I should want all the money I could get. + +I took with me a lantern and went around the chamber, which was now +twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, examining the new inroads which +had been made upon its walls. There was a tunnel commenced opposite the +one by which the chamber was entered, but it had not been opened more +than a dozen feet, and it seemed to me that the men had not been working +with any very great energy. I wanted to see a continuous stream of +ice-blocks from that chamber to the mouth of the shaft. + +While grumbling thus I heard behind me a sudden noise like thunder and +the crashing of walls, and, turning quickly, I saw that a portion of +the roof of the chamber had fallen in. Nor had it ceased to fall. As +I gazed, several great masses of ice came down from above and piled +themselves upon that which had already fallen. + +Startled and frightened, I sprang toward the opening of the entrance +tunnel; but, alas! I found that that was the point where the roof had +given way, and between me and the outer world was a wall of solid ice +through which it would be as impossible for me to break as if it were a +barrier of rock. With the quick instinct which comes to men in danger I +glanced about to see if the workmen had left their tools; but there were +none. + +They had been taken outside. Then I stood and gazed stupidly at the +mass of fallen ice, which, even as I looked upon it, was cracking and +snapping, pressed down by the weight above it, and forming itself into +an impervious barrier without crevice or open seam. + +Then I madly shouted. But of what avail were shouts down there in the +depths of the earth? I soon ceased this useless expenditure of strength, +and, with my lantern in my hand, began to walk around the chamber, +throwing the light upon the walls and the roof. I became impressed with +the fear that the whole cavity might cave in at once and bury me here +in a tomb of ice. But I saw no cracks, nor any sign of further disaster. +But why think of anything more? Was not this enough? For, before that +ice-barrier could be cleared away, would I not freeze to death? + +I now continued to walk, not because I expected to find anything or do +anything, but simply to keep myself warm by action. As long as I could +move about I believed that there was no immediate danger of succumbing +to the intense cold; for, when a young man, traveling in Switzerland, I +had been in the cave of a glacier, and it was not cold enough to prevent +some old women from sitting there to play the zither for the sake of +a few coppers from visitors. I could not expect to be able to continue +walking until I should be rescued, and if I sat down, or by chance slept +from exhaustion, I must perish. + +The more I thought of it, the more sure I became that in any case I must +perish, A man in a block of ice could have no chance of life. And Agnes! +Oh, Heavens! what demon of the ice had leagued with old Havelot to shut +me up in this frozen prison? For a long time I continued to walk, beat +my body with my arms and stamp my feet. The instinct of life was strong +within me. I would live as long as I could, and think of Agnes. When I +should be frozen I could not think of her. + +Sometimes I stopped and listened. I was sure I could hear noises, but I +could not tell whether they were above me or not. In the centre of the +ice-barrier, about four feet from the ground, was a vast block of the +frozen substance which was unusually clear and seemed to have nothing on +the other side of it; for through it I could see flickers of light, as +though people were going about with lanterns. It was quite certain that +the accident had been discovered; for, had not the thundering noise been +heard by persons outside, the workmen would have seen what had +happened as soon as they came into the tunnel to begin their afternoon +operations. + +At first I wondered why they did not set to work with a will and cut +away this barrier and let me out. But there suddenly came to my mind +a reason for this lack of energy which was more chilling than the +glistening walls around me: Why should they suppose that I was in the +ice-chamber? I was not in the habit of coming here very often, but I was +in the habit of wandering off by myself at all hours of the day. This +thought made me feel that I might as well lie down on the floor of this +awful cave and die at once. The workmen might think it unsafe to mine +any further in this part of the glacier, and begin operations at some +other point. I did sit down for a moment, and then I rose involuntarily +and began my weary round. Suddenly I thought of looking at my watch. +It was nearly five o'clock. I had been more than four hours in that +dreadful place, and I did not believe that I could continue to exercise +my limbs very much longer. The lights I had seen had ceased. It was +quite plain that the workmen had no idea that any one was imprisoned in +the cave. + +But soon after I had come to this conclusion I saw through the clear +block of ice a speck of light, and it became stronger and stronger, +until I believed it to be close to the other side of the block. There it +remained stationary; but there seemed to be other points of light which +moved about in a strange way, and near it. Now I stood by the block +watching. When my feet became very cold, I stamped them; but there I +stood fascinated, for what I saw was truly surprising. A large coal of +fire appeared on the other side of the block; then it suddenly vanished +and was succeeded by another coal. This disappeared, and another took +its place, each one seeming to come nearer and nearer to me. Again and +again did these coals appear. They reached the centre of the block; they +approached my side of it. At last one was so near to me that I thought +it was about to break through, but it vanished. Then there came a few +quick thuds and the end of a piece of iron protruded from the block. +This was withdrawn, and through the aperture there came a voice which +said: “Mr. Cuthbert, are you in there?” It was the voice of Agnes! + +Weak and cold as I was, fire and energy rushed through me at these +words. “Yes,” I exclaimed, my mouth to the hole; “Agnes, is that you?” + +“Wait a minute,” came from the other side of the aperture. “I must make +it bigger. I must keep it from closing up.” + +Again came the coals of fire, running backward and forward through the +long hole in the block of ice. I could see now what they were. They were +irons used by plumbers for melting solder and that sort of thing, +and Agnes was probably heating them in a little furnace outside, and +withdrawing them as fast as they cooled. It was not long before the +aperture was very much enlarged; and then there came grating through +it a long tin tube nearly two inches in diameter, which almost, but not +quite, reached my side of the block. + +Now came again the voice of Agnes: “Oh, Mr. Cuthbert, are you truly +there? Are you crushed? Are you wounded? Are you nearly frozen? Are you +starved? Tell me quickly if you are yet safe.” + +Had I stood in a palace padded with the softest silk and filled with +spicy odors from a thousand rose gardens, I could not have been better +satisfied with my surroundings than I was at that moment. Agnes was not +two feet away! She was telling me that she cared for me! In a very few +words I assured her that I was uninjured. Then I was on the point of +telling her I loved her, for I believed that not a moment should be lost +in making this avowal. I could not die without her knowing that. But the +appearance of a mass of paper at the other end of the tube prevented +the expression of my sentiments. This was slowly pushed on until I +could reach it. Then there came the words: “Mr. Cuthbert, these are +sandwiches. Eat them immediately and walk about while you are doing it. +You must keep yourself warm until the men get to you.” + +Obedient to the slightest wish of this dear creature, I went twice +around the cave, devouring the sandwiches as I walked. They were the +most delicious food that I had ever tasted. They were given to me by +Agnes. I came back to the opening. I could not immediately begin my +avowal. I must ask a question first. “Can they get to me?” I inquired. +“Is anybody trying to do that? Are they working there by you? I do not +hear them at all.” + +“Oh, no,” she answered; “they are not working here. They are on top of +the bluff, trying to dig down to you. They were afraid to meddle with +the ice here for fear that more of it might come down and crush you +and the men, too. Oh, there has been a dreadful excitement since it was +found that you were in there!” + +“How could they know I was here?” I asked. + +“It was your old Susan who first thought of it. She saw you walking +toward the shaft about noon, and then she remembered that she had not +seen you again; and when they came into the tunnel here they found one +of the lanterns gone and the big stick you generally carry lying where +the lantern had been. Then it was known that you must be inside. Oh, +then there was an awful time! The foreman of the ice-men examined +everything, and said they must dig down to you from above. He put his +men to work; but they could do very little, for they had hardly any +spades. Then they sent into town for help and over to the new park for +the Italians working there. From the way these men set to work you might +have thought that they would dig away the whole bluff in about five +minutes; but they didn't. Nobody seemed to know what to do, or how to +get to work; and the hole they made when they did begin was filled up +with men almost as fast as they even threw out the stones and gravel. I +don't believe anything would have been done properly if your friend, Mr. +Burton, hadn't happened to come with two scientific gentlemen, and since +that he has been directing everything. You can't think what a splendid +fellow he is! I fairly adored him when I saw him giving his orders and +making everybody skip around in the right way.” + +“Tom is a very good man,” said I; “but it is his business to direct that +sort of work, and it is not surprising that he knows how to do it. But, +Agnes, they may never get down to me, and we do not know that this roof +may not cave in upon me at any moment; and before this or anything else +happens I want to tell you--” + +“Mr. Cuthbert,” said Agnes, “is there plenty of oil in your lantern? It +would be dreadful if it were to go out and leave you there in the dark. +I thought of that and brought you a little bottle of kerosene so that +you can fill it. I am going to push the bottle through now, if you +please.” And with this a large phial, cork end foremost, came slowly +through the tube, propelled by one of the soldering irons. Then came +Agnes's voice: “Please fill your lantern immediately, because if it goes +out you can not find it in the dark; and then walk several times around +the cave, for you have been standing still too long already.” + +I obeyed these injunctions, but in two or three minutes was again at the +end of the tube. “Agnes,” said I, “how did you happen to come here? Did +you contrive in your own mind this method of communicating with me?” + +“Oh, yes; I did,” she said. “Everybody said that this mass of ice must +not be meddled with, but I knew very well it would not hurt it to make a +hole through it.” + +“But how did you happen to be here?” I asked. + +“Oh, I ran over as soon as I heard of the accident. Everybody ran here. +The whole neighborhood is on top of the bluff; but nobody wanted to come +into the tunnel, because they were afraid that more of it might fall in. +So I was able to work here all by myself, and I am very glad of it. +I saw the soldering iron and the little furnace outside of your house +where the plumbers had been using them, and I brought them here myself. +Then I thought that a simple hole through the ice might soon freeze up +again, and if you were alive inside I could not do anything to help you; +and so I ran home and got my diploma case, that had had one end melted +out of it, and I brought that to stick in the hole. I'm so glad that it +is long enough, or almost.” + +“Oh, Agnes,” I cried, “you thought of all this for me?” + +“Why, of course, Mr. Cuthbert,” she answered, before I had a chance to +say anything more. “You were in great danger of perishing before the men +got to you, and nobody seemed to think of any way to give you immediate +relief. And don't you think that a collegiate education is a good thing +for girls--at least, that it was for me?” + +“Agnes,” I exclaimed, “please let me speak. I want to tell you, I must +tell you--” + +But the voice of Agnes was clearer than mine and it overpowered my +words. “Mr. Cuthbert,” she said, “we can not both speak through this +tube at the same time in opposite directions. I have here a bottle of +water for you, but I am very much afraid it will not go through the +diploma case.” + +“Oh, I don't want any water,” I said. “I can eat ice if I am thirsty. +What I want is to tell you-” + +“Mr. Cuthbert,” said she, “you must not eat that ice. Water that was +frozen countless ages ago may be very different from the water of modern +times, and might not agree with you. Don't touch it, please. I am going +to push the bottle through if I can. I tried to think of everything that +you might need and brought them all at once; because, if I could +not keep the hole open, I wanted to get them to you without losing a +minute.” + +Now the bottle came slowly through. It was a small beer-bottle, I think, +and several times I was afraid it was going to stick fast and cut off +communication between me and the outer world--that is to say, between me +and Agnes. But at last the cork and the neck appeared, and I pulled it +through. I did not drink any of it, but immediately applied my mouth to +the tube. + +“Agnes,” I said, “my dear Agnes, really you must not prevent me from +speaking. I can not delay another minute. This is an awful position for +me to be in, and as you don't seem to realize--” + +“But I do realize, Mr. Cuthbert, that if you don't walk about you will +certainly freeze before you can be rescued. Between every two or three +words you want to take at least one turn around that place. How dreadful +it would be if you were suddenly to become benumbed and stiff! Everybody +is thinking of that. The best diggers that Mr. Burton had were three +colored men; but after they had gone down nothing like as deep as +a well, they came up frightened and said they would not dig another +shovelful for the whole world. Perhaps you don't know it, but there's a +story about the neighborhood that the negro hell is under your property. +You know many of the colored people expect to be everlastingly punished +with ice and not with fire--” + +“Agnes,” I interrupted, “I am punished with ice and fire both. Please +let me tell you--” + +“I was going on to say, Mr. Cuthbert,” she interrupted, “that when the +Italians heard why the colored men had come out of the hole they would +not go in either, for they are just as afraid of everlasting ice as the +negroes are, and were sure that if the bottom came out of that hole they +would fall into a frozen lower world. So there was nothing to do but to +send for paupers, and they are working now. You know paupers have to do +what they are told without regard to their beliefs. They got a dozen of +them from the poor-house. Somebody said they just threw them into the +hole. Now I must stop talking, for it is time for you to walk around +again. Would you like another sandwich?” + +“Agnes,” said I, endeavoring to speak calmly, “all I want is to be able +to tell you--” + +“And when you walk, Mr. Cuthbert, you had better keep around the edge +of the chamber, for there is no knowing when they may come through. Mr. +Burton and the foreman of the ice-men measured the bluff so that they +say the hole they are making is exactly over the middle of the chamber +you are in, and if you walk around the edge the pieces may not fall on +you.” + +“If you don't listen to me, Agnes,” I said, “I'll go and sit anywhere, +everywhere, where death may come to me quickest. Your coldness is worse +than the coldness of the cave. I can not bear it.” + +“But, Mr. Cuthbert,” said Agnes, speaking, I thought, with some +agitation, “I have been listening to you, and what more can you possibly +have to say? If there is anything you want, let me know. I will run and +get it for you.” + +“There is no need that you should go away to get what I want,” I said. +“It is there with you. It is you.” + +“Mr. Cuthbert,” said Agnes, in a very low voice, but so distinctly that +I could hear every word, “don't you think it would be better for you to +give your whole mind to keeping yourself warm and strong? For if you let +yourself get benumbed you may sink down and freeze.” + +“Agnes,” I said, “I will not move from this little hole until I have +told you that I love you, that I have no reason to care for life or +rescue unless you return my love, unless you are willing to be mine. +Speak quickly to me, Agnes, because I may not be rescued and may never +know whether my love for you is returned or not.” + +At this moment there was a tremendous crash behind me, and, turning, +I saw a mass of broken ice upon the floor of the cave, with a cloud +of dust and smaller fragments still falling. And then with a great +scratching and scraping, and a howl loud enough to waken the echoes of +all the lower regions, down came a red-headed, drunken shoemaker. I can +not say that he was drunk at that moment, but I knew the man the moment +I saw his carroty poll, and it was drink which had sent him to the +poorhouse. + +But the sprawling and howling cobbler did not reach the floor. A rope +had been fastened around his waist to prevent a fall in case the bottom +of the pit should suddenly give way, and he hung dangling in mid +air with white face and distended eyes, cursing and swearing and +vociferously entreating to be pulled up. But before he received any +answer from above, or I could speak to him, there came through the hole +in the roof of the cave a shower of stones and gravel, and with them a +frantic Italian, his legs and arms outspread, his face wild with terror. + +Just as he appeared in view he grasped the rope of the cobbler, and, +though in a moment he came down heavily upon the floor of the chamber, +this broke his fall, and he did not appear to be hurt. Instantly he +crouched low and almost upon all fours, and began to run around the +chamber, keeping close to the walls and screaming, I suppose to his +saints, to preserve him from the torments of the frozen damned. + +In the midst of this hubbub came the voice of Agnes through the hole: +“Oh, Mr. Cuthbert, what has happened? Are you alive?” + +I was so disappointed by the appearance of these wretched interlopers +at the moment it was about to be decided whether my life--should it last +for years, or but for a few minutes--was to be black or bright, and I +was so shaken and startled by the manner of their entry upon the scene, +that I could not immediately shape the words necessary to inform Agnes +what had happened. But, collecting my faculties, I was about to speak, +when suddenly, with the force of the hind leg of a mule, I was pushed +away from the aperture, and the demoniac Italian clapped his great +mouth to the end of the tube and roared through it a volume of oaths +and supplications. I attempted to thrust aside the wretched being, but +I might as well have tried to move the ice barrier itself. He had +perceived that some one outside was talking to me, and in his frenzy he +was imploring that some one should let him out. + +While still endeavoring to move the man, I was seized by the arm, and +turning, beheld the pallid face of the shoemaker. They had let him down +so that he reached the floor. He tried to fall on his knees before me, +but the rope was so short that he was able to go only part of the way +down, and presented a most ludicrous appearance, with his toes scraping +the icy floor and his arms thrown out as if he were paddling like a +tadpole. “Oh, have mercy upon me, sir,” he said, “and help me get out +of this dreadful place. If you go to the hole and call up it's you, they +will pull me up; but if they get you out first they will never think of +me. I am a poor pauper, sir, but I never did nothin' to be packed in ice +before I am dead.” + +Noticing that the Italian had left the end of the aperture in the block +of ice, and that he was now shouting up the open shaft, I ran to the +channel of communication which my Agnes had opened for me, and called +through it; but the dear girl had gone. + +The end of a ladder now appeared at the opening in the roof, and this +was let down until it reached the floor. I started toward it, but before +I had gone half the distance the frightened shoemaker and the maniac +Italian sprang upon it, and, with shrieks and oaths, began a maddening +fight for possession of the ladder. They might quickly have gone up one +after the other, but each had no thought but to be first; and as one +seized the rounds he was pulled away by the other, until I feared the +ladder would be torn to pieces. The shoemaker finally pushed his way up +a little distance, when the Italian sprang upon his back, endeavoring +to climb over him; and so on they went up the shaft, fighting, swearing, +kicking, scratching, shaking and wrenching the ladder, which had been +tied to another one in order to increase its length, so that it was in +danger of breaking, and tearing at each other in a fashion which made it +wonderful that they did not both tumble headlong downward. They went +on up, so completely filling the shaft with their struggling forms and +their wild cries that I could not see or hear anything, and was afraid, +in fact, to look up toward the outer air. + +As I was afterward informed, the Italian, who had slipped into the hole +by accident, ran away like a frightened hare the moment he got his +feet on firm ground, and the shoemaker sat down and swooned. By this +performance he obtained from a benovolent bystander a drink of whiskey, +the first he had had since he was committed to the poorhouse. + +But a voice soon came down the shaft calling to me. I recognized it as +that of Tom Burton, and replied that I was safe, and that I was coming +up the ladder. But in my attempt to climb, I found that I was unable +to do so. Chilled and stiffened by the cold and weakened by fatigue and +excitement, I believe I never should have been able to leave that +ice chamber if my faithful friend had not come down the ladder and +vigorously assisted me to reach the outer air. + +Seated on the ground, my back against a great oak tree, I was quickly +surrounded by a crowd of my neighbors, the workmen and the people who +had been drawn to the spot by the news of the strange accident, to gaze +at me as if I were some unknown being excavated from the bowels of the +earth, I was sipping some brandy and water which Burton had handed me, +when Aaron Boyce pushed himself in front of me. + +“Well, sir,” he said, “I am mighty glad you got out of that scrape. I'm +bound to say I didn't expect you would. I have been sure all along that +it wasn't right to meddle with things that go agin Nature, and I haven't +any doubt that you'll see that for yourself and fill up all them tunnels +and shafts you've made. The ice that comes on ponds and rivers was good +enough for our forefathers, and it ought to be good enough for us. And +as for this cold stuff you find in your gravel-pit, I don't believe it's +ice at all; and if it is, like as not it's made of some sort of pizen +stuff that freezes easier than water. For everybody knows that water +don't freeze in a well, and if it don't do that, why should it do it in +any kind of a hole in the ground? So perhaps it's just as well that you +did git shut up there, sir, and find out for yourself what a dangerous +thing it is to fool with Nature and try to git ice from the bottom of +the ground instead of the top of the water.” + +This speech made me angry, for I knew that old Boyce was a man who was +always glad to get hold of anything which had gone wrong and try to make +it worse; but I was too weak to answer him. + +This, however, would not have been necessary, for Tom Burton turned upon +him. “Idiot,” said he, “if that is your way of thinking you might as +well say that if a well caves in you should never again dig for water, +or that nobody should have a cellar under his house for fear that the +house should fall into it. There's no more danger of the ice beneath us +ever giving way again than there is that this bluff should crumble under +our feet. That break in the roof of the ice tunnel was caused by +my digging away the face of the bluff very near that spot. The high +temperature of the outer air weakened the ice, and it fell. But down +here, under this ground and secure from the influences of the heat of +the outer air, the mass of ice is more solid than rock. We will build +a brick arch over the place where the accident happened, and then there +will not be a safer mine on this continent than