194908
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194908 [2016/02/19 13:34] – [New Country] kennettj | 194908 [2016/02/19 13:39] – [The Fence] kennettj | ||
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The little township whose neighbouring rocks you were to investigate was left behind; by nightfall you were camped miles away, in a lonely little gorge, beside a