this ice-mine will be.” + +This was a wise and diplomatic speech from Burton, and it proved to be +of great service to me; for the men who had been taking out ice had been +a good deal frightened by the fall of the tunnel, and when it was proved +that what Burton had said in regard to the cause of the weakening of the +ice was entirely correct, they became willing to go to work again. + +I now began to feel stronger and better, and, rising to my feet, I +glanced here and there into the crowd, hoping to catch a sight of Agnes, +But I was not very much surprised at not seeing her, because she would +naturally shrink from forcing herself into the midst of this motley +company; but I felt that I must go and look for her without the loss of +a minute, for if she should return to her father's house I might not be +able to see her again. + +On the outskirts of the crowd I met Susan, who was almost overpowered +with joy at seeing me safe again. I shook her by the hand, but, without +replying to her warm-hearted protestations of thankfulness and delight, +I asked her if she had seen Miss Havelot. + +“Miss Agnes!” she exclaimed. “Why, no sir; I expect she's at home; and +if she did come here with the rest of the neighbors I didn't see her; +for when I found out what had happened, sir, I was so weak that I sat +down in the kitchen all of a lump, and have just had strength enough to +come out.” + +“Oh, I know she was here,” I cried; “I am sure of that, and I do hope +she's not gone home again.” + +“Know she was here!” exclaimed Susan. “Why, how on earth could you know +that?” + +I did not reply that it was not on the earth but under it, that I became +aware of the fact, but hurried toward the Havelot house, hoping to +overtake Agnes if she had gone that way. But I did not see her, and +suddenly a startling idea struck me, and I turned and ran home as fast +as I could go. When I reached my grounds I went directly to the mouth +of the shaft. There was nobody there, for the crowd was collected into +a solid mass on the top of the bluff, listening to a lecture from Tom +Burton, who deemed it well to promote the growth of interest and healthy +opinion in regard to his wonderful discovery and my valuable possession. +I hurried down the shaft, and near the end of it, just before it joined +the ice tunnel, I beheld Agnes sitting upon the wooden track. She was +not unconscious, for as I approached she slightly turned her head. I +sprang toward her; I kneeled beside her; I took her in my arms. “Oh, +Agnes, dearest Agnes,” I cried, “what is the matter? What has happened +to you? Has a piece of ice fallen upon you? Have you slipped and hurt +yourself?” + +She turned her beautiful eyes up toward me and for a moment did not +speak. Then she said: “And they got you out? And you are in your right +mind?” + +“Right mind!” I exclaimed. “I have never been out of my mind. What are +you thinking of?” + +“Oh, you must have been,” she said, “when you screamed at me in that +horrible way. I was so frightened that I fell back, and I must have +fainted.” + +Tremulous as I was with love and anxiety, I could not help laughing. +“Oh, my dear Agnes, I did not scream at you. That was a crazed Italian +who fell through the hole that they dug.” Then I told her what had +happened. + +She heaved a gentle sigh. “I am so glad to hear that,” she said. “There +was one thing that I was thinking about just before you came and which +gave me a little bit of comfort; the words and yells I heard were +dreadfully oniony, and somehow or other I could not connect that sort of +thing with you.” + +It now struck me that during this conversation I had been holding +my dear girl in my arms, and she had not shown the slightest sign of +resistance or disapprobation. This made my heart beat high. + +“Oh, Agnes,” I said, “I truly believe you love me or you would not have +been here, you would not have done for me all that you did. Why did you +not answer me when I spoke to you through that wall of ice, through the +hole your dear love had made in it? Why, when I was in such a terrible +situation, not knowing whether I was to die or live, did you not comfort +my heart with one sweet word?” + +“Oh, Walter,” she answered, “it wasn't at all necessary for you to say +all that you did say, for I had suspected it before, and as soon as you +began to call me Agnes I knew, of course, how you felt about it. And, +besides, it really was necessary that you should move about to keep +yourself from freezing. But the great reason for my not encouraging you +to go on talking in that way was that I was afraid people might come +into the tunnel, and as, of course, you would not know that they were +there, you would go on making love to me through my diploma case, and +you know I should have perished with shame if I had had to stand there +with that old Mr. Boyce, and I don't know who else, listening to your +words, which were very sweet to me, Walter, but which would have sounded +awfully funny to them.” + +When she said that my words had been sweet to her I dropped the +consideration of all other subjects. + +When, about ten minutes afterward, we came out of the shaft we were met +by Susan. + +“Bless my soul and body, Mr. Cuthbert!” she exclaimed. “Did you find +that young lady down there in the centre of the earth? It seems to me as +if everything that you want comes to you out of the ground. But I have +been looking for you to tell you that Mr. Havelot has been here after +his daughter, and I'm sure if he had known where she was, he would have +been scared out of his wits.” + +“Father here!” exclaimed Agnes. “Where is he now?” + +“I think he has gone home, miss. Indeed I'm sure of it; for my daughter +Jennie, who was over here the same as all the other people in the +county, I truly believe told him--and I was proud she had the spirit +to speak up that way to him--that your heart was almost broke when you +heard about Mr. Cuthbert being shut up in the ice, and that most likely +you was in your own room a-cryin' your eyes out. When he heard that he +stood lookin' all around the place, and he asked me if he might go +in the house; and when I told him he was most welcome, he went in. I +offered to show him about, which he said was no use, that he had been +there often enough; and he went everywhere, I truly believe, except in +the garret and the cellar. And after he got through with that he went +out to the barn and then walked home.” + +“I must go to him immediately,” said Agnes. + +“But not alone,” said I. And together we walked through the woods, over +the little field and across the Havelot lawn to the house. We were told +that the old gentleman was in his library, and together we entered the +room. Mr. Havelot was sitting by a table on which were lying several +open volumes of an encyclopedia. When he turned and saw us, he closed +his book, pushed back his chair and took off his spectacles. “Upon my +word, sir,” he cried; “and so the first thing you do after they pull you +out of the earth is to come here and break my commands.” + +“I came on the invitation of your daughter, sir.” + +“And what right has she to invite you, I'd like to know?” + +“She has every right, for to her I owe my existence.” + +“What rabid nonsense!” exclaimed the old gentleman. “People don't owe +their existence to the silly creatures they fall in love with.” + +“I assure you I am correct, sir.” And then I related to him what his +daughter had done, and how through her angelic agency my rescuers had +found me a living being instead of a frozen corpse. + +“Stuff!” said Mr. Havelot. “People can live in a temperature of +thirty-two degrees above zero all winter. Out in Minnesota they think +that's hot. And you gave him victuals and drink through your diploma +case! Well, miss, I told you that if you tried to roast chestnuts in +that diploma case the bottom would come out.” + +“But you see, father,” said Agnes, earnestly, “the reason I did that +was because when I roasted them in anything shallow they popped into the +fire, but they could not jump out of the diploma case.” + +“Well, something else seems to have jumped out of it,” said the old +gentleman, “and something with which I am not satisfied. I have been +looking over these books, sir, and have read the articles on ice, +glaciers and caves, and I find no record of anything in the whole +history of the world which in the least resembles the cock-and-bull +story I am told about the butt-end of a glacier which tumbled into a +cave in your ground, and has been lying there through all the geological +ages, and the eras of formation, and periods of animate existence down +to the days of Noah, and Moses, and Methuselah, and Rameses II, and +Alexander the Great, and Martin Luther, and John Wesley, to this day, +for you to dig out and sell to the Williamstown Ice Co.” + +“But that's what happened, sir,” said I. + +“And besides, father,” added Agnes, “the gold and silver that people +take out of mines may have been in the ground as long as that ice has +been.” + +“Bosh!” said Mr. Havelot. “The cases are not at all similar. It is +simply impossible that a piece of a glacier should have fallen into a +cave and been preserved in that way. The temperature of caves is always +above the freezing-point, and that ice would have melted a million years +before you were born.” + +“But, father,” said Agnes, “the temperature of caves filled with ice +must be very much lower than that of common caves.” + +“And apart from that,” I added, “the ice is still there, sir.” + +“That doesn't make the slightest difference,” he replied. “It's against +all reason and commonsense that such a thing could have happened. Even +if there ever was a glacier in this part of the country and if the lower +portion of it did stick out over an immense hole in the ground, that +protruding end would never have broken off and tumbled in. Glaciers are +too thick and massive for that.” + +“But the glacier is there, sir,” said I, “in spite of your own +reasoning.” + +“And then again,” continued the old gentleman, “if there had been a cave +and a projecting spur the ice would have gradually melted and dripped +into the cave, and we would have had a lake and not an ice-mine. It is +an absurdity.” + +“But it's there, notwithstanding,” said I. + +“And you can not subvert facts, you know, father,” added Agnes. + +“Confound facts!” he cried. “I base my arguments on sober, cool-headed +reason; and there's nothing that can withstand reason. The thing's +impossible and, therefore, it has never happened. I went over to your +place, sir, when I heard of the accident, for the misfortunes of my +neighbors interest me, no matter what may be my opinion of them, +and when I found that you had been extricated from your ridiculous +predicament, I went through your house, and I was pleased to find it +in as good or better condition than I had known it in the days of +your respected father. I was glad to see the improvement in your +circumstances; but when I am told, sir, that your apparent prosperity +rests upon such an absurdity as a glacier in a gravel hill, I can but +smile with contempt, sir.” + +I was getting a little tired of this. “But the glacier is there, sir,” + I said, “and I am taking out ice every day, and have reason to believe +that I can continue to take it out for the rest of my life. With such +facts as these before me, I am bound to say, sir, that I don't care in +the least about reason.” + +“And I am here, father,” said Agnes, coming close to me, “and here I +want to continue for the rest of my days.” + +The old gentleman looked at her. “And, I suppose,” he said, “that you, +too, don't in the least care about reason?” + +“Not a bit,” said Agnes. + +“Well,” said Mr. Havelot, rising, “I have done all I can to make you +two listen to reason, and I can do no more. I despair of making sensible +human beings of you, and so you might as well go on acting like a couple +of ninny-hammers.” + +“Do ninny-hammers marry and settle on the property adjoining yours, +sir?” I asked. + +“Yes, I suppose they do,” he said. “And when the aboriginal ice-house, +or whatever the ridiculous thing is that they have discovered, gives +out, I suppose that they can come to a reasonable man and ask him for a +little money to buy bread and butter.” + +Two years have passed, and Agnes and the glacier are still mine; great +blocks of ice now flow in almost a continuous stream from the mine to +the railroad station, and in a smaller but quite as continuous stream +an income flows in upon Agnes and me; and from one of the experimental +excavations made by Tom Burton on the bluff comes a stream of ice-cold +water running in a sparkling brook a-down my dell. On fine mornings +before I am up, I am credibly informed that Aaron Boyce may generally be +found, in season and out of season, endeavoring to catch the trout with +which I am trying to stock that ice-cold stream. The diploma case, +which I caused to be carefully removed from the ice-barrier which had +imprisoned me, now hangs in my study and holds our marriage certificate. + +Near the line-fence which separates his property from mine, Mr. Havelot +has sunk a wide shaft. “If the glacier spur under your land was a +quarter of a mile wide,” he says to me, “it was probably at least a half +a mile long; and if that were the case, the upper end of it extends into +my place, and I may be able to strike it.” He has a good deal of money, +this worthy Mr. Havelot, but he would be very glad to increase his +riches, whether they are based upon sound reason or ridiculous facts. As +for Agnes and myself, no facts or any reason could make us happier than +our ardent love and our frigid fortune. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's My Terminal Moraine, by Frank E. Stockton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY TERMINAL MORAINE *** + +***** This file should be named 23175-0.txt or 23175-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/1/7/23175/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/23175-0.zip b/23175-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8e5a82 --- /dev/null +++ b/23175-0.zip diff --git a/23175-h.zip b/23175-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd6b909 --- /dev/null +++ b/23175-h.zip diff --git a/23175-h/23175-h.htm b/23175-h/23175-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5af3801 --- /dev/null +++ b/23175-h/23175-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1974 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + My Terminal Moraine, by Frank E. Stockton + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Terminal Moraine, by Frank E. Stockton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: My Terminal Moraine + 1892 + +Author: Frank E. Stockton + +Release Date: October 24, 2007 [EBook #23175] +Last Updated: March 12, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY TERMINAL MORAINE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + MY TERMINAL MORAINE + </h1> + <h2> + By Frank E. Stockton + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + Copyright, 1892, by P. F. Collier + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + A man's birth is generally considered the most important event of his + existence, but I truly think that what I am about to relate was more + important to me than my entrance into this world; because, had not these + things happened, I am of the opinion that my life would have been of no + value to me and my birth a misfortune. + </p> + <p> + My father, Joshua Cuthbert, died soon after I came to my majority, leaving + me what he had considered a comfortable property. This consisted of a + large house and some forty acres of land, nearly the whole of which lay + upon a bluff, which upon three sides descended to a little valley, through + which ran a gentle stream. I had no brothers or sisters. My mother died + when I was a boy, and I, Walter Cuthbert, was left the sole representative + of my immediate family. + </p> + <p> + My estate had been a comfortable one to my father, because his income from + the practice of his profession as a physician enabled him to keep it up + and provide satisfactorily for himself and me. I had no profession and but + a very small income, the result of a few investments my father had made. + Left to myself, I felt no inducement to take up any profession or + business. My wants were simple, and for a few years I lived without + experiencing any inconvenience from the economies which I was obliged to + practice. My books, my dog, my gun and my rod made life pass very + pleasantly to me, and the subject of an increase of income never disturbed + my mind. + </p> + <p> + But as time passed on the paternal home began to present an air of neglect + and even dilapidation, which occasionally attracted my attention and + caused, as I incidentally discovered, a great deal of unfavorable comment + among my neighbors, who thought that I should go to work and at least earn + money enough to put the house and grounds in a condition which should not + be unworthy the memory of the good Dr. Cuthbert. In fact, I began to be + looked upon as a shiftless young man; and, now and then, I found a person + old enough and bold enough to tell me so. + </p> + <p> + But, instead of endeavoring to find some suitable occupation by which I + might better my condition and improve my estate, I fell in love, which, in + the opinion of my neighbors, was the very worst thing that could have + happened to me at this time. I lived in a thrifty region, and for a man + who could not support himself to think of taking upon him the support of a + wife, especially such a wife as Agnes Havelot would be, was considered + more than folly and looked upon as a crime. Everybody knew that I was in + love with Miss Havelot, for I went to court her as boldly as I went to + fish or shoot. There was a good deal of talk about it, and this finally + came to the ears of Mr. Havelot, my lady's father, who, thereupon, + promptly ordered her to have no more to do with me. + </p> + <p> + The Havelot estate, which adjoined mine, was a very large one, containing + hundreds and hundreds of acres; and the Havelots were rich, rich enough to + frighten any poor young man of marrying intent. But I did not appreciate + the fact that I was a poor young man. I had never troubled my head about + money as it regarded myself, and I now did not trouble my head about it as + it regarded Agnes. I loved her, I hoped she loved me, and all other + considerations were thrown aside. Mr. Havelot, however, was a man of a + different way of thinking. + </p> + <p> + It was a little time before I became convinced that the decision of + Agnes's father, that there should be no communication between that dear + girl and myself, really meant anything. I had never been subjected to + restrictions, and I did not understand how people of spirit could submit + to them; but I was made to understand it when Mr. Havelot, finding me + wandering about his grounds, very forcibly assured me that if I should + make my appearance there again, or if he discovered any attempt on my part + to communicate with his daughter in any way, he would send her from home. + He concluded the very brief interview by stating that if I had any real + regard for his daughter's happiness I would cease attentions which would + meet with the most decided disapprobation from her only surviving parent + and which would result in exiling her from home, I begged for one more + interview with Miss Havelot, and if it had been granted I should have + assured her of the state of my affections, no matter if there were reasons + to suppose that I would never see her again; but her father very sternly + forbade anything of the kind, and I went away crushed. + </p> + <p> + It was a very hard case, for if I played the part of a bold lover and + tried to see Agnes without regard to the wicked orders of her father, I + should certainly be discovered; and then it would be not only myself, but + the poor girl, who would suffer. So I determined that I would submit to + the Havelot decree. No matter if I never saw her again, never heard the + sound of her voice, it would be better to have her near me, to have her + breathe the same air, cast up her eyes at the same sky, listen to the same + birds, that I breathed, looked at and listened to, than to have her far + away, probably in Kentucky, where I knew she had relatives, and where the + grass was blue and the sky probably green, or at any rate would appear so + to her if in the least degree she felt as I did in regard to the ties of + home and the affinities between the sexes. + </p> + <p> + I now found myself in a most doleful and even desperate condition of mind. + There was nothing in the world which I could have for which I cared. + Hunting, fishing, and the rambles through woods and fields that had once + been so delightful to me now became tasks which I seldom undertook. The + only occupation in which I felt the slightest interest was that of sitting + in a tower of my house with a telescope, endeavoring to see my Agnes on + some portion of her father's grounds; but, although I diligently directed + my glass at the slightest stretch of lawn or bit of path which I could + discern through openings in the foliage, I never caught sight of her. I + knew, however, by means of daily questions addressed to my cook, whose + daughter was a servant in the Havelot house, that Agnes was yet at home. + For that reason I remained at home. Otherwise, I should have become a + wanderer. + </p> + <p> + About a month after I had fallen into this most unhappy state an old + friend came to see me. We had been school-fellows, but he differed from me + in almost every respect. He was full of ambition and energy, and, although + he was but a few years older than myself, he had already made a name in + the world. He was a geologist, earnest and enthusiastic in his studies and + his investigations. He told me frankly that the object of his visit was + twofold. In the first place, he wanted to see me, and, secondly, he wanted + to make some geological examinations on my grounds, which were situated, + as he informed me, upon a terminal moraine, a formation which he had not + yet had an opportunity of practically investigating. + </p> + <p> + I had not known that I lived on a moraine, and now that I knew it, I did + not care. But Tom Burton glowed with high spirits and lively zeal as he + told me how the great bluff on which my house stood, together with the + other hills and wooded terraces which stretched away from it along the + side of the valley, had been formed by the minute fragments of rock and + soil, which, during ages and ages, had been gradually pushed down from the + mountains by a great glacier which once occupied the country to the + northeast of my house. “Why, Walter, my boy,” he cried, “if I had not read + it all in the books I should have known for myself, as soon as I came + here, that there had once been a glacier up there, and as it gradually + moved to the southwest it had made this country what it is. Have you a + stream down there in that dell which I see lies at right angles with the + valley and opens into it?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said I; “I wish there were one. The only stream we have flows along + the valley and not on my property.” + </p> + <p> + Without waiting for me Tom ran down into my dell, pushed his way through + the underbrush to its upper end, and before long came back flushed with + heat and enthusiasm. + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir,” he said, “that dell was once the bed of a glacial stream, and + you may as well clear it out and plant corn there if you want to, for + there never will be another stream flowing through it until there is + another glacier out in the country beyond. And now I want you to let me + dig about here. I want to find out what sort of stuff the glacier brought + down from the mountains. I will hire a man and will promise you to fill up + all the holes I make.” + </p> + <p> + I had no objection to my friend's digging as much as he pleased, and for + three days he busied himself in getting samples of the soil of my estate. + Sometimes I went out and looked at him, and gradually a little of his + earnest ardor infused itself into me, and with some show of interest I + looked into the holes he had made and glanced over the mineral specimens + he showed me. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Walter,” said he, when he took leave of me, “I am very sorry that I + did not discover that the glacier had raked out the bed of a gold mine + from the mountains up there and brought it down to you, or at any rate, + some valuable iron ore. But I am obliged to say it did not do anything of + the sort. But I can tell you one thing it brought you, and, although it is + not of any great commercial value, I should think you could make good use + of it here on your place. You have one of the finest deposits of gravel on + this bluff that I have met with, and if you were to take out a lot of it + and spread it over your driveways and paths, it would make it a great deal + pleasanter for you to go about here in bad weather and would wonderfully + improve your property. Good roads always give an idea of thrift and + prosperity.” And then he went away with a valise nearly full of mineral + specimens which he assured me were very interesting. + </p> + <p> + My interest in geological formations died away as soon as Tom Burton had + departed, but what he said about making gravel roads giving the place an + air of thrift and prosperity had its effect upon my mind. It struck me + that it would be a very good thing if people in the neighborhood, + especially the Havelots, were to perceive on my place some evidences of + thrift and prosperity. Most palpable evidences of unthrift and + inpecuniosity had cut me off from Agnes, and why might it not be that some + signs of improved circumstances would remove, to a degree at least, the + restrictions which had been placed between us? This was but a very little + thing upon which to build hopes; but ever since men and women have loved + they have built grand hopes upon very slight foundations. I determined to + put my roadways in order. + </p> + <p> + My efforts in this direction were really evidence of anything but + thriftiness, for I could not in the least afford to make my drives and + walks resemble the smooth and beautiful roads which wound over the Havelot + estate, although to do this was my intention, and I set about the work + without loss of time. I took up this occupation with so much earnestness + that it seriously interfered with my observations from the tower. + </p> + <p> + I hired two men and set them to work to dig a gravel-pit. They made + excavations at several places, and very soon found what they declared to + be a very fine quality of road-gravel. I ordered them to dig on until they + had taken out what they believed to be enough to cover all my roads. When + this had been done, I would have it properly spread and rolled. As this + promised to be a very good job, the men went to work in fine spirits and + evidently made up their minds that the improvements I desired would + require a vast deal of gravel. + </p> + <p> + When they had dug a hole so deep that it became difficult to throw up the + gravel from the bottom, I suggested that they should dig at some other + place. But to this they objected, declaring that the gravel was getting + better and better, and it would be well to go on down as long as the + quality continued to be so good. So, at last, they put a ladder into the + pit, one man carrying the gravel up in a hod, while the other dug it; and + when they had gone down so deep that this was no longer practicable, they + rigged up a derrick and windlass and drew up the gravel in a bucket. + </p> + <p> + Had I been of a more practical turn of mind I might have perceived that + this method of working made the job a very long and, consequently, to the + laborers, a profitable one; but no such idea entered into my head, and not + noticing whether they were bringing up sand or gravel I allowed them to + proceed. + </p> + <p> + One morning I went out to the spot where the excavation was being made and + found that the men had built a fire on the ground near the opening of the + pit, and that one of them was bending over it warming himself. As the + month was July this naturally surprised me, and I inquired the reason for + so strange a performance. + </p> + <p> + “Upon my soul,” said the man, who was rubbing his hands over the blaze, “I + do not wonder you are surprised, but it's so cold down at the bottom of + that pit that me fingers is almost frosted; and we haven't struck any + wather neither, which couldn't be expected, of course, a-diggin' down into + the hill like this.” + </p> + <p> + I looked into the hole and found it was very deep. “I think it would be + better to stop digging here,” said I, “and try some other place.” + </p> + <p> + “I wouldn't do that just now,” said the other man, who was preparing to go + down in the bucket; “to be sure, it's a good deal more like a well than a + gravel-pit, but it's bigger at the top than at the bottom, and there's no + danger of its cavin' in, and now that we've got everything rigged up all + right, it would be a pity to make a change yet awhile.” + </p> + <p> + So I let them go on; but the next day when I went out again I found that + they had come to the conclusion that it was time to give up digging in + that hole. They both declared that it almost froze their feet to stand on + the ground where they worked at the bottom of the excavation. The slow + business of drawing up the gravel by means of a bucket and windlass was, + therefore, reluctantly given up. The men now went to work to dig outward + from this pit toward the edge of the bluff which overlooked my little + dell, and gradually made a wide trench, which they deepened until—and + I am afraid to say how long they worked before this was done—they + could walk to the original pit from the level of the dell. They then + deepened the inner end of the trench, wheeling out the gravel in barrows, + until they had made an inclined pathway from the dell to the bottom of the + pit. The wheeling now became difficult, and the men soon declared that + they were sure that they had quite gravel enough. + </p> + <p> + When they made this announcement, and I had gone into some financial + calculations, I found that I would be obliged to put an end to my + operations, at least for the present, for my available funds were gone, or + would be when I had paid what I owed for the work. The men were very much + disappointed by the sudden ending of this good job, but they departed, and + I was left to gaze upon a vast amount of gravel, of which, for the present + at least, I could not afford to make the slightest use. + </p> + <p> + The mental despondency which had been somewhat lightened during my + excavating operations now returned, and I became rather more gloomy and + downcast than before. My cook declared that it was of no use to prepare + meals which I never ate, and suggested that it would save money if I + discharged her. As I had not paid her anything for a long time, I did not + see how this would benefit me. + </p> + <p> + Wandering about one day with my hat pulled down over my eyes and my hands + thrust deep into my pockets, I strolled into the dell and stood before the + wide trench which led to the pit in which I had foolishly sunk the money + which should have supported me for months. I entered this dismal passage + and walked slowly and carefully down the incline until I reached the + bottom of the original pit, where I had never been before. I stood here + looking up and around me and wondering how men could bring themselves to + dig down into such dreary depths simply for the sake of a few dollars a + week, when I involuntarily began to stamp my feet. They were very cold, + although I had not been there more than a minute. I wondered at this and + took up some of the loose gravel in my hand. It was quite dry, but it + chilled my fingers. I did not understand it, and I did not try to, but + walked up the trench and around into the dell, thinking of Agnes. + </p> + <p> + I was very fond of milk, which, indeed, was almost the only food I now + cared for, and I was consequently much disappointed at my noonday meal + when I found that the milk had soured and was not fit to drink. + </p> + <p> + “You see, sir,” said Susan, “ice is very scarce and dear, and we can not + afford to buy much of it. There was no freezin' weather last winter, and + the price has gone up as high as the thermometer, sir, and so, between the + two of 'em, I can't keep things from spoilin'.” + </p> + <p> + The idea now came to me that if Susan would take the milk, and anything + else she wished to keep cool in this hot weather, to the bottom of the + gravel-pit, she would find the temperature there cold enough to preserve + them without ice, and I told her so. + </p> + <p> + The next morning Susan came to me with a pleased countenance and said, “I + put the butter and the milk in that pit last night, and the butter's just + as hard and the milk's as sweet as if it had been kept in an ice-house. + But the place is as cold as an ice-house, sir, and unless I am mistaken, + there's ice in it. Anyway, what do you call that?” And she took from a + little basket a piece of grayish ice as large as my fist. “When I found it + was so cold down there, sir,” she said, “I thought I would dig a little + myself and see what made it so; and I took a fire-shovel and hatchet, and, + when I had scraped away some of the gravel, I came to something hard and + chopped off this piece of it, which is real ice, sir, or I know nothing + about it. Perhaps there used to be an ice-house there, and you might get + some of it if you dug, though why anybody should put it down so deep and + then cover it up, I'm sure I don't know. But as long as there's any there, + I think we should get it out, even if there's only a little of it; for I + can not take everything down to that pit, and we might as well have it in + the refrigerator.” + </p> + <p> + This seemed to me like very good sense, and if I had had a man I should + have ordered him to go down to the pit and dig up any lumps of ice he + might find and bring them to the house. But I had no man, and I therefore + became impressed with the opinion that if I did not want to drink sour + milk for the rest of the summer, it might be a good thing for me to go + down there and dig out some of the ice myself. So with pickaxe and shovel + I went to the bottom of the pit and set myself to work. + </p> + <p> + A few inches below the surface I found that my shovel struck something + hard, and, clearing away the gravel from this for two or three square + feet, I looked down upon a solid mass of ice. It was dirty and begrimed, + but it was truly ice. With my pick I detached some large pieces of it. + These, with some discomfort, I carried out into the dell where Susan might + come with her basket and get them. + </p> + <p> + For several days Susan and I took out ice from the pit, and then I thought + that perhaps Tom Burton might feel some interest in this frozen deposit in + my terminal moraine, and so I wrote to him about it. He did not answer my + letter, but instead arrived himself the next afternoon. + </p> + <p> + “Ice at the bottom of a gravel-pit,” said he, “is a thing I never heard + of. Will you lend me a spade and a pickaxe?” + </p> + <p> + When Tom came out of that pit—it was too cold a place for me to go + with him and watch his proceedings—I saw him come running toward the + house. + </p> + <p> + “Walter,” he shouted, “we must hire all the men we can find and dig, dig, + dig. If I am not mistaken something has happened on your place that is + wonderful almost beyond belief. But we must not stop to talk. We must dig, + dig, dig; dig all day and dig all night. Don't think of the cost. I'll + attend to that. I'll get the money. What we must do is to find men and set + them to work.” + </p> + <p> + “What's the matter?” said I. “What has happened?” + </p> + <p> + “I haven't time to talk about it now; besides I don't want to, for fear + that I should find that I am mistaken. But get on your hat, my dear + fellow, and let's go over to the town for men.” + </p> + <p> + The next day there were eight men working under the direction of my friend + Burton, and although they did not work at night as he wished them to do, + they labored steadfastly for ten days or more before Tom was ready to + announce what it was he had hoped to discover, and whether or not he had + found it. For a day or two I watched the workmen from time to time, but + after that I kept away, preferring to await the result of my friend's + operations. He evidently expected to find something worth having, and + whether he was successful or not, it suited me better to know the truth + all at once and not by degrees. + </p> + <p> + On the morning of the eleventh day Tom came into the room where I was + reading and sat down near me. His face was pale, his eyes glittering. “Old + friend,” said he, and as he spoke I noticed that his voice was a little + husky, although it was plain enough that his emotion was not occasioned by + bad fortune—“my good old friend, I have found out what made the + bottom of your gravel-pit so uncomfortably cold. You need not doubt what I + am going to tell you, for my excavations have been complete and thorough + enough to make me sure of what I say. Don't you remember that I told you + that ages ago there was a vast glacier in the country which stretches from + here to the mountains? Well, sir, the foot of that glacier must have + reached further this way than is generally supposed. At any rate a portion + of it did extend in this direction as far as this bit of the world which + is now yours. This end or spur of the glacier, nearly a quarter of a mile + in width, I should say, and pushing before it a portion of the terminal + moraine on which you live, came slowly toward the valley until suddenly it + detached itself from the main glacier and disappeared from sight. That is + to say, my boy”—and as he spoke Tom sprang to his feet, too excited + to sit any longer—“it descended to the bowels of the earth, at least + for a considerable distance in that direction, Now you want to know how + this happened. Well, I'll tell you. In this part of the country there are + scattered about here and there great caves. Geologists know one or two of + them, and it is certain that there are others undiscovered. Well, sir, + your glacier spur discovered one of them, and when it had lain over the + top of it for an age or two, and had grown bigger and bigger, and heavier + and heavier, it at last burst through the rock roof of the cave, snapping + itself from the rest of the glacier and falling in one vast mass to the + bottom of the subterranean abyss. Walter, it is there now. The rest of the + glacier came steadily down; the moraines were forced before it; they + covered up this glacier spur, this broken fragment, and by the time the + climate changed and the average of temperature rose above that of the + glacial period, this vast sunken mass of ice was packed away below the + surface of the earth, out of the reach of the action of friction, or heat, + or moisture, or anything else which might destroy it. And through all the + long procession of centuries that broken end of the glacier has been lying + in your terminal moraine. It is there now. It is yours, Walter Cuthbert. + It is an ice-mine. It is wealth, and so far as I can make out, it is + nearly all upon your land. To you is the possession, but to me is the + glory of the discovery. A bit of the glacial period kept in a cave for us! + It is too wonderful to believe! Walter, have you any brandy?” + </p> + <p> + It may well be supposed that by this time I was thoroughly awakened to the + importance and the amazing character of my friend's discovery, and I + hurried with him to the scene of operations. There he explained everything + and showed me how, by digging away a portion of the face of the bluff, he + had found that this vast fragment of the glacier, which had been so + miraculously preserved, ended in an irregularly perpendicular wall, which + extended downward he knew not how far, and the edge of it on its upper + side had been touched by my workmen in digging their pit. “It was the + gradual melting of the upper end of this glacier,” said Tom, “probably + more elevated than the lower end, that made your dell. I wondered why the + depression did not extend further up toward the spot where the foot of the + glacier was supposed to have been. This end of the fragment, being sunk in + deeper and afterward covered up more completely, probably never melted at + all.” + </p> + <p> + “It is amazing—astounding,” said I; “but what of it, now that we + have found it?” + </p> + <p> + “What of it?” cried Tom, and his whole form trembled as he spoke. “You + have here a source of wealth, of opulence which shall endure for the rest + of your days. Here at your very door, where it can be taken out and + transported with the least possible trouble, is ice enough to supply the + town, the county, yes, I might say, the State, for hundreds of years. No, + sir, I can not go in to supper. I can not eat. I leave to you the business + and practical part of this affair. I go to report upon its scientific + features.” + </p> + <p> + “Agnes,” exclaimed, as I walked to the house with my hands clasped and my + eyes raised to the sky, “the glacial period has given thee to me!” + </p> + <p> + This did not immediately follow, although I went that very night to Mr. + Havelot and declared to him that I was now rich enough to marry his + daughter. He laughed at me in a manner which was very annoying, and made + certain remarks which indicated that he thought it probable that it was + not the roof of the cave, but my mind, which had given way under the + influence of undue pressure. + </p> + <p> + The contemptuous manner in which I had been received aroused within me a + very unusual state of mind. While talking to Mr. Havelot I heard not far + away in some part of the house a voice singing. It was the voice of Agnes, + and I believed she sang so that I could hear her. But as her sweet tones + reached my ear there came to me at the same time the harsh, contemptuous + words of her father. I left the house determined to crush that man to the + earth beneath a superincumbent mass of ice—or the evidence of the + results of the ownership of such a mass—which would make him groan + and weep as he apologized to me for his scornful and disrespectful + utterances and at the same time offered me the hand of his daughter. + </p> + <p> + When the discovery of the ice-mine, as it grew to be called, became + generally known, my grounds were crowded by sightseers, and reporters of + newspapers were more plentiful than squirrels. But the latter were + referred to Burton, who would gladly talk to them as long as they could + afford to listen, and I felt myself at last compelled to shut my gates to + the first. + </p> + <p> + I had offers of capital to develop this novel source of wealth, and I + accepted enough of this assistance to enable me to begin operations on a + moderate scale. It was considered wise not to uncover any portion of the + glacier spur, but to construct an inclined shaft down to its wall-like end + and from this tunnel into the great mass. Immediately the leading ice + company of the neighboring town contracted with me for all the ice I could + furnish, and the flood-gates of affluence began slowly to rise. + </p> + <p> + The earliest, and certainly one of the greatest, benefits which came to me + from this bequest from the unhistoric past was the new energy and vigor + with which my mind and body were now infused. My old, careless method of + life and my recent melancholy, despairing mood were gone, and I now began + to employ myself upon the main object of my life with an energy and + enthusiasm almost equal to that of my friend, Tom Burton. This present + object of my life was to prepare my home for Agnes. + </p> + <p> + The great piles of gravel which my men had dug from the well-like pit were + spread upon the roadways and rolled smooth and hard; my lawn was mowed; my + flower-beds and borders put in order; useless bushes and undergrowth cut + out and cleared away; my outbuildings were repaired and the grounds around + my house rapidly assumed their old appearance of neatness and beauty. + </p> + <p> + Ice was very scarce that summer, and, as the wagons wound away from the + opening of the shaft which led down to the glacier, carrying their loads + to the nearest railway station, so money came to me; not in large sums at + first, for preparations had not yet been perfected for taking out the ice + in great quantities, but enough to enable me to go on with my work as + rapidly as I could plan it. I set about renovating and brightening and + newly furnishing my house. Whatever I thought that Agnes would like I + bought and put into it. I tried to put myself in her place as I selected + the paper-hangings and the materials with which to cover the furniture. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes, while thus employed selecting ornaments or useful articles for + my house, and using as far as was possible the taste and judgment of + another instead of my own, the idea came to me that perhaps Agnes had + never heard of my miraculous good fortune. Certainly her father would not + be likely to inform her, and perhaps she still thought of me, if she + thought at all, as the poor young man from whom she had been obliged to + part because he was poor. + </p> + <p> + But whether she knew that I was growing rich, or whether she thought I was + becoming poorer and poorer, I thought only of the day when I could go to + her father and tell him that I was able to take his daughter and place her + in a home as beautiful as that in which she now lived, and maintain her + with all the comforts and luxuries which he could give her. + </p> + <p> + One day I asked my faithful cook, who also acted as my housekeeper and + general supervisor, to assist me in making out a list of china which I + intended to purchase. + </p> + <p> + “Are you thinking of buying china, sir?” she asked. “We have now quite as + much as we really need.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” said I, “I shall get complete sets of everything that can be + required for a properly furnished household.” + </p> + <p> + Susan gave a little sigh. “You are spendin' a lot of money, sir, and some + of it for things that a single gentleman would be likely not to care very + much about; and if you was to take it into your head to travel and stay + away for a year or two, there's a good many things you've bought that + would look shabby when you come back, no matter how careful I might be in + dustin' 'em and keepin' 'em covered.” + </p> + <p> + “But I have no idea of traveling,” said I. “There's no place so pleasant + as this to me.” + </p> + <p> + Susan was silent for a few moments, and then she said: “I know very well + why you are doing all this, and I feel it my bounden duty to say to you + that there's a chance of its bein' no use. I do not speak without good + reason, and I would not do it if I didn't think that it might make trouble + lighter to you when it comes.” + </p> + <p> + “What are you talking about, Susan; what do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir, this is what I mean: It was only last night that my daughter + Jane was in Mr. Havelot's dining-room after dinner was over, and Mr. + Havelot and a friend of his were sitting there, smoking their cigars and + drinking their coffee. She went in and come out again as she was busy + takin' away the dishes, and they paid no attention to her, but went on + talkin' without knowing, most likely, she was there. Mr. Have-lot and the + gentleman were talkin' about you, and Jane she heard Mr. Havelot say as + plain as anything, and she said she couldn't be mistaken, that even if + your nonsensical ice-mine proved to be worth anything, he would never let + his daughter marry an ice-man. He spoke most disrespectful of ice-men, + sir, and said that it would make him sick to have a son-in-law whose + business it was to sell ice to butchers, and hotels, and grog-shops, and + pork-packers, and all that sort of people, and that he would as soon have + his daughter marry the man who supplied a hotel with sausages as the one + who supplied it with ice to keep those sausages from spoiling. You see, + sir, Mr. Havelot lives on his property as his father did before him, and + he is a very proud man, with a heart as hard and cold as that ice down + under your land; and it's borne in on me very strong, sir, that it would + be a bad thing for you to keep on thinkin' that you are gettin' this house + all ready to bring Miss Havelot to when you have married her. For if Mr. + Havelot keeps on livin', which there's every chance of his doin', it may + be many a weary year before you get Miss Agnes, if you ever get her. And + havin' said that, sir, I say no more, and I would not have said this much + if I hadn't felt it my bounden duty to your father's son to warn him that + most likely he was workin' for what he might never get, and so keep him + from breakin' his heart when he found out the truth all of a sudden.” + </p> + <p> + With that Susan left me, without offering any assistance in making out a + list of china. This was a terrible story; but, after all, it was founded + only upon servants' gossip. In this country, even proud, rich men like Mr. + Havelot did not have such absurd ideas regarding the source of wealth. + Money is money, and whether it is derived from the ordinary products of + the earth, from which came much of Mr. Havelot's revenue, or from an + extraordinary project such as my glacier spur, it truly could not matter + so far as concerned the standing in society of its possessor. What utter + absurdity was this which Susan had told me! If I were to go to Mr. Havelot + and tell him that I would not marry his daughter because he supplied + brewers and bakers with the products of his fields, would he not consider + me an idiot? I determined to pay no attention to the idle tale. But alas! + determinations of that sort are often of little avail. I did pay attention + to it, and my spirits drooped. + </p> + <p> + The tunnel into the glacier spur had now attained considerable length, and + the ice in the interior was found to be of a much finer quality than that + first met with, which was of a grayish hue and somewhat inclined to + crumble. When the workmen reached a grade of ice as good as they could + expect, they began to enlarge the tunnel into a chamber, and from this + they proposed to extend tunnels in various directions after the fashion of + a coal-mine. The ice was hauled out on sledges through the tunnel and then + carried up a wooden railway to the mouth of the shaft. + </p> + <p> + It was comparatively easy to walk down the shaft and enter the tunnel, and + when it happened that the men were not at work I allowed visitors to go + down and view this wonderful ice-cavern. The walls of the chamber appeared + semi-transparent, and the light of the candles or lanterns gave the whole + scene a weird and beautiful aspect. It was almost possible to imagine + one's self surrounded by limpid waters, which might at any moment rush + upon him and ingulf him. + </p> + <p> + Every day or two Tom Burton came with a party of scientific visitors, and + had I chosen to stop the work of taking out ice, admitted the public and + charged a price for admission, I might have made almost as much money as I + at that time derived from the sale of the ice. But such a method of profit + was repugnant to me. + </p> + <p> + For several days after Susan's communication to me I worked on in my + various operations, endeavoring to banish from my mind the idle nonsense + she had spoken of; but one of its effects upon me was to make me feel that + I ought not to allow hopes so important to rest upon uncertainties. So I + determined that as soon as my house and grounds should be in a condition + with which I should for the time be satisfied, I would go boldly to Mr. + Havelot, and, casting out of my recollection everything that Susan had + said, invite him to visit me and see for himself the results of the + discovery of which he had spoken with such derisive contempt. This would + be a straightforward and business-like answer to his foolish objections to + me, and I believed that in his heart the old gentleman would properly + appreciate my action. + </p> + <p> + About this time there came to my place Aaron Boyce, an elderly farmer of + the neighborhood, and, finding me outside, he seized the opportunity to + have a chat with me. + </p> + <p> + “I tell you what it is, Mr. Cuthbert,” said he, “the people in this + neighborhood hasn't give you credit for what's in you. The way you have + fixed up this place, and the short time you have took to do it, is enough + to show us now what sort of a man you are; and I tell you, sir, we're + proud of you for a neighbor. I don't believe there's another gentleman in + this county of your age that could have done what you have done in so + short a time. I expect now you will be thinking of getting married and + startin' housekeepin' in a regular fashion. That comes just as natural as + to set hens in the spring. By the way, have you heard that old Mr. + Havelot's thinkin' of goin' abroad? I didn't believe he would ever do that + again, because he's gettin' pretty well on in years, but old men will do + queer things as well as young ones.” + </p> + <p> + “Going abroad!” I cried. “Does he intend to take his daughter with him?” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Aaron Boyce smiled grimly. He was a great old gossip, and he had + already obtained the information he wanted. “Yes,” he said, “I've heard it + was on her account he's going. She's been kind of weakly lately, they tell + me, and hasn't took to her food, and the doctors has said that what she + wants is a sea voyage and a change to foreign parts.” + </p> + <p> + Going abroad! Foreign parts! This was more terrible than anything I had + imagined. I would go to Mr. Havelot that very evening, the only time which + I would be certain to find him at home, and talk to him in a way which + would be sure to bring him to his senses, if he had any. And if I should + find that he had no sense of propriety or justice, no sense of his duty to + his fellow-man and to his offspring, then I would begin a bold fight for + Agnes, a fight which I would not give up until, with her own lips, she + told me that it would be useless. I would follow her to Kentucky, to + Europe, to the uttermost ends of the earth. I could do it now. The frozen + deposits in my terminal moraine would furnish me with the means. I walked + away and left the old farmer standing grinning. No doubt my improvements + and renovations had been the subject of gossip in the neighborhood, and he + had come over to see if he could find out anything definite in regard to + the object of them. He had succeeded, but he had done more: he had nerved + me to instantly begin the conquest of Agnes, whether by diplomacy or war. + </p> + <p> + I was so anxious to begin this conquest that I could scarcely wait for the + evening to come. At the noon hour, when the ice-works were deserted, I + walked down the shaft and into the ice-chamber to see what had been done + since my last visit. I decided to insist that operations upon a larger + scale should be immediately begun, in order that I might have plenty of + money with which to carry on my contemplated campaign. Whether it was one + of peace or war, I should want all the money I could get. + </p> + <p> + I took with me a lantern and went around the chamber, which was now + twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, examining the new inroads which + had been made upon its walls. There was a tunnel commenced opposite the + one by which the chamber was entered, but it had not been opened more than + a dozen feet, and it seemed to me that the men had not been working with + any very great energy. I wanted to see a continuous stream of ice-blocks + from that chamber to the mouth of the shaft. + </p> + <p> + While grumbling thus I heard behind me a sudden noise like thunder and the + crashing of walls, and, turning quickly, I saw that a portion of the roof + of the chamber had fallen in. Nor had it ceased to fall. As I gazed, + several great masses of ice came down from above and piled themselves upon + that which had already fallen. + </p> + <p> + Startled and frightened, I sprang toward the opening of the entrance + tunnel; but, alas! I found that that was the point where the roof had + given way, and between me and the outer world was a wall of solid ice + through which it would be as impossible for me to break as if it were a + barrier of rock. With the quick instinct which comes to men in danger I + glanced about to see if the workmen had left their tools; but there were + none. + </p> + <p> + They had been taken outside. Then I stood and gazed stupidly at the mass + of fallen ice, which, even as I looked upon it, was cracking and snapping, + pressed down by the weight above it, and forming itself into an impervious + barrier without crevice or open seam. + </p> + <p> + Then I madly shouted. But of what avail were shouts down there in the + depths of the earth? I soon ceased this useless expenditure of strength, + and, with my lantern in my hand, began to walk around the chamber, + throwing the light upon the walls and the roof. I became impressed with + the fear that the whole cavity might cave in at once and bury me here in a + tomb of ice. But I saw no cracks, nor any sign of further disaster. But + why think of anything more? Was not this enough? For, before that + ice-barrier could be cleared away, would I not freeze to death? + </p> + <p> + I now continued to walk, not because I expected to find anything or do + anything, but simply to keep myself warm by action. As long as I could + move about I believed that there was no immediate danger of succumbing to + the intense cold; for, when a young man, traveling in Switzerland, I had + been in the cave of a glacier, and it was not cold enough to prevent some + old women from sitting there to play the zither for the sake of a few + coppers from visitors. I could not expect to be able to continue walking + until I should be rescued, and if I sat down, or by chance slept from + exhaustion, I must perish. + </p> + <p> + The more I thought of it, the more sure I became that in any case I must + perish, A man in a block of ice could have no chance of life. And Agnes! + Oh, Heavens! what demon of the ice had leagued with old Havelot to shut me + up in this frozen prison? For a long time I continued to walk, beat my + body with my arms and stamp my feet. The instinct of life was strong + within me. I would live as long as I could, and think of Agnes. When I + should be frozen I could not think of her. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes I stopped and listened. I was sure I could hear noises, but I + could not tell whether they were above me or not. In the centre of the + ice-barrier, about four feet from the ground, was a vast block of the + frozen substance which was unusually clear and seemed to have nothing on + the other side of it; for through it I could see flickers of light, as + though people were going about with lanterns. It was quite certain that + the accident had been discovered; for, had not the thundering noise been + heard by persons outside, the workmen would have seen what had happened as + soon as they came into the tunnel to begin their afternoon operations. + </p> + <p> + At first I wondered why they did not set to work with a will and cut away + this barrier and let me out. But there suddenly came to my mind a reason + for this lack of energy which was more chilling than the glistening walls + around me: Why should they suppose that I was in the ice-chamber? I was + not in the habit of coming here very often, but I was in the habit of + wandering off by myself at all hours of the day. This thought made me feel + that I might as well lie down on the floor of this awful cave and die at + once. The workmen might think it unsafe to mine any further in this part + of the glacier, and begin operations at some other point. I did sit down + for a moment, and then I rose involuntarily and began my weary round. + Suddenly I thought of looking at my watch. It was nearly five o'clock. I + had been more than four hours in that dreadful place, and I did not + believe that I could continue to exercise my limbs very much longer. The + lights I had seen had ceased. It was quite plain that the workmen had no + idea that any one was imprisoned in the cave. + </p> + <p> + But soon after I had come to this conclusion I saw through the clear block + of ice a speck of light, and it became stronger and stronger, until I + believed it to be close to the other side of the block. There it remained + stationary; but there seemed to be other points of light which moved about + in a strange way, and near it. Now I stood by the block watching. When my + feet became very cold, I stamped them; but there I stood fascinated, for + what I saw was truly surprising. A large coal of fire appeared on the + other side of the block; then it suddenly vanished and was succeeded by + another coal. This disappeared, and another took its place, each one + seeming to come nearer and nearer to me. Again and again did these coals + appear. They reached the centre of the block; they approached my side of + it. At last one was so near to me that I thought it was about to break + through, but it vanished. Then there came a few quick thuds and the end of + a piece of iron protruded from the block. This was withdrawn, and through + the aperture there came a voice which said: “Mr. Cuthbert, are you in + there?” It was the voice of Agnes! + </p> + <p> + Weak and cold as I was, fire and energy rushed through me at these words. + “Yes,” I exclaimed, my mouth to the hole; “Agnes, is that you?” + </p> + <p> + “Wait a minute,” came from the other side of the aperture. “I must make it + bigger. I must keep it from closing up.” + </p> + <p> + Again came the coals of fire, running backward and forward through the + long hole in the block of ice. I could see now what they were. They were + irons used by plumbers for melting solder and that sort of thing, and + Agnes was probably heating them in a little furnace outside, and + withdrawing them as fast as they cooled. It was not long before the + aperture was very much enlarged; and then there came grating through it a + long tin tube nearly two inches in diameter, which almost, but not quite, + reached my side of the block. + </p> + <p> + Now came again the voice of Agnes: “Oh, Mr. Cuthbert, are you truly there? + Are you crushed? Are you wounded? Are you nearly frozen? Are you starved? + Tell me quickly if you are yet safe.” + </p> + <p> + Had I stood in a palace padded with the softest silk and filled with spicy + odors from a thousand rose gardens, I could not have been better satisfied + with my surroundings than I was at that moment. Agnes was not two feet + away! She was telling me that she cared for me! In a very few words I + assured her that I was uninjured. Then I was on the point of telling her I + loved her, for I believed that not a moment should be lost in making this + avowal. I could not die without her knowing that. But the appearance of a + mass of paper at the other end of the tube prevented the expression of my + sentiments. This was slowly pushed on until I could reach it. Then there + came the words: “Mr. Cuthbert, these are sandwiches. Eat them immediately + and walk about while you are doing it. You must keep yourself warm until + the men get to you.” + </p> + <p> + Obedient to the slightest wish of this dear creature, I went twice around + the cave, devouring the sandwiches as I walked. They were the most + delicious food that I had ever tasted. They were given to me by Agnes. I + came back to the opening. I could not immediately begin my avowal. I must + ask a question first. “Can they get to me?” I inquired. “Is anybody trying + to do that? Are they working there by you? I do not hear them at all.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no,” she answered; “they are not working here. They are on top of the + bluff, trying to dig down to you. They were afraid to meddle with the ice + here for fear that more of it might come down and crush you and the men, + too. Oh, there has been a dreadful excitement since it was found that you + were in there!” + </p> + <p> + “How could they know I was here?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “It was your old Susan who first thought of it. She saw you walking toward + the shaft about noon, and then she remembered that she had not seen you + again; and when they came into the tunnel here they found one of the + lanterns gone and the big stick you generally carry lying where the + lantern had been. Then it was known that you must be inside. Oh, then + there was an awful time! The foreman of the ice-men examined everything, + and said they must dig down to you from above. He put his men to work; but + they could do very little, for they had hardly any spades. Then they sent + into town for help and over to the new park for the Italians working + there. From the way these men set to work you might have thought that they + would dig away the whole bluff in about five minutes; but they didn't. + Nobody seemed to know what to do, or how to get to work; and the hole they + made when they did begin was filled up with men almost as fast as they + even threw out the stones and gravel. I don't believe anything would have + been done properly if your friend, Mr. Burton, hadn't happened to come + with two scientific gentlemen, and since that he has been directing + everything. You can't think what a splendid fellow he is! I fairly adored + him when I saw him giving his orders and making everybody skip around in + the right way.” + </p> + <p> + “Tom is a very good man,” said I; “but it is his business to direct that + sort of work, and it is not surprising that he knows how to do it. But, + Agnes, they may never get down to me, and we do not know that this roof + may not cave in upon me at any moment; and before this or anything else + happens I want to tell you—” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Cuthbert,” said Agnes, “is there plenty of oil in your lantern? It + would be dreadful if it were to go out and leave you there in the dark. I + thought of that and brought you a little bottle of kerosene so that you + can fill it. I am going to push the bottle through now, if you please.” + And with this a large phial, cork end foremost, came slowly through the + tube, propelled by one of the soldering irons. Then came Agnes's voice: + “Please fill your lantern immediately, because if it goes out you can not + find it in the dark; and then walk several times around the cave, for you + have been standing still too long already.” + </p> + <p> + I obeyed these injunctions, but in two or three minutes was again at the + end of the tube. “Agnes,” said I, “how did you happen to come here? Did + you contrive in your own mind this method of communicating with me?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes; I did,” she said. “Everybody said that this mass of ice must not + be meddled with, but I knew very well it would not hurt it to make a hole + through it.” + </p> + <p> + “But how did you happen to be here?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I ran over as soon as I heard of the accident. Everybody ran here. + The whole neighborhood is on top of the bluff; but nobody wanted to come + into the tunnel, because they were afraid that more of it might fall in. + So I was able to work here all by myself, and I am very glad of it. I saw + the soldering iron and the little furnace outside of your house where the + plumbers had been using them, and I brought them here myself. Then I + thought that a simple hole through the ice might soon freeze up again, and + if you were alive inside I could not do anything to help you; and so I ran + home and got my diploma case, that had had one end melted out of it, and I + brought that to stick in the hole. I'm so glad that it is long enough, or + almost.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Agnes,” I cried, “you thought of all this for me?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course, Mr. Cuthbert,” she answered, before I had a chance to say + anything more. “You were in great danger of perishing before the men got + to you, and nobody seemed to think of any way to give you immediate + relief. And don't you think that a collegiate education is a good thing + for girls—at least, that it was for me?” + </p> + <p> + “Agnes,” I exclaimed, “please let me speak. I want to tell you, I must + tell you—” + </p> + <p> + But the voice of Agnes was clearer than mine and it overpowered my words. + “Mr. Cuthbert,” she said, “we can not both speak through this tube at the + same time in opposite directions. I have here a bottle of water for you, + but I am very much afraid it will not go through the diploma case.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't want any water,” I said. “I can eat ice if I am thirsty. What + I want is to tell you-” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Cuthbert,” said she, “you must not eat that ice. Water that was + frozen countless ages ago may be very different from the water of modern + times, and might not agree with you. Don't touch it, please. I am going to + push the bottle through if I can. I tried to think of everything that you + might need and brought them all at once; because, if I could not keep the + hole open, I wanted to get them to you without losing a minute.” + </p> + <p> + Now the bottle came slowly through. It was a small beer-bottle, I think, + and several times I was afraid it was going to stick fast and cut off + communication between me and the outer world—that is to say, between + me and Agnes. But at last the cork and the neck appeared, and I pulled it + through. I did not drink any of it, but immediately applied my mouth to + the tube. + </p> + <p> + “Agnes,” I said, “my dear Agnes, really you must not prevent me from + speaking. I can not delay another minute. This is an awful position for me + to be in, and as you don't seem to realize—” + </p> + <p> + “But I do realize, Mr. Cuthbert, that if you don't walk about you will + certainly freeze before you can be rescued. Between every two or three + words you want to take at least one turn around that place. How dreadful + it would be if you were suddenly to become benumbed and stiff! Everybody + is thinking of that. The best diggers that Mr. Burton had were three + colored men; but after they had gone down nothing like as deep as a well, + they came up frightened and said they would not dig another shovelful for + the whole world. Perhaps you don't know it, but there's a story about the + neighborhood that the negro hell is under your property. You know many of + the colored people expect to be everlastingly punished with ice and not + with fire—” + </p> + <p> + “Agnes,” I interrupted, “I am punished with ice and fire both. Please let + me tell you—” + </p> + <p> + “I was going on to say, Mr. Cuthbert,” she interrupted, “that when the + Italians heard why the colored men had come out of the hole they would not + go in either, for they are just as afraid of everlasting ice as the + negroes are, and were sure that if the bottom came out of that hole they + would fall into a frozen lower world. So there was nothing to do but to + send for paupers, and they are working now. You know paupers have to do + what they are told without regard to their beliefs. They got a dozen of + them from the poor-house. Somebody said they just threw them into the + hole. Now I must stop talking, for it is time for you to walk around + again. Would you like another sandwich?” + </p> + <p> + “Agnes,” said I, endeavoring to speak calmly, “all I want is to be able to + tell you—” + </p> + <p> + “And when you walk, Mr. Cuthbert, you had better keep around the edge of + the chamber, for there is no knowing when they may come through. Mr. + Burton and the foreman of the ice-men measured the bluff so that they say + the hole they are making is exactly over the middle of the chamber you are + in, and if you walk around the edge the pieces may not fall on you.” + </p> + <p> + “If you don't listen to me, Agnes,” I said, “I'll go and sit anywhere, + everywhere, where death may come to me quickest. Your coldness is worse + than the coldness of the cave. I can not bear it.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Mr. Cuthbert,” said Agnes, speaking, I thought, with some agitation, + “I have been listening to you, and what more can you possibly have to say? + If there is anything you want, let me know. I will run and get it for + you.” + </p> + <p> + “There is no need that you should go away to get what I want,” I said. “It + is there with you. It is you.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Cuthbert,” said Agnes, in a very low voice, but so distinctly that I + could hear every word, “don't you think it would be better for you to give + your whole mind to keeping yourself warm and strong? For if you let + yourself get benumbed you may sink down and freeze.” + </p> + <p> + “Agnes,” I said, “I will not move from this little hole until I have told + you that I love you, that I have no reason to care for life or rescue + unless you return my love, unless you are willing to be mine. Speak + quickly to me, Agnes, because I may not be rescued and may never know + whether my love for you is returned or not.” + </p> + <p> + At this moment there was a tremendous crash behind me, and, turning, I saw + a mass of broken ice upon the floor of the cave, with a cloud of dust and + smaller fragments still falling. And then with a great scratching and + scraping, and a howl loud enough to waken the echoes of all the lower + regions, down came a red-headed, drunken shoemaker. I can not say that he + was drunk at that moment, but I knew the man the moment I saw his carroty + poll, and it was drink which had sent him to the poorhouse. + </p> + <p> + But the sprawling and howling cobbler did not reach the floor. A rope had + been fastened around his waist to prevent a fall in case the bottom of the + pit should suddenly give way, and he hung dangling in mid air with white + face and distended eyes, cursing and swearing and vociferously entreating + to be pulled up. But before he received any answer from above, or I could + speak to him, there came through the hole in the roof of the cave a shower + of stones and gravel, and with them a frantic Italian, his legs and arms + outspread, his face wild with terror. + </p> + <p> + Just as he appeared in view he grasped the rope of the cobbler, and, + though in a moment he came down heavily upon the floor of the chamber, + this broke his fall, and he did not appear to be hurt. Instantly he + crouched low and almost upon all fours, and began to run around the + chamber, keeping close to the walls and screaming, I suppose to his + saints, to preserve him from the torments of the frozen damned. + </p> + <p> + In the midst of this hubbub came the voice of Agnes through the hole: “Oh, + Mr. Cuthbert, what has happened? Are you alive?” + </p> + <p> + I was so disappointed by the appearance of these wretched interlopers at + the moment it was about to be decided whether my life—should it last + for years, or but for a few minutes—was to be black or bright, and I + was so shaken and startled by the manner of their entry upon the scene, + that I could not immediately shape the words necessary to inform Agnes + what had happened. But, collecting my faculties, I was about to speak, + when suddenly, with the force of the hind leg of a mule, I was pushed away + from the aperture, and the demoniac Italian clapped his great mouth to the + end of the tube and roared through it a volume of oaths and supplications. + I attempted to thrust aside the wretched being, but I might as well have + tried to move the ice barrier itself. He had perceived that some one + outside was talking to me, and in his frenzy he was imploring that some + one should let him out. + </p> + <p> + While still endeavoring to move the man, I was seized by the arm, and + turning, beheld the pallid face of the shoemaker. They had let him down so + that he reached the floor. He tried to fall on his knees before me, but + the rope was so short that he was able to go only part of the way down, + and presented a most ludicrous appearance, with his toes scraping the icy + floor and his arms thrown out as if he were paddling like a tadpole. “Oh, + have mercy upon me, sir,” he said, “and help me get out of this dreadful + place. If you go to the hole and call up it's you, they will pull me up; + but if they get you out first they will never think of me. I am a poor + pauper, sir, but I never did nothin' to be packed in ice before I am + dead.” + </p> + <p> + Noticing that the Italian had left the end of the aperture in the block of + ice, and that he was now shouting up the open shaft, I ran to the channel + of communication which my Agnes had opened for me, and called through it; + but the dear girl had gone. + </p> + <p> + The end of a ladder now appeared at the opening in the roof, and this was + let down until it reached the floor. I started toward it, but before I had + gone half the distance the frightened shoemaker and the maniac Italian + sprang upon it, and, with shrieks and oaths, began a maddening fight for + possession of the ladder. They might quickly have gone up one after the + other, but each had no thought but to be first; and as one seized the + rounds he was pulled away by the other, until I feared the ladder would be + torn to pieces. The shoemaker finally pushed his way up a little distance, + when the Italian sprang upon his back, endeavoring to climb over him; and + so on they went up the shaft, fighting, swearing, kicking, scratching, + shaking and wrenching the ladder, which had been tied to another one in + order to increase its length, so that it was in danger of breaking, and + tearing at each other in a fashion which made it wonderful that they did + not both tumble headlong downward. They went on up, so completely filling + the shaft with their struggling forms and their wild cries that I could + not see or hear anything, and was afraid, in fact, to look up toward the + outer air. + </p> + <p> + As I was afterward informed, the Italian, who had slipped into the hole by + accident, ran away like a frightened hare the moment he got his feet on + firm ground, and the shoemaker sat down and swooned. By this performance + he obtained from a benovolent bystander a drink of whiskey, the first he + had had since he was committed to the poorhouse. + </p> + <p> + But a voice soon came down the shaft calling to me. I recognized it as + that of Tom Burton, and replied that I was safe, and that I was coming up + the ladder. But in my attempt to climb, I found that I was unable to do + so. Chilled and stiffened by the cold and weakened by fatigue and + excitement, I believe I never should have been able to leave that ice + chamber if my faithful friend had not come down the ladder and vigorously + assisted me to reach the outer air. + </p> + <p> + Seated on the ground, my back against a great oak tree, I was quickly + surrounded by a crowd of my neighbors, the workmen and the people who had + been drawn to the spot by the news of the strange accident, to gaze at me + as if I were some unknown being excavated from the bowels of the earth, I + was sipping some brandy and water which Burton had handed me, when Aaron + Boyce pushed himself in front of me. + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir,” he said, “I am mighty glad you got out of that scrape. I'm + bound to say I didn't expect you would. I have been sure all along that it + wasn't right to meddle with things that go agin Nature, and I haven't any + doubt that you'll see that for yourself and fill up all them tunnels and + shafts you've made. The ice that comes on ponds and rivers was good enough + for our forefathers, and it ought to be good enough for us. And as for + this cold stuff you find in your gravel-pit, I don't believe it's ice at + all; and if it is, like as not it's made of some sort of pizen stuff that + freezes easier than water. For everybody knows that water don't freeze in + a well, and if it don't do that, why should it do it in any kind of a hole + in the ground? So perhaps it's just as well that you did git shut up + there, sir, and find out for yourself what a dangerous thing it is to fool + with Nature and try to git ice from the bottom of the ground instead of + the top of the water.” + </p> + <p> + This speech made me angry, for I knew that old Boyce was a man who was + always glad to get hold of anything which had gone wrong and try to make + it worse; but I was too weak to answer him. + </p> + <p> + This, however, would not have been necessary, for Tom Burton turned upon + him. “Idiot,” said he, “if that is your way of thinking you might as well + say that if a well caves in you should never again dig for water, or that + nobody should have a cellar under his house for fear that the house should + fall into it. There's no more danger of the ice beneath us ever giving way + again than there is that this bluff should crumble under our feet. That + break in the roof of the ice tunnel was caused by my digging away the face + of the bluff very near that spot. The high temperature of the outer air + weakened the ice, and it fell. But down here, under this ground and secure + from the influences of the heat of the outer air, the mass of ice is more + solid than rock. We will build a brick arch over the place where the + accident happened, and then there will not be a safer mine on this + continent than this ice-mine will be.” + </p> + <p> + This was a wise and diplomatic speech from Burton, and it proved to be of + great service to me; for the men who had been taking out ice had been a + good deal frightened by the fall of the tunnel, and when it was proved + that what Burton had said in regard to the cause of the weakening of the + ice was entirely correct, they became willing to go to work again. + </p> + <p> + I now began to feel stronger and better, and, rising to my feet, I glanced + here and there into the crowd, hoping to catch a sight of Agnes, But I was + not very much surprised at not seeing her, because she would naturally + shrink from forcing herself into the midst of this motley company; but I + felt that I must go and look for her without the loss of a minute, for if + she should return to her father's house I might not be able to see her + again. + </p> + <p> + On the outskirts of the crowd I met Susan, who was almost overpowered with + joy at seeing me safe again. I shook her by the hand, but, without + replying to her warm-hearted protestations of thankfulness and delight, I + asked her if she had seen Miss Havelot. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Agnes!” she exclaimed. “Why, no sir; I expect she's at home; and if + she did come here with the rest of the neighbors I didn't see her; for + when I found out what had happened, sir, I was so weak that I sat down in + the kitchen all of a lump, and have just had strength enough to come out.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I know she was here,” I cried; “I am sure of that, and I do hope + she's not gone home again.” + </p> + <p> + “Know she was here!” exclaimed Susan. “Why, how on earth could you know + that?” + </p> + <p> + I did not reply that it was not on the earth but under it, that I became + aware of the fact, but hurried toward the Havelot house, hoping to + overtake Agnes if she had gone that way. But I did not see her, and + suddenly a startling idea struck me, and I turned and ran home as fast as + I could go. When I reached my grounds I went directly to the mouth of the + shaft. There was nobody there, for the crowd was collected into a solid + mass on the top of the bluff, listening to a lecture from Tom Burton, who + deemed it well to promote the growth of interest and healthy opinion in + regard to his wonderful discovery and my valuable possession. I hurried + down the shaft, and near the end of it, just before it joined the ice + tunnel, I beheld Agnes sitting upon the wooden track. She was not + unconscious, for as I approached she slightly turned her head. I sprang + toward her; I kneeled beside her; I took her in my arms. “Oh, Agnes, + dearest Agnes,” I cried, “what is the matter? What has happened to you? + Has a piece of ice fallen upon you? Have you slipped and hurt yourself?” + </p> + <p> + She turned her beautiful eyes up toward me and for a moment did not speak. + Then she said: “And they got you out? And you are in your right mind?” + </p> + <p> + “Right mind!” I exclaimed. “I have never been out of my mind. What are you + thinking of?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you must have been,” she said, “when you screamed at me in that + horrible way. I was so frightened that I fell back, and I must have + fainted.” + </p> + <p> + Tremulous as I was with love and anxiety, I could not help laughing. “Oh, + my dear Agnes, I did not scream at you. That was a crazed Italian who fell + through the hole that they dug.” Then I told her what had happened. + </p> + <p> + She heaved a gentle sigh. “I am so glad to hear that,” she said. “There + was one thing that I was thinking about just before you came and which + gave me a little bit of comfort; the words and yells I heard were + dreadfully oniony, and somehow or other I could not connect that sort of + thing with you.” + </p> + <p> + It now struck me that during this conversation I had been holding my dear + girl in my arms, and she had not shown the slightest sign of resistance or + disapprobation. This made my heart beat high. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Agnes,” I said, “I truly believe you love me or you would not have + been here, you would not have done for me all that you did. Why did you + not answer me when I spoke to you through that wall of ice, through the + hole your dear love had made in it? Why, when I was in such a terrible + situation, not knowing whether I was to die or live, did you not comfort + my heart with one sweet word?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Walter,” she answered, “it wasn't at all necessary for you to say all + that you did say, for I had suspected it before, and as soon as you began + to call me Agnes I knew, of course, how you felt about it. And, besides, + it really was necessary that you should move about to keep yourself from + freezing. But the great reason for my not encouraging you to go on talking + in that way was that I was afraid people might come into the tunnel, and + as, of course, you would not know that they were there, you would go on + making love to me through my diploma case, and you know I should have + perished with shame if I had had to stand there with that old Mr. Boyce, + and I don't know who else, listening to your words, which were very sweet + to me, Walter, but which would have sounded awfully funny to them.” + </p> + <p> + When she said that my words had been sweet to her I dropped the + consideration of all other subjects. + </p> + <p> + When, about ten minutes afterward, we came out of the shaft we were met by + Susan. + </p> + <p> + “Bless my soul and body, Mr. Cuthbert!” she exclaimed. “Did you find that + young lady down there in the centre of the earth? It seems to me as if + everything that you want comes to you out of the ground. But I have been + looking for you to tell you that Mr. Havelot has been here after his + daughter, and I'm sure if he had known where she was, he would have been + scared out of his wits.” + </p> + <p> + “Father here!” exclaimed Agnes. “Where is he now?” + </p> + <p> + “I think he has gone home, miss. Indeed I'm sure of it; for my daughter + Jennie, who was over here the same as all the other people in the county, + I truly believe told him—and I was proud she had the spirit to speak + up that way to him—that your heart was almost broke when you heard + about Mr. Cuthbert being shut up in the ice, and that most likely you was + in your own room a-cryin' your eyes out. When he heard that he stood + lookin' all around the place, and he asked me if he might go in the house; + and when I told him he was most welcome, he went in. I offered to show him + about, which he said was no use, that he had been there often enough; and + he went everywhere, I truly believe, except in the garret and the cellar. + And after he got through with that he went out to the barn and then walked + home.” + </p> + <p> + “I must go to him immediately,” said Agnes. + </p> + <p> + “But not alone,” said I. And together we walked through the woods, over + the little field and across the Havelot lawn to the house. We were told + that the old gentleman was in his library, and together we entered the + room. Mr. Havelot was sitting by a table on which were lying several open + volumes of an encyclopedia. When he turned and saw us, he closed his book, + pushed back his chair and took off his spectacles. “Upon my word, sir,” he + cried; “and so the first thing you do after they pull you out of the earth + is to come here and break my commands.” + </p> + <p> + “I came on the invitation of your daughter, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “And what right has she to invite you, I'd like to know?” + </p> + <p> + “She has every right, for to her I owe my existence.” + </p> + <p> + “What rabid nonsense!” exclaimed the old gentleman. “People don't owe + their existence to the silly creatures they fall in love with.” + </p> + <p> + “I assure you I am correct, sir.” And then I related to him what his + daughter had done, and how through her angelic agency my rescuers had + found me a living being instead of a frozen corpse. + </p> + <p> + “Stuff!” said Mr. Havelot. “People can live in a temperature of thirty-two + degrees above zero all winter. Out in Minnesota they think that's hot. And + you gave him victuals and drink through your diploma case! Well, miss, I + told you that if you tried to roast chestnuts in that diploma case the + bottom would come out.” + </p> + <p> + “But you see, father,” said Agnes, earnestly, “the reason I did that was + because when I roasted them in anything shallow they popped into the fire, + but they could not jump out of the diploma case.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, something else seems to have jumped out of it,” said the old + gentleman, “and something with which I am not satisfied. I have been + looking over these books, sir, and have read the articles on ice, glaciers + and caves, and I find no record of anything in the whole history of the + world which in the least resembles the cock-and-bull story I am told about + the butt-end of a glacier which tumbled into a cave in your ground, and + has been lying there through all the geological ages, and the eras of + formation, and periods of animate existence down to the days of Noah, and + Moses, and Methuselah, and Rameses II, and Alexander the Great, and Martin + Luther, and John Wesley, to this day, for you to dig out and sell to the + Williamstown Ice Co.” + </p> + <p> + “But that's what happened, sir,” said I. + </p> + <p> + “And besides, father,” added Agnes, “the gold and silver that people take + out of mines may have been in the ground as long as that ice has been.” + </p> + <p> + “Bosh!” said Mr. Havelot. “The cases are not at all similar. It is simply + impossible that a piece of a glacier should have fallen into a cave and + been preserved in that way. The temperature of caves is always above the + freezing-point, and that ice would have melted a million years before you + were born.” + </p> + <p> + “But, father,” said Agnes, “the temperature of caves filled with ice must + be very much lower than that of common caves.” + </p> + <p> + “And apart from that,” I added, “the ice is still there, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “That doesn't make the slightest difference,” he replied. “It's against + all reason and commonsense that such a thing could have happened. Even if + there ever was a glacier in this part of the country and if the lower + portion of it did stick out over an immense hole in the ground, that + protruding end would never have broken off and tumbled in. Glaciers are + too thick and massive for that.” + </p> + <p> + “But the glacier is there, sir,” said I, “in spite of your own reasoning.” + </p> + <p> + “And then again,” continued the old gentleman, “if there had been a cave + and a projecting spur the ice would have gradually melted and dripped into + the cave, and we would have had a lake and not an ice-mine. It is an + absurdity.” + </p> + <p> + “But it's there, notwithstanding,” said I. + </p> + <p> + “And you can not subvert facts, you know, father,” added Agnes. + </p> + <p> + “Confound facts!” he cried. “I base my arguments on sober, cool-headed + reason; and there's nothing that can withstand reason. The thing's + impossible and, therefore, it has never happened. I went over to your + place, sir, when I heard of the accident, for the misfortunes of my + neighbors interest me, no matter what may be my opinion of them, and when + I found that you had been extricated from your ridiculous predicament, I + went through your house, and I was pleased to find it in as good or better + condition than I had known it in the days of your respected father. I was + glad to see the improvement in your circumstances; but when I am told, + sir, that your apparent prosperity rests upon such an absurdity as a + glacier in a gravel hill, I can but smile with contempt, sir.” + </p> + <p> + I was getting a little tired of this. “But the glacier is there, sir,” I + said, “and I am taking out ice every day, and have reason to believe that + I can continue to take it out for the rest of my life. With such facts as + these before me, I am bound to say, sir, that I don't care in the least + about reason.” + </p> + <p> + “And I am here, father,” said Agnes, coming close to me, “and here I want + to continue for the rest of my days.” + </p> + <p> + The old gentleman looked at her. “And, I suppose,” he said, “that you, + too, don't in the least care about reason?” + </p> + <p> + “Not a bit,” said Agnes. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Mr. Havelot, rising, “I have done all I can to make you two + listen to reason, and I can do no more. I despair of making sensible human + beings of you, and so you might as well go on acting like a couple of + ninny-hammers.” + </p> + <p> + “Do ninny-hammers marry and settle on the property adjoining yours, sir?” + I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I suppose they do,” he said. “And when the aboriginal ice-house, or + whatever the ridiculous thing is that they have discovered, gives out, I + suppose that they can come to a reasonable man and ask him for a little + money to buy bread and butter.” + </p> + <p> + Two years have passed, and Agnes and the glacier are still mine; great + blocks of ice now flow in almost a continuous stream from the mine to the + railroad station, and in a smaller but quite as continuous stream an + income flows in upon Agnes and me; and from one of the experimental + excavations made by Tom Burton on the bluff comes a stream of ice-cold + water running in a sparkling brook a-down my dell. On fine mornings before + I am up, I am credibly informed that Aaron Boyce may generally be found, + in season and out of season, endeavoring to catch the trout with which I + am trying to stock that ice-cold stream. The diploma case, which I caused + to be carefully removed from the ice-barrier which had imprisoned me, now + hangs in my study and holds our marriage certificate. + </p> + <p> + Near the line-fence which separates his property from mine, Mr. Havelot + has sunk a wide shaft. “If the glacier spur under your land was a quarter + of a mile wide,” he says to me, “it was probably at least a half a mile + long; and if that were the case, the upper end of it extends into my + place, and I may be able to strike it.” He has a good deal of money, this + worthy Mr. Havelot, but he would be very glad to increase his riches, + whether they are based upon sound reason or ridiculous facts. As for Agnes + and myself, no facts or any reason could make us happier than our ardent + love and our frigid fortune. + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's My Terminal Moraine, by Frank E. Stockton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY TERMINAL MORAINE *** + +***** This file should be named 23175-h.htm or 23175-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/1/7/23175/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: My Terminal Moraine + 1892 + +Author: Frank E. Stockton + +Release Date: October 24, 2007 [EBook #23175] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY TERMINAL MORAINE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +MY TERMINAL MORAINE + +By Frank E. Stockton + +Copyright, 1892, by P. F. Collier + + +A man's birth is generally considered the most important event of his +existence, but I truly think that what I am about to relate was more +important to me than my entrance into this world; because, had not these +things happened, I am of the opinion that my life would have been of no +value to me and my birth a misfortune. + +My father, Joshua Cuthbert, died soon after I came to my majority, +leaving me what he had considered a comfortable property. This consisted +of a large house and some forty acres of land, nearly the whole of which +lay upon a bluff, which upon three sides descended to a little valley, +through which ran a gentle stream. I had no brothers or sisters. My +mother died when I was a boy, and I, Walter Cuthbert, was left the sole +representative of my immediate family. + +My estate had been a comfortable one to my father, because his income +from the practice of his profession as a physician enabled him to keep +it up and provide satisfactorily for himself and me. I had no profession +and but a very small income, the result of a few investments my father +had made. Left to myself, I felt no inducement to take up any profession +or business. My wants were simple, and for a few years I lived without +experiencing any inconvenience from the economies which I was obliged +to practice. My books, my dog, my gun and my rod made life pass very +pleasantly to me, and the subject of an increase of income never +disturbed my mind. + +But as time passed on the paternal home began to present an air of +neglect and even dilapidation, which occasionally attracted my attention +and caused, as I incidentally discovered, a great deal of unfavorable +comment among my neighbors, who thought that I should go to work and +at least earn money enough to put the house and grounds in a condition +which should not be unworthy the memory of the good Dr. Cuthbert. In +fact, I began to be looked upon as a shiftless young man; and, now and +then, I found a person old enough and bold enough to tell me so. + +But, instead of endeavoring to find some suitable occupation by which I +might better my condition and improve my estate, I fell in love, which, +in the opinion of my neighbors, was the very worst thing that could have +happened to me at this time. I lived in a thrifty region, and for a man +who could not support himself to think of taking upon him the support of +a wife, especially such a wife as Agnes Havelot would be, was considered +more than folly and looked upon as a crime. Everybody knew that I was in +love with Miss Havelot, for I went to court her as boldly as I went to +fish or shoot. There was a good deal of talk about it, and this finally +came to the ears of Mr. Havelot, my lady's father, who, thereupon, +promptly ordered her to have no more to do with me. + +The Havelot estate, which adjoined mine, was a very large one, +containing hundreds and hundreds of acres; and the Havelots were rich, +rich enough to frighten any poor young man of marrying intent. But I +did not appreciate the fact that I was a poor young man. I had never +troubled my head about money as it regarded myself, and I now did not +trouble my head about it as it regarded Agnes. I loved her, I hoped she +loved me, and all other considerations were thrown aside. Mr. Havelot, +however, was a man of a different way of thinking. + +It was a little time before I became convinced that the decision of +Agnes's father, that there should be no communication between that dear +girl and myself, really meant anything. I had never been subjected to +restrictions, and I did not understand how people of spirit could submit +to them; but I was made to understand it when Mr. Havelot, finding me +wandering about his grounds, very forcibly assured me that if I should +make my appearance there again, or if he discovered any attempt on my +part to communicate with his daughter in any way, he would send her from +home. He concluded the very brief interview by stating that if I had any +real regard for his daughter's happiness I would cease attentions which +would meet with the most decided disapprobation from her only surviving +parent and which would result in exiling her from home, I begged for one +more interview with Miss Havelot, and if it had been granted I should +have assured her of the state of my affections, no matter if there were +reasons to suppose that I would never see her again; but her father very +sternly forbade anything of the kind, and I went away crushed. + +It was a very hard case, for if I played the part of a bold lover and +tried to see Agnes without regard to the wicked orders of her father, +I should certainly be discovered; and then it would be not only myself, +but the poor girl, who would suffer. So I determined that I would submit +to the Havelot decree. No matter if I never saw her again, never heard +the sound of her voice, it would be better to have her near me, to have +her breathe the same air, cast up her eyes at the same sky, listen to +the same birds, that I breathed, looked at and listened to, than to have +her far away, probably in Kentucky, where I knew she had relatives, +and where the grass was blue and the sky probably green, or at any +rate would appear so to her if in the least degree she felt as I did in +regard to the ties of home and the affinities between the sexes. + +I now found myself in a most doleful and even desperate condition of +mind. There was nothing in the world which I could have for which I +cared. Hunting, fishing, and the rambles through woods and fields +that had once been so delightful to me now became tasks which I seldom +undertook. The only occupation in which I felt the slightest interest +was that of sitting in a tower of my house with a telescope, endeavoring +to see my Agnes on some portion of her father's grounds; but, although I +diligently directed my glass at the slightest stretch of lawn or bit +of path which I could discern through openings in the foliage, I never +caught sight of her. I knew, however, by means of daily questions +addressed to my cook, whose daughter was a servant in the Havelot +house, that Agnes was yet at home. For that reason I remained at home. +Otherwise, I should have become a wanderer. + +About a month after I had fallen into this most unhappy state an old +friend came to see me. We had been school-fellows, but he differed from +me in almost every respect. He was full of ambition and energy, and, +although he was but a few years older than myself, he had already made +a name in the world. He was a geologist, earnest and enthusiastic in his +studies and his investigations. He told me frankly that the object of +his visit was twofold. In the first place, he wanted to see me, and, +secondly, he wanted to make some geological examinations on my grounds, +which were situated, as he informed me, upon a terminal moraine, +a formation which he had not yet had an opportunity of practically +investigating. + +I had not known that I lived on a moraine, and now that I knew it, I did +not care. But Tom Burton glowed with high spirits and lively zeal as he +told me how the great bluff on which my house stood, together with the +other hills and wooded terraces which stretched away from it along the +side of the valley, had been formed by the minute fragments of rock and +soil, which, during ages and ages, had been gradually pushed down from +the mountains by a great glacier which once occupied the country to the +northeast of my house. "Why, Walter, my boy," he cried, "if I had not +read it all in the books I should have known for myself, as soon as +I came here, that there had once been a glacier up there, and as it +gradually moved to the southwest it had made this country what it is. +Have you a stream down there in that dell which I see lies at right +angles with the valley and opens into it?" + +"No," said I; "I wish there were one. The only stream we have flows +along the valley and not on my property." + +Without waiting for me Tom ran down into my dell, pushed his way through +the underbrush to its upper end, and before long came back flushed with +heat and enthusiasm. + +"Well, sir," he said, "that dell was once the bed of a glacial stream, +and you may as well clear it out and plant corn there if you want to, +for there never will be another stream flowing through it until there is +another glacier out in the country beyond. And now I want you to let +me dig about here. I want to find out what sort of stuff the glacier +brought down from the mountains. I will hire a man and will promise you +to fill up all the holes I make." + +I had no objection to my friend's digging as much as he pleased, and +for three days he busied himself in getting samples of the soil of my +estate. Sometimes I went out and looked at him, and gradually a little +of his earnest ardor infused itself into me, and with some show of +interest I looked into the holes he had made and glanced over the +mineral specimens he showed me. + +"Well, Walter," said he, when he took leave of me, "I am very sorry that +I did not discover that the glacier had raked out the bed of a gold mine +from the mountains up there and brought it down to you, or at any rate, +some valuable iron ore. But I am obliged to say it did not do anything +of the sort. But I can tell you one thing it brought you, and, although +it is not of any great commercial value, I should think you could make +good use of it here on your place. You have one of the finest deposits +of gravel on this bluff that I have met with, and if you were to take +out a lot of it and spread it over your driveways and paths, it would +make it a great deal pleasanter for you to go about here in bad weather +and would wonderfully improve your property. Good roads always give +an idea of thrift and prosperity." And then he went away with a +valise nearly full of mineral specimens which he assured me were very +interesting. + +My interest in geological formations died away as soon as Tom Burton had +departed, but what he said about making gravel roads giving the place an +air of thrift and prosperity had its effect upon my mind. It struck +me that it would be a very good thing if people in the neighborhood, +especially the Havelots, were to perceive on my place some evidences +of thrift and prosperity. Most palpable evidences of unthrift and +inpecuniosity had cut me off from Agnes, and why might it not be that +some signs of improved circumstances would remove, to a degree at least, +the restrictions which had been placed between us? This was but a very +little thing upon which to build hopes; but ever since men and women +have loved they have built grand hopes upon very slight foundations. I +determined to put my roadways in order. + +My efforts in this direction were really evidence of anything but +thriftiness, for I could not in the least afford to make my drives +and walks resemble the smooth and beautiful roads which wound over the +Havelot estate, although to do this was my intention, and I set about +the work without loss of time. I took up this occupation with so much +earnestness that it seriously interfered with my observations from the +tower. + +I hired two men and set them to work to dig a gravel-pit. They made +excavations at several places, and very soon found what they declared +to be a very fine quality of road-gravel. I ordered them to dig on +until they had taken out what they believed to be enough to cover all +my roads. When this had been done, I would have it properly spread and +rolled. As this promised to be a very good job, the men went to work in +fine spirits and evidently made up their minds that the improvements I +desired would require a vast deal of gravel. + +When they had dug a hole so deep that it became difficult to throw up +the gravel from the bottom, I suggested that they should dig at some +other place. But to this they objected, declaring that the gravel was +getting better and better, and it would be well to go on down as long as +the quality continued to be so good. So, at last, they put a ladder into +the pit, one man carrying the gravel up in a hod, while the other +dug it; and when they had gone down so deep that this was no longer +practicable, they rigged up a derrick and windlass and drew up the +gravel in a bucket. + +Had I been of a more practical turn of mind I might have perceived that +this method of working made the job a very long and, consequently, to +the laborers, a profitable one; but no such idea entered into my head, +and not noticing whether they were bringing up sand or gravel I allowed +them to proceed. + +One morning I went out to the spot where the excavation was being made +and found that the men had built a fire on the ground near the opening +of the pit, and that one of them was bending over it warming himself. +As the month was July this naturally surprised me, and I inquired the +reason for so strange a performance. + +"Upon my soul," said the man, who was rubbing his hands over the blaze, +"I do not wonder you are surprised, but it's so cold down at the bottom +of that pit that me fingers is almost frosted; and we haven't struck any +wather neither, which couldn't be expected, of course, a-diggin' down +into the hill like this." + +I looked into the hole and found it was very deep. "I think it would be +better to stop digging here," said I, "and try some other place." + +"I wouldn't do that just now," said the other man, who was preparing to +go down in the bucket; "to be sure, it's a good deal more like a well +than a gravel-pit, but it's bigger at the top than at the bottom, and +there's no danger of its cavin' in, and now that we've got everything +rigged up all right, it would be a pity to make a change yet awhile." + +So I let them go on; but the next day when I went out again I found that +they had come to the conclusion that it was time to give up digging in +that hole. They both declared that it almost froze their feet to stand +on the ground where they worked at the bottom of the excavation. The +slow business of drawing up the gravel by means of a bucket and windlass +was, therefore, reluctantly given up. The men now went to work to dig +outward from this pit toward the edge of the bluff which overlooked +my little dell, and gradually made a wide trench, which they deepened +until--and I am afraid to say how long they worked before this was +done--they could walk to the original pit from the level of the dell. +They then deepened the inner end of the trench, wheeling out the gravel +in barrows, until they had made an inclined pathway from the dell to the +bottom of the pit. The wheeling now became difficult, and the men soon +declared that they were sure that they had quite gravel enough. + +When they made this announcement, and I had gone into some financial +calculations, I found that I would be obliged to put an end to my +operations, at least for the present, for my available funds were gone, +or would be when I had paid what I owed for the work. The men were +very much disappointed by the sudden ending of this good job, but they +departed, and I was left to gaze upon a vast amount of gravel, of which, +for the present at least, I could not afford to make the slightest use. + +The mental despondency which had been somewhat lightened during my +excavating operations now returned, and I became rather more gloomy and +downcast than before. My cook declared that it was of no use to prepare +meals which I never ate, and suggested that it would save money if I +discharged her. As I had not paid her anything for a long time, I did +not see how this would benefit me. + +Wandering about one day with my hat pulled down over my eyes and my +hands thrust deep into my pockets, I strolled into the dell and stood +before the wide trench which led to the pit in which I had foolishly +sunk the money which should have supported me for months. I entered this +dismal passage and walked slowly and carefully down the incline until I +reached the bottom of the original pit, where I had never been before. +I stood here looking up and around me and wondering how men could bring +themselves to dig down into such dreary depths simply for the sake of +a few dollars a week, when I involuntarily began to stamp my feet. They +were very cold, although I had not been there more than a minute. I +wondered at this and took up some of the loose gravel in my hand. It was +quite dry, but it chilled my fingers. I did not understand it, and I did +not try to, but walked up the trench and around into the dell, thinking +of Agnes. + +I was very fond of milk, which, indeed, was almost the only food I now +cared for, and I was consequently much disappointed at my noonday meal +when I found that the milk had soured and was not fit to drink. + +"You see, sir," said Susan, "ice is very scarce and dear, and we can not +afford to buy much of it. There was no freezin' weather last winter, +and the price has gone up as high as the thermometer, sir, and so, +between the two of 'em, I can't keep things from spoilin'." + +The idea now came to me that if Susan would take the milk, and anything +else she wished to keep cool in this hot weather, to the bottom of the +gravel-pit, she would find the temperature there cold enough to preserve +them without ice, and I told her so. + +The next morning Susan came to me with a pleased countenance and said, +"I put the butter and the milk in that pit last night, and the butter's +just as hard and the milk's as sweet as if it had been kept in an +ice-house. But the place is as cold as an ice-house, sir, and unless I +am mistaken, there's ice in it. Anyway, what do you call that?" And she +took from a little basket a piece of grayish ice as large as my fist. +"When I found it was so cold down there, sir," she said, "I thought +I would dig a little myself and see what made it so; and I took a +fire-shovel and hatchet, and, when I had scraped away some of the +gravel, I came to something hard and chopped off this piece of it, which +is real ice, sir, or I know nothing about it. Perhaps there used to be +an ice-house there, and you might get some of it if you dug, though +why anybody should put it down so deep and then cover it up, I'm sure I +don't know. But as long as there's any there, I think we should get it +out, even if there's only a little of it; for I can not take everything +down to that pit, and we might as well have it in the refrigerator." + +This seemed to me like very good sense, and if I had had a man I should +have ordered him to go down to the pit and dig up any lumps of ice +he might find and bring them to the house. But I had no man, and I +therefore became impressed with the opinion that if I did not want to +drink sour milk for the rest of the summer, it might be a good thing for +me to go down there and dig out some of the ice myself. So with pickaxe +and shovel I went to the bottom of the pit and set myself to work. + +A few inches below the surface I found that my shovel struck something +hard, and, clearing away the gravel from this for two or three square +feet, I looked down upon a solid mass of ice. It was dirty and begrimed, +but it was truly ice. With my pick I detached some large pieces of it. +These, with some discomfort, I carried out into the dell where Susan +might come with her basket and get them. + +For several days Susan and I took out ice from the pit, and then I +thought that perhaps Tom Burton might feel some interest in this frozen +deposit in my terminal moraine, and so I wrote to him about it. He did +not answer my letter, but instead arrived himself the next afternoon. + +"Ice at the bottom of a gravel-pit," said he, "is a thing I never heard +of. Will you lend me a spade and a pickaxe?" + +When Tom came out of that pit--it was too cold a place for me to go with +him and watch his proceedings--I saw him come running toward the house. + +"Walter," he shouted, "we must hire all the men we can find and dig, +dig, dig. If I am not mistaken something has happened on your place that +is wonderful almost beyond belief. But we must not stop to talk. We must +dig, dig, dig; dig all day and dig all night. Don't think of the cost. +I'll attend to that. I'll get the money. What we must do is to find men +and set them to work." + +"What's the matter?" said I. "What has happened?" + +"I haven't time to talk about it now; besides I don't want to, for fear +that I should find that I am mistaken. But get on your hat, my dear +fellow, and let's go over to the town for men." + +The next day there were eight men working under the direction of my +friend Burton, and although they did not work at night as he wished +them to do, they labored steadfastly for ten days or more before Tom was +ready to announce what it was he had hoped to discover, and whether or +not he had found it. For a day or two I watched the workmen from time to +time, but after that I kept away, preferring to await the result of +my friend's operations. He evidently expected to find something worth +having, and whether he was successful or not, it suited me better to +know the truth all at once and not by degrees. + +On the morning of the eleventh day Tom came into the room where I was +reading and sat down near me. His face was pale, his eyes glittering. +"Old friend," said he, and as he spoke I noticed that his voice was +a little husky, although it was plain enough that his emotion was not +occasioned by bad fortune--"my good old friend, I have found out what +made the bottom of your gravel-pit so uncomfortably cold. You need not +doubt what I am going to tell you, for my excavations have been complete +and thorough enough to make me sure of what I say. Don't you remember +that I told you that ages ago there was a vast glacier in the country +which stretches from here to the mountains? Well, sir, the foot of that +glacier must have reached further this way than is generally supposed. +At any rate a portion of it did extend in this direction as far as this +bit of the world which is now yours. This end or spur of the glacier, +nearly a quarter of a mile in width, I should say, and pushing before it +a portion of the terminal moraine on which you live, came slowly toward +the valley until suddenly it detached itself from the main glacier and +disappeared from sight. That is to say, my boy"--and as he spoke Tom +sprang to his feet, too excited to sit any longer--"it descended to +the bowels of the earth, at least for a considerable distance in that +direction, Now you want to know how this happened. Well, I'll tell you. +In this part of the country there are scattered about here and there +great caves. Geologists know one or two of them, and it is certain that +there are others undiscovered. Well, sir, your glacier spur discovered +one of them, and when it had lain over the top of it for an age or two, +and had grown bigger and bigger, and heavier and heavier, it at last +burst through the rock roof of the cave, snapping itself from the +rest of the glacier and falling in one vast mass to the bottom of the +subterranean abyss. Walter, it is there now. The rest of the glacier +came steadily down; the moraines were forced before it; they covered +up this glacier spur, this broken fragment, and by the time the climate +changed and the average of temperature rose above that of the glacial +period, this vast sunken mass of ice was packed away below the surface +of the earth, out of the reach of the action of friction, or heat, or +moisture, or anything else which might destroy it. And through all the +long procession of centuries that broken end of the glacier has been +lying in your terminal moraine. It is there now. It is yours, Walter +Cuthbert. It is an ice-mine. It is wealth, and so far as I can make out, +it is nearly all upon your land. To you is the possession, but to me is +the glory of the discovery. A bit of the glacial period kept in a cave +for us! It is too wonderful to believe! Walter, have you any brandy?" + +It may well be supposed that by this time I was thoroughly awakened to +the importance and the amazing character of my friend's discovery, and +I hurried with him to the scene of operations. There he explained +everything and showed me how, by digging away a portion of the face of +the bluff, he had found that this vast fragment of the glacier, +which had been so miraculously preserved, ended in an irregularly +perpendicular wall, which extended downward he knew not how far, and the +edge of it on its upper side had been touched by my workmen in digging +their pit. "It was the gradual melting of the upper end of this +glacier," said Tom, "probably more elevated than the lower end, that +made your dell. I wondered why the depression did not extend further up +toward the spot where the foot of the glacier was supposed to have been. +This end of the fragment, being sunk in deeper and afterward covered up +more completely, probably never melted at all." + +"It is amazing--astounding," said I; "but what of it, now that we have +found it?" + +"What of it?" cried Tom, and his whole form trembled as he spoke. "You +have here a source of wealth, of opulence which shall endure for the +rest of your days. Here at your very door, where it can be taken out and +transported with the least possible trouble, is ice enough to supply the +town, the county, yes, I might say, the State, for hundreds of years. +No, sir, I can not go in to supper. I can not eat. I leave to you the +business and practical part of this affair. I go to report upon its +scientific features." + +"Agnes," exclaimed, as I walked to the house with my hands clasped and +my eyes raised to the sky, "the glacial period has given thee to me!" + +This did not immediately follow, although I went that very night to +Mr. Havelot and declared to him that I was now rich enough to marry his +daughter. He laughed at me in a manner which was very annoying, and made +certain remarks which indicated that he thought it probable that it was +not the roof of the cave, but my mind, which had given way under the +influence of undue pressure. + +The contemptuous manner in which I had been received aroused within me a +very unusual state of mind. While talking to Mr. Havelot I heard not +far away in some part of the house a voice singing. It was the voice +of Agnes, and I believed she sang so that I could hear her. But as her +sweet tones reached my ear there came to me at the same time the harsh, +contemptuous words of her father. I left the house determined to crush +that man to the earth beneath a superincumbent mass of ice--or the +evidence of the results of the ownership of such a mass--which would +make him groan and weep as he apologized to me for his scornful and +disrespectful utterances and at the same time offered me the hand of his +daughter. + +When the discovery of the ice-mine, as it grew to be called, became +generally known, my grounds were crowded by sightseers, and reporters +of newspapers were more plentiful than squirrels. But the latter were +referred to Burton, who would gladly talk to them as long as they could +afford to listen, and I felt myself at last compelled to shut my gates +to the first. + +I had offers of capital to develop this novel source of wealth, and I +accepted enough of this assistance to enable me to begin operations on a +moderate scale. It was considered wise not to uncover any portion of the +glacier spur, but to construct an inclined shaft down to its wall-like +end and from this tunnel into the great mass. Immediately the leading +ice company of the neighboring town contracted with me for all the ice I +could furnish, and the flood-gates of affluence began slowly to rise. + +The earliest, and certainly one of the greatest, benefits which came +to me from this bequest from the unhistoric past was the new energy and +vigor with which my mind and body were now infused. My old, careless +method of life and my recent melancholy, despairing mood were gone, and +I now began to employ myself upon the main object of my life with an +energy and enthusiasm almost equal to that of my friend, Tom Burton. +This present object of my life was to prepare my home for Agnes. + +The great piles of gravel which my men had dug from the well-like pit +were spread upon the roadways and rolled smooth and hard; my lawn was +mowed; my flower-beds and borders put in order; useless bushes and +undergrowth cut out and cleared away; my outbuildings were repaired +and the grounds around my house rapidly assumed their old appearance of +neatness and beauty. + +Ice was very scarce that summer, and, as the wagons wound away from the +opening of the shaft which led down to the glacier, carrying their loads +to the nearest railway station, so money came to me; not in large sums +at first, for preparations had not yet been perfected for taking out the +ice in great quantities, but enough to enable me to go on with my work +as rapidly as I could plan it. I set about renovating and brightening +and newly furnishing my house. Whatever I thought that Agnes would +like I bought and put into it. I tried to put myself in her place as I +selected the paper-hangings and the materials with which to cover the +furniture. + +Sometimes, while thus employed selecting ornaments or useful articles +for my house, and using as far as was possible the taste and judgment +of another instead of my own, the idea came to me that perhaps Agnes had +never heard of my miraculous good fortune. Certainly her father would +not be likely to inform her, and perhaps she still thought of me, if she +thought at all, as the poor young man from whom she had been obliged to +part because he was poor. + +But whether she knew that I was growing rich, or whether she thought I +was becoming poorer and poorer, I thought only of the day when I could +go to her father and tell him that I was able to take his daughter and +place her in a home as beautiful as that in which she now lived, and +maintain her with all the comforts and luxuries which he could give her. + +One day I asked my faithful cook, who also acted as my housekeeper and +general supervisor, to assist me in making out a list of china which I +intended to purchase. + +"Are you thinking of buying china, sir?" she asked. "We have now quite +as much as we really need." + +"Oh, yes," said I, "I shall get complete sets of everything that can be +required for a properly furnished household." + +Susan gave a little sigh. "You are spendin' a lot of money, sir, and +some of it for things that a single gentleman would be likely not to +care very much about; and if you was to take it into your head to travel +and stay away for a year or two, there's a good many things you've +bought that would look shabby when you come back, no matter how careful +I might be in dustin' 'em and keepin' 'em covered." + +"But I have no idea of traveling," said I. "There's no place so pleasant +as this to me." + +Susan was silent for a few moments, and then she said: "I know very well +why you are doing all this, and I feel it my bounden duty to say to you +that there's a chance of its bein' no use. I do not speak without good +reason, and I would not do it if I didn't think that it might make +trouble lighter to you when it comes." + +"What are you talking about, Susan; what do you mean?" + +"Well, sir, this is what I mean: It was only last night that my daughter +Jane was in Mr. Havelot's dining-room after dinner was over, and Mr. +Havelot and a friend of his were sitting there, smoking their cigars and +drinking their coffee. She went in and come out again as she was busy +takin' away the dishes, and they paid no attention to her, but went on +talkin' without knowing, most likely, she was there. Mr. Have-lot and +the gentleman were talkin' about you, and Jane she heard Mr. Havelot say +as plain as anything, and she said she couldn't be mistaken, that even +if your nonsensical ice-mine proved to be worth anything, he would +never let his daughter marry an ice-man. He spoke most disrespectful of +ice-men, sir, and said that it would make him sick to have a son-in-law +whose business it was to sell ice to butchers, and hotels, and +grog-shops, and pork-packers, and all that sort of people, and that he +would as soon have his daughter marry the man who supplied a hotel with +sausages as the one who supplied it with ice to keep those sausages from +spoiling. You see, sir, Mr. Havelot lives on his property as his father +did before him, and he is a very proud man, with a heart as hard and +cold as that ice down under your land; and it's borne in on me very +strong, sir, that it would be a bad thing for you to keep on thinkin' +that you are gettin' this house all ready to bring Miss Havelot to when +you have married her. For if Mr. Havelot keeps on livin', which there's +every chance of his doin', it may be many a weary year before you get +Miss Agnes, if you ever get her. And havin' said that, sir, I say no +more, and I would not have said this much if I hadn't felt it my bounden +duty to your father's son to warn him that most likely he was workin' +for what he might never get, and so keep him from breakin' his heart +when he found out the truth all of a sudden." + +With that Susan left me, without offering any assistance in making out a +list of china. This was a terrible story; but, after all, it was founded +only upon servants' gossip. In this country, even proud, rich men like +Mr. Havelot did not have such absurd ideas regarding the source of +wealth. Money is money, and whether it is derived from the ordinary +products of the earth, from which came much of Mr. Havelot's revenue, +or from an extraordinary project such as my glacier spur, it truly could +not matter so far as concerned the standing in society of its possessor. +What utter absurdity was this which Susan had told me! If I were to go +to Mr. Havelot and tell him that I would not marry his daughter because +he supplied brewers and bakers with the products of his fields, would he +not consider me an idiot? I determined to pay no attention to the idle +tale. But alas! determinations of that sort are often of little avail. I +did pay attention to it, and my spirits drooped. + +The tunnel into the glacier spur had now attained considerable length, +and the ice in the interior was found to be of a much finer quality than +that first met with, which was of a grayish hue and somewhat inclined to +crumble. When the workmen reached a grade of ice as good as they could +expect, they began to enlarge the tunnel into a chamber, and from this +they proposed to extend tunnels in various directions after the fashion +of a coal-mine. The ice was hauled out on sledges through the tunnel and +then carried up a wooden railway to the mouth of the shaft. + +It was comparatively easy to walk down the shaft and enter the tunnel, +and when it happened that the men were not at work I allowed visitors +to go down and view this wonderful ice-cavern. The walls of the chamber +appeared semi-transparent, and the light of the candles or lanterns gave +the whole scene a weird and beautiful aspect. It was almost possible +to imagine one's self surrounded by limpid waters, which might at any +moment rush upon him and ingulf him. + +Every day or two Tom Burton came with a party of scientific visitors, +and had I chosen to stop the work of taking out ice, admitted the public +and charged a price for admission, I might have made almost as much +money as I at that time derived from the sale of the ice. But such a +method of profit was repugnant to me. + +For several days after Susan's communication to me I worked on in my +various operations, endeavoring to banish from my mind the idle nonsense +she had spoken of; but one of its effects upon me was to make me feel +that I ought not to allow hopes so important to rest upon uncertainties. +So I determined that as soon as my house and grounds should be in a +condition with which I should for the time be satisfied, I would go +boldly to Mr. Havelot, and, casting out of my recollection everything +that Susan had said, invite him to visit me and see for himself the +results of the discovery of which he had spoken with such derisive +contempt. This would be a straightforward and business-like answer to +his foolish objections to me, and I believed that in his heart the old +gentleman would properly appreciate my action. + +About this time there came to my place Aaron Boyce, an elderly farmer of +the neighborhood, and, finding me outside, he seized the opportunity to +have a chat with me. + +"I tell you what it is, Mr. Cuthbert," said he, "the people in this +neighborhood hasn't give you credit for what's in you. The way you +have fixed up this place, and the short time you have took to do it, is +enough to show us now what sort of a man you are; and I tell you, sir, +we're proud of you for a neighbor. I don't believe there's another +gentleman in this county of your age that could have done what you have +done in so short a time. I expect now you will be thinking of getting +married and startin' housekeepin' in a regular fashion. That comes just +as natural as to set hens in the spring. By the way, have you heard that +old Mr. Havelot's thinkin' of goin' abroad? I didn't believe he would +ever do that again, because he's gettin' pretty well on in years, but +old men will do queer things as well as young ones." + +"Going abroad!" I cried. "Does he intend to take his daughter with +him?" + +Mr. Aaron Boyce smiled grimly. He was a great old gossip, and he had +already obtained the information he wanted. "Yes," he said, "I've heard +it was on her account he's going. She's been kind of weakly lately, they +tell me, and hasn't took to her food, and the doctors has said that what +she wants is a sea voyage and a change to foreign parts." + +Going abroad! Foreign parts! This was more terrible than anything I had +imagined. I would go to Mr. Havelot that very evening, the only time +which I would be certain to find him at home, and talk to him in a way +which would be sure to bring him to his senses, if he had any. And if +I should find that he had no sense of propriety or justice, no sense of +his duty to his fellow-man and to his offspring, then I would begin a +bold fight for Agnes, a fight which I would not give up until, with her +own lips, she told me that it would be useless. I would follow her to +Kentucky, to Europe, to the uttermost ends of the earth. I could do it +now. The frozen deposits in my terminal moraine would furnish me with +the means. I walked away and left the old farmer standing grinning. No +doubt my improvements and renovations had been the subject of gossip +in the neighborhood, and he had come over to see if he could find out +anything definite in regard to the object of them. He had succeeded, but +he had done more: he had nerved me to instantly begin the conquest of +Agnes, whether by diplomacy or war. + +I was so anxious to begin this conquest that I could scarcely wait for +the evening to come. At the noon hour, when the ice-works were deserted, +I walked down the shaft and into the ice-chamber to see what had been +done since my last visit. I decided to insist that operations upon a +larger scale should be immediately begun, in order that I might have +plenty of money with which to carry on my contemplated campaign. Whether +it was one of peace or war, I should want all the money I could get. + +I took with me a lantern and went around the chamber, which was now +twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, examining the new inroads which +had been made upon its walls. There was a tunnel commenced opposite the +one by which the chamber was entered, but it had not been opened more +than a dozen feet, and it seemed to me that the men had not been working +with any very great energy. I wanted to see a continuous stream of +ice-blocks from that chamber to the mouth of the shaft. + +While grumbling thus I heard behind me a sudden noise like thunder and +the crashing of walls, and, turning quickly, I saw that a portion of +the roof of the chamber had fallen in. Nor had it ceased to fall. As +I gazed, several great masses of ice came down from above and piled +themselves upon that which had already fallen. + +Startled and frightened, I sprang toward the opening of the entrance +tunnel; but, alas! I found that that was the point where the roof had +given way, and between me and the outer world was a wall of solid ice +through which it would be as impossible for me to break as if it were a +barrier of rock. With the quick instinct which comes to men in danger I +glanced about to see if the workmen had left their tools; but there were +none. + +They had been taken outside. Then I stood and gazed stupidly at the +mass of fallen ice, which, even as I looked upon it, was cracking and +snapping, pressed down by the weight above it, and forming itself into +an impervious barrier without crevice or open seam. + +Then I madly shouted. But of what avail were shouts down there in the +depths of the earth? I soon ceased this useless expenditure of strength, +and, with my lantern in my hand, began to walk around the chamber, +throwing the light upon the walls and the roof. I became impressed with +the fear that the whole cavity might cave in at once and bury me here +in a tomb of ice. But I saw no cracks, nor any sign of further disaster. +But why think of anything more? Was not this enough? For, before that +ice-barrier could be cleared away, would I not freeze to death? + +I now continued to walk, not because I expected to find anything or do +anything, but simply to keep myself warm by action. As long as I could +move about I believed that there was no immediate danger of succumbing +to the intense cold; for, when a young man, traveling in Switzerland, I +had been in the cave of a glacier, and it was not cold enough to prevent +some old women from sitting there to play the zither for the sake of +a few coppers from visitors. I could not expect to be able to continue +walking until I should be rescued, and if I sat down, or by chance slept +from exhaustion, I must perish. + +The more I thought of it, the more sure I became that in any case I must +perish, A man in a block of ice could have no chance of life. And Agnes! +Oh, Heavens! what demon of the ice had leagued with old Havelot to shut +me up in this frozen prison? For a long time I continued to walk, beat +my body with my arms and stamp my feet. The instinct of life was strong +within me. I would live as long as I could, and think of Agnes. When I +should be frozen I could not think of her. + +Sometimes I stopped and listened. I was sure I could hear noises, but I +could not tell whether they were above me or not. In the centre of the +ice-barrier, about four feet from the ground, was a vast block of the +frozen substance which was unusually clear and seemed to have nothing on +the other side of it; for through it I could see flickers of light, as +though people were going about with lanterns. It was quite certain that +the accident had been discovered; for, had not the thundering noise been +heard by persons outside, the workmen would have seen what had +happened as soon as they came into the tunnel to begin their afternoon +operations. + +At first I wondered why they did not set to work with a will and cut +away this barrier and let me out. But there suddenly came to my mind +a reason for this lack of energy which was more chilling than the +glistening walls around me: Why should they suppose that I was in the +ice-chamber? I was not in the habit of coming here very often, but I was +in the habit of wandering off by myself at all hours of the day. This +thought made me feel that I might as well lie down on the floor of this +awful cave and die at once. The workmen might think it unsafe to mine +any further in this part of the glacier, and begin operations at some +other point. I did sit down for a moment, and then I rose involuntarily +and began my weary round. Suddenly I thought of looking at my watch. +It was nearly five o'clock. I had been more than four hours in that +dreadful place, and I did not believe that I could continue to exercise +my limbs very much longer. The lights I had seen had ceased. It was +quite plain that the workmen had no idea that any one was imprisoned in +the cave. + +But soon after I had come to this conclusion I saw through the clear +block of ice a speck of light, and it became stronger and stronger, +until I believed it to be close to the other side of the block. There it +remained stationary; but there seemed to be other points of light which +moved about in a strange way, and near it. Now I stood by the block +watching. When my feet became very cold, I stamped them; but there I +stood fascinated, for what I saw was truly surprising. A large coal of +fire appeared on the other side of the block; then it suddenly vanished +and was succeeded by another coal. This disappeared, and another took +its place, each one seeming to come nearer and nearer to me. Again and +again did these coals appear. They reached the centre of the block; they +approached my side of it. At last one was so near to me that I thought +it was about to break through, but it vanished. Then there came a few +quick thuds and the end of a piece of iron protruded from the block. +This was withdrawn, and through the aperture there came a voice which +said: "Mr. Cuthbert, are you in there?" It was the voice of Agnes! + +Weak and cold as I was, fire and energy rushed through me at these +words. "Yes," I exclaimed, my mouth to the hole; "Agnes, is that you?" + +"Wait a minute," came from the other side of the aperture. "I must make +it bigger. I must keep it from closing up." + +Again came the coals of fire, running backward and forward through the +long hole in the block of ice. I could see now what they were. They were +irons used by plumbers for melting solder and that sort of thing, +and Agnes was probably heating them in a little furnace outside, and +withdrawing them as fast as they cooled. It was not long before the +aperture was very much enlarged; and then there came grating through +it a long tin tube nearly two inches in diameter, which almost, but not +quite, reached my side of the block. + +Now came again the voice of Agnes: "Oh, Mr. Cuthbert, are you truly +there? Are you crushed? Are you wounded? Are you nearly frozen? Are you +starved? Tell me quickly if you are yet safe." + +Had I stood in a palace padded with the softest silk and filled with +spicy odors from a thousand rose gardens, I could not have been better +satisfied with my surroundings than I was at that moment. Agnes was not +two feet away! She was telling me that she cared for me! In a very few +words I assured her that I was uninjured. Then I was on the point of +telling her I loved her, for I believed that not a moment should be lost +in making this avowal. I could not die without her knowing that. But the +appearance of a mass of paper at the other end of the tube prevented +the expression of my sentiments. This was slowly pushed on until I +could reach it. Then there came the words: "Mr. Cuthbert, these are +sandwiches. Eat them immediately and walk about while you are doing it. +You must keep yourself warm until the men get to you." + +Obedient to the slightest wish of this dear creature, I went twice +around the cave, devouring the sandwiches as I walked. They were the +most delicious food that I had ever tasted. They were given to me by +Agnes. I came back to the opening. I could not immediately begin my +avowal. I must ask a question first. "Can they get to me?" I inquired. +"Is anybody trying to do that? Are they working there by you? I do not +hear them at all." + +"Oh, no," she answered; "they are not working here. They are on top of +the bluff, trying to dig down to you. They were afraid to meddle with +the ice here for fear that more of it might come down and crush you +and the men, too. Oh, there has been a dreadful excitement since it was +found that you were in there!" + +"How could they know I was here?" I asked. + +"It was your old Susan who first thought of it. She saw you walking +toward the shaft about noon, and then she remembered that she had not +seen you again; and when they came into the tunnel here they found one +of the lanterns gone and the big stick you generally carry lying where +the lantern had been. Then it was known that you must be inside. Oh, +then there was an awful time! The foreman of the ice-men examined +everything, and said they must dig down to you from above. He put his +men to work; but they could do very little, for they had hardly any +spades. Then they sent into town for help and over to the new park for +the Italians working there. From the way these men set to work you might +have thought that they would dig away the whole bluff in about five +minutes; but they didn't. Nobody seemed to know what to do, or how to +get to work; and the hole they made when they did begin was filled up +with men almost as fast as they even threw out the stones and gravel. I +don't believe anything would have been done properly if your friend, Mr. +Burton, hadn't happened to come with two scientific gentlemen, and since +that he has been directing everything. You can't think what a splendid +fellow he is! I fairly adored him when I saw him giving his orders and +making everybody skip around in the right way." + +"Tom is a very good man," said I; "but it is his business to direct that +sort of work, and it is not surprising that he knows how to do it. But, +Agnes, they may never get down to me, and we do not know that this roof +may not cave in upon me at any moment; and before this or anything else +happens I want to tell you--" + +"Mr. Cuthbert," said Agnes, "is there plenty of oil in your lantern? It +would be dreadful if it were to go out and leave you there in the dark. +I thought of that and brought you a little bottle of kerosene so that +you can fill it. I am going to push the bottle through now, if you +please." And with this a large phial, cork end foremost, came slowly +through the tube, propelled by one of the soldering irons. Then came +Agnes's voice: "Please fill your lantern immediately, because if it goes +out you can not find it in the dark; and then walk several times around +the cave, for you have been standing still too long already." + +I obeyed these injunctions, but in two or three minutes was again at the +end of the tube. "Agnes," said I, "how did you happen to come here? Did +you contrive in your own mind this method of communicating with me?" + +"Oh, yes; I did," she said. "Everybody said that this mass of ice must +not be meddled with, but I knew very well it would not hurt it to make a +hole through it." + +"But how did you happen to be here?" I asked. + +"Oh, I ran over as soon as I heard of the accident. Everybody ran here. +The whole neighborhood is on top of the bluff; but nobody wanted to come +into the tunnel, because they were afraid that more of it might fall in. +So I was able to work here all by myself, and I am very glad of it. +I saw the soldering iron and the little furnace outside of your house +where the plumbers had been using them, and I brought them here myself. +Then I thought that a simple hole through the ice might soon freeze up +again, and if you were alive inside I could not do anything to help you; +and so I ran home and got my diploma case, that had had one end melted +out of it, and I brought that to stick in the hole. I'm so glad that it +is long enough, or almost." + +"Oh, Agnes," I cried, "you thought of all this for me?" + +"Why, of course, Mr. Cuthbert," she answered, before I had a chance to +say anything more. "You were in great danger of perishing before the men +got to you, and nobody seemed to think of any way to give you immediate +relief. And don't you think that a collegiate education is a good thing +for girls--at least, that it was for me?" + +"Agnes," I exclaimed, "please let me speak. I want to tell you, I must +tell you--" + +But the voice of Agnes was clearer than mine and it overpowered my +words. "Mr. Cuthbert," she said, "we can not both speak through this +tube at the same time in opposite directions. I have here a bottle of +water for you, but I am very much afraid it will not go through the +diploma case." + +"Oh, I don't want any water," I said. "I can eat ice if I am thirsty. +What I want is to tell you-" + +"Mr. Cuthbert," said she, "you must not eat that ice. Water that was +frozen countless ages ago may be very different from the water of modern +times, and might not agree with you. Don't touch it, please. I am going +to push the bottle through if I can. I tried to think of everything that +you might need and brought them all at once; because, if I could +not keep the hole open, I wanted to get them to you without losing a +minute." + +Now the bottle came slowly through. It was a small beer-bottle, I think, +and several times I was afraid it was going to stick fast and cut off +communication between me and the outer world--that is to say, between me +and Agnes. But at last the cork and the neck appeared, and I pulled it +through. I did not drink any of it, but immediately applied my mouth to +the tube. + +"Agnes," I said, "my dear Agnes, really you must not prevent me from +speaking. I can not delay another minute. This is an awful position for +me to be in, and as you don't seem to realize--" + +"But I do realize, Mr. Cuthbert, that if you don't walk about you will +certainly freeze before you can be rescued. Between every two or three +words you want to take at least one turn around that place. How dreadful +it would be if you were suddenly to become benumbed and stiff! Everybody +is thinking of that. The best diggers that Mr. Burton had were three +colored men; but after they had gone down nothing like as deep as +a well, they came up frightened and said they would not dig another +shovelful for the whole world. Perhaps you don't know it, but there's a +story about the neighborhood that the negro hell is under your property. +You know many of the colored people expect to be everlastingly punished +with ice and not with fire--" + +"Agnes," I interrupted, "I am punished with ice and fire both. Please +let me tell you--" + +"I was going on to say, Mr. Cuthbert," she interrupted, "that when the +Italians heard why the colored men had come out of the hole they would +not go in either, for they are just as afraid of everlasting ice as the +negroes are, and were sure that if the bottom came out of that hole they +would fall into a frozen lower world. So there was nothing to do but to +send for paupers, and they are working now. You know paupers have to do +what they are told without regard to their beliefs. They got a dozen of +them from the poor-house. Somebody said they just threw them into the +hole. Now I must stop talking, for it is time for you to walk around +again. Would you like another sandwich?" + +"Agnes," said I, endeavoring to speak calmly, "all I want is to be able +to tell you--" + +"And when you walk, Mr. Cuthbert, you had better keep around the edge +of the chamber, for there is no knowing when they may come through. Mr. +Burton and the foreman of the ice-men measured the bluff so that they +say the hole they are making is exactly over the middle of the chamber +you are in, and if you walk around the edge the pieces may not fall on +you." + +"If you don't listen to me, Agnes," I said, "I'll go and sit anywhere, +everywhere, where death may come to me quickest. Your coldness is worse +than the coldness of the cave. I can not bear it." + +"But, Mr. Cuthbert," said Agnes, speaking, I thought, with some +agitation, "I have been listening to you, and what more can you possibly +have to say? If there is anything you want, let me know. I will run and +get it for you." + +"There is no need that you should go away to get what I want," I said. +"It is there with you. It is you." + +"Mr. Cuthbert," said Agnes, in a very low voice, but so distinctly that +I could hear every word, "don't you think it would be better for you to +give your whole mind to keeping yourself warm and strong? For if you let +yourself get benumbed you may sink down and freeze." + +"Agnes," I said, "I will not move from this little hole until I have +told you that I love you, that I have no reason to care for life or +rescue unless you return my love, unless you are willing to be mine. +Speak quickly to me, Agnes, because I may not be rescued and may never +know whether my love for you is returned or not." + +At this moment there was a tremendous crash behind me, and, turning, +I saw a mass of broken ice upon the floor of the cave, with a cloud +of dust and smaller fragments still falling. And then with a great +scratching and scraping, and a howl loud enough to waken the echoes of +all the lower regions, down came a red-headed, drunken shoemaker. I can +not say that he was drunk at that moment, but I knew the man the moment +I saw his carroty poll, and it was drink which had sent him to the +poorhouse. + +But the sprawling and howling cobbler did not reach the floor. A rope +had been fastened around his waist to prevent a fall in case the bottom +of the pit should suddenly give way, and he hung dangling in mid +air with white face and distended eyes, cursing and swearing and +vociferously entreating to be pulled up. But before he received any +answer from above, or I could speak to him, there came through the hole +in the roof of the cave a shower of stones and gravel, and with them a +frantic Italian, his legs and arms outspread, his face wild with terror. + +Just as he appeared in view he grasped the rope of the cobbler, and, +though in a moment he came down heavily upon the floor of the chamber, +this broke his fall, and he did not appear to be hurt. Instantly he +crouched low and almost upon all fours, and began to run around the +chamber, keeping close to the walls and screaming, I suppose to his +saints, to preserve him from the torments of the frozen damned. + +In the midst of this hubbub came the voice of Agnes through the hole: +"Oh, Mr. Cuthbert, what has happened? Are you alive?" + +I was so disappointed by the appearance of these wretched interlopers +at the moment it was about to be decided whether my life--should it last +for years, or but for a few minutes--was to be black or bright, and I +was so shaken and startled by the manner of their entry upon the scene, +that I could not immediately shape the words necessary to inform Agnes +what had happened. But, collecting my faculties, I was about to speak, +when suddenly, with the force of the hind leg of a mule, I was pushed +away from the aperture, and the demoniac Italian clapped his great +mouth to the end of the tube and roared through it a volume of oaths +and supplications. I attempted to thrust aside the wretched being, but +I might as well have tried to move the ice barrier itself. He had +perceived that some one outside was talking to me, and in his frenzy he +was imploring that some one should let him out. + +While still endeavoring to move the man, I was seized by the arm, and +turning, beheld the pallid face of the shoemaker. They had let him down +so that he reached the floor. He tried to fall on his knees before me, +but the rope was so short that he was able to go only part of the way +down, and presented a most ludicrous appearance, with his toes scraping +the icy floor and his arms thrown out as if he were paddling like a +tadpole. "Oh, have mercy upon me, sir," he said, "and help me get out +of this dreadful place. If you go to the hole and call up it's you, they +will pull me up; but if they get you out first they will never think of +me. I am a poor pauper, sir, but I never did nothin' to be packed in ice +before I am dead." + +Noticing that the Italian had left the end of the aperture in the block +of ice, and that he was now shouting up the open shaft, I ran to the +channel of communication which my Agnes had opened for me, and called +through it; but the dear girl had gone. + +The end of a ladder now appeared at the opening in the roof, and this +was let down until it reached the floor. I started toward it, but before +I had gone half the distance the frightened shoemaker and the maniac +Italian sprang upon it, and, with shrieks and oaths, began a maddening +fight for possession of the ladder. They might quickly have gone up one +after the other, but each had no thought but to be first; and as one +seized the rounds he was pulled away by the other, until I feared the +ladder would be torn to pieces. The shoemaker finally pushed his way up +a little distance, when the Italian sprang upon his back, endeavoring +to climb over him; and so on they went up the shaft, fighting, swearing, +kicking, scratching, shaking and wrenching the ladder, which had been +tied to another one in order to increase its length, so that it was in +danger of breaking, and tearing at each other in a fashion which made it +wonderful that they did not both tumble headlong downward. They went +on up, so completely filling the shaft with their struggling forms and +their wild cries that I could not see or hear anything, and was afraid, +in fact, to look up toward the outer air. + +As I was afterward informed, the Italian, who had slipped into the hole +by accident, ran away like a frightened hare the moment he got his +feet on firm ground, and the shoemaker sat down and swooned. By this +performance he obtained from a benovolent bystander a drink of whiskey, +the first he had had since he was committed to the poorhouse. + +But a voice soon came down the shaft calling to me. I recognized it as +that of Tom Burton, and replied that I was safe, and that I was coming +up the ladder. But in my attempt to climb, I found that I was unable +to do so. Chilled and stiffened by the cold and weakened by fatigue and +excitement, I believe I never should have been able to leave that +ice chamber if my faithful friend had not come down the ladder and +vigorously assisted me to reach the outer air. + +Seated on the ground, my back against a great oak tree, I was quickly +surrounded by a crowd of my neighbors, the workmen and the people who +had been drawn to the spot by the news of the strange accident, to gaze +at me as if I were some unknown being excavated from the bowels of the +earth, I was sipping some brandy and water which Burton had handed me, +when Aaron Boyce pushed himself in front of me. + +"Well, sir," he said, "I am mighty glad you got out of that scrape. I'm +bound to say I didn't expect you would. I have been sure all along that +it wasn't right to meddle with things that go agin Nature, and I haven't +any doubt that you'll see that for yourself and fill up all them tunnels +and shafts you've made. The ice that comes on ponds and rivers was good +enough for our forefathers, and it ought to be good enough for us. And +as for this cold stuff you find in your gravel-pit, I don't believe it's +ice at all; and if it is, like as not it's made of some sort of pizen +stuff that freezes easier than water. For everybody knows that water +don't freeze in a well, and if it don't do that, why should it do it in +any kind of a hole in the ground? So perhaps it's just as well that you +did git shut up there, sir, and find out for yourself what a dangerous +thing it is to fool with Nature and try to git ice from the bottom of +the ground instead of the top of the water." + +This speech made me angry, for I knew that old Boyce was a man who was +always glad to get hold of anything which had gone wrong and try to make +it worse; but I was too weak to answer him. + +This, however, would not have been necessary, for Tom Burton turned upon +him. "Idiot," said he, "if that is your way of thinking you might as +well say that if a well caves in you should never again dig for water, +or that nobody should have a cellar under his house for fear that the +house should fall into it. There's no more danger of the ice beneath us +ever giving way again than there is that this bluff should crumble under +our feet. That break in the roof of the ice tunnel was caused by +my digging away the face of the bluff very near that spot. The high +temperature of the outer air weakened the ice, and it fell. But down +here, under this ground and secure from the influences of the heat of +the outer air, the mass of ice is more solid than rock. We will build +a brick arch over the place where the accident happened, and then there +will not be a safer mine on this continent than this ice-mine will be." + +This was a wise and diplomatic speech from Burton, and it proved to be +of great service to me; for the men who had been taking out ice had been +a good deal frightened by the fall of the tunnel, and when it was proved +that what Burton had said in regard to the cause of the weakening of the +ice was entirely correct, they became willing to go to work again. + +I now began to feel stronger and better, and, rising to my feet, I +glanced here and there into the crowd, hoping to catch a sight of Agnes, +But I was not very much surprised at not seeing her, because she would +naturally shrink from forcing herself into the midst of this motley +company; but I felt that I must go and look for her without the loss of +a minute, for if she should return to her father's house I might not be +able to see her again. + +On the outskirts of the crowd I met Susan, who was almost overpowered +with joy at seeing me safe again. I shook her by the hand, but, without +replying to her warm-hearted protestations of thankfulness and delight, +I asked her if she had seen Miss Havelot. + +"Miss Agnes!" she exclaimed. "Why, no sir; I expect she's at home; and +if she did come here with the rest of the neighbors I didn't see her; +for when I found out what had happened, sir, I was so weak that I sat +down in the kitchen all of a lump, and have just had strength enough to +come out." + +"Oh, I know she was here," I cried; "I am sure of that, and I do hope +she's not gone home again." + +"Know she was here!" exclaimed Susan. "Why, how on earth could you know +that?" + +I did not reply that it was not on the earth but under it, that I became +aware of the fact, but hurried toward the Havelot house, hoping to +overtake Agnes if she had gone that way. But I did not see her, and +suddenly a startling idea struck me, and I turned and ran home as fast +as I could go. When I reached my grounds I went directly to the mouth +of the shaft. There was nobody there, for the crowd was collected into +a solid mass on the top of the bluff, listening to a lecture from Tom +Burton, who deemed it well to promote the growth of interest and healthy +opinion in regard to his wonderful discovery and my valuable possession. +I hurried down the shaft, and near the end of it, just before it joined +the ice tunnel, I beheld Agnes sitting upon the wooden track. She was +not unconscious, for as I approached she slightly turned her head. I +sprang toward her; I kneeled beside her; I took her in my arms. "Oh, +Agnes, dearest Agnes," I cried, "what is the matter? What has happened +to you? Has a piece of ice fallen upon you? Have you slipped and hurt +yourself?" + +She turned her beautiful eyes up toward me and for a moment did not +speak. Then she said: "And they got you out? And you are in your right +mind?" + +"Right mind!" I exclaimed. "I have never been out of my mind. What are +you thinking of?" + +"Oh, you must have been," she said, "when you screamed at me in that +horrible way. I was so frightened that I fell back, and I must have +fainted." + +Tremulous as I was with love and anxiety, I could not help laughing. +"Oh, my dear Agnes, I did not scream at you. That was a crazed Italian +who fell through the hole that they dug." Then I told her what had +happened. + +She heaved a gentle sigh. "I am so glad to hear that," she said. "There +was one thing that I was thinking about just before you came and which +gave me a little bit of comfort; the words and yells I heard were +dreadfully oniony, and somehow or other I could not connect that sort of +thing with you." + +It now struck me that during this conversation I had been holding +my dear girl in my arms, and she had not shown the slightest sign of +resistance or disapprobation. This made my heart beat high. + +"Oh, Agnes," I said, "I truly believe you love me or you would not have +been here, you would not have done for me all that you did. Why did you +not answer me when I spoke to you through that wall of ice, through the +hole your dear love had made in it? Why, when I was in such a terrible +situation, not knowing whether I was to die or live, did you not comfort +my heart with one sweet word?" + +"Oh, Walter," she answered, "it wasn't at all necessary for you to say +all that you did say, for I had suspected it before, and as soon as you +began to call me Agnes I knew, of course, how you felt about it. And, +besides, it really was necessary that you should move about to keep +yourself from freezing. But the great reason for my not encouraging you +to go on talking in that way was that I was afraid people might come +into the tunnel, and as, of course, you would not know that they were +there, you would go on making love to me through my diploma case, and +you know I should have perished with shame if I had had to stand there +with that old Mr. Boyce, and I don't know who else, listening to your +words, which were very sweet to me, Walter, but which would have sounded +awfully funny to them." + +When she said that my words had been sweet to her I dropped the +consideration of all other subjects. + +When, about ten minutes afterward, we came out of the shaft we were met +by Susan. + +"Bless my soul and body, Mr. Cuthbert!" she exclaimed. "Did you find +that young lady down there in the centre of the earth? It seems to me as +if everything that you want comes to you out of the ground. But I have +been looking for you to tell you that Mr. Havelot has been here after +his daughter, and I'm sure if he had known where she was, he would have +been scared out of his wits." + +"Father here!" exclaimed Agnes. "Where is he now?" + +"I think he has gone home, miss. Indeed I'm sure of it; for my daughter +Jennie, who was over here the same as all the other people in the +county, I truly believe told him--and I was proud she had the spirit +to speak up that way to him--that your heart was almost broke when you +heard about Mr. Cuthbert being shut up in the ice, and that most likely +you was in your own room a-cryin' your eyes out. When he heard that he +stood lookin' all around the place, and he asked me if he might go +in the house; and when I told him he was most welcome, he went in. I +offered to show him about, which he said was no use, that he had been +there often enough; and he went everywhere, I truly believe, except in +the garret and the cellar. And after he got through with that he went +out to the barn and then walked home." + +"I must go to him immediately," said Agnes. + +"But not alone," said I. And together we walked through the woods, over +the little field and across the Havelot lawn to the house. We were told +that the old gentleman was in his library, and together we entered the +room. Mr. Havelot was sitting by a table on which were lying several +open volumes of an encyclopedia. When he turned and saw us, he closed +his book, pushed back his chair and took off his spectacles. "Upon my +word, sir," he cried; "and so the first thing you do after they pull you +out of the earth is to come here and break my commands." + +"I came on the invitation of your daughter, sir." + +"And what right has she to invite you, I'd like to know?" + +"She has every right, for to her I owe my existence." + +"What rabid nonsense!" exclaimed the old gentleman. "People don't owe +their existence to the silly creatures they fall in love with." + +"I assure you I am correct, sir." And then I related to him what his +daughter had done, and how through her angelic agency my rescuers had +found me a living being instead of a frozen corpse. + +"Stuff!" said Mr. Havelot. "People can live in a temperature of +thirty-two degrees above zero all winter. Out in Minnesota they think +that's hot. And you gave him victuals and drink through your diploma +case! Well, miss, I told you that if you tried to roast chestnuts in +that diploma case the bottom would come out." + +"But you see, father," said Agnes, earnestly, "the reason I did that +was because when I roasted them in anything shallow they popped into the +fire, but they could not jump out of the diploma case." + +"Well, something else seems to have jumped out of it," said the old +gentleman, "and something with which I am not satisfied. I have been +looking over these books, sir, and have read the articles on ice, +glaciers and caves, and I find no record of anything in the whole +history of the world which in the least resembles the cock-and-bull +story I am told about the butt-end of a glacier which tumbled into a +cave in your ground, and has been lying there through all the geological +ages, and the eras of formation, and periods of animate existence down +to the days of Noah, and Moses, and Methuselah, and Rameses II, and +Alexander the Great, and Martin Luther, and John Wesley, to this day, +for you to dig out and sell to the Williamstown Ice Co." + +"But that's what happened, sir," said I. + +"And besides, father," added Agnes, "the gold and silver that people +take out of mines may have been in the ground as long as that ice has +been." + +"Bosh!" said Mr. Havelot. "The cases are not at all similar. It is +simply impossible that a piece of a glacier should have fallen into a +cave and been preserved in that way. The temperature of caves is always +above the freezing-point, and that ice would have melted a million years +before you were born." + +"But, father," said Agnes, "the temperature of caves filled with ice +must be very much lower than that of common caves." + +"And apart from that," I added, "the ice is still there, sir." + +"That doesn't make the slightest difference," he replied. "It's against +all reason and commonsense that such a thing could have happened. Even +if there ever was a glacier in this part of the country and if the lower +portion of it did stick out over an immense hole in the ground, that +protruding end would never have broken off and tumbled in. Glaciers are +too thick and massive for that." + +"But the glacier is there, sir," said I, "in spite of your own +reasoning." + +"And then again," continued the old gentleman, "if there had been a cave +and a projecting spur the ice would have gradually melted and dripped +into the cave, and we would have had a lake and not an ice-mine. It is +an absurdity." + +"But it's there, notwithstanding," said I. + +"And you can not subvert facts, you know, father," added Agnes. + +"Confound facts!" he cried. "I base my arguments on sober, cool-headed +reason; and there's nothing that can withstand reason. The thing's +impossible and, therefore, it has never happened. I went over to your +place, sir, when I heard of the accident, for the misfortunes of my +neighbors interest me, no matter what may be my opinion of them, +and when I found that you had been extricated from your ridiculous +predicament, I went through your house, and I was pleased to find it +in as good or better condition than I had known it in the days of +your respected father. I was glad to see the improvement in your +circumstances; but when I am told, sir, that your apparent prosperity +rests upon such an absurdity as a glacier in a gravel hill, I can but +smile with contempt, sir." + +I was getting a little tired of this. "But the glacier is there, sir," +I said, "and I am taking out ice every day, and have reason to believe +that I can continue to take it out for the rest of my life. With such +facts as these before me, I am bound to say, sir, that I don't care in +the least about reason." + +"And I am here, father," said Agnes, coming close to me, "and here I +want to continue for the rest of my days." + +The old gentleman looked at her. "And, I suppose," he said, "that you, +too, don't in the least care about reason?" + +"Not a bit," said Agnes. + +"Well," said Mr. Havelot, rising, "I have done all I can to make you +two listen to reason, and I can do no more. I despair of making sensible +human beings of you, and so you might as well go on acting like a couple +of ninny-hammers." + +"Do ninny-hammers marry and settle on the property adjoining yours, +sir?" I asked. + +"Yes, I suppose they do," he said. "And when the aboriginal ice-house, +or whatever the ridiculous thing is that they have discovered, gives +out, I suppose that they can come to a reasonable man and ask him for a +little money to buy bread and butter." + +Two years have passed, and Agnes and the glacier are still mine; great +blocks of ice now flow in almost a continuous stream from the mine to +the railroad station, and in a smaller but quite as continuous stream +an income flows in upon Agnes and me; and from one of the experimental +excavations made by Tom Burton on the bluff comes a stream of ice-cold +water running in a sparkling brook a-down my dell. On fine mornings +before I am up, I am credibly informed that Aaron Boyce may generally be +found, in season and out of season, endeavoring to catch the trout with +which I am trying to stock that ice-cold stream. The diploma case, +which I caused to be carefully removed from the ice-barrier which had +imprisoned me, now hangs in my study and holds our marriage certificate. + +Near the line-fence which separates his property from mine, Mr. Havelot +has sunk a wide shaft. "If the glacier spur under your land was a +quarter of a mile wide," he says to me, "it was probably at least a half +a mile long; and if that were the case, the upper end of it extends into +my place, and I may be able to strike it." He has a good deal of money, +this worthy Mr. Havelot, but he would be very glad to increase his +riches, whether they are based upon sound reason or ridiculous facts. As +for Agnes and myself, no facts or any reason could make us happier than +our ardent love and our frigid fortune. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's My Terminal Moraine, by Frank E. 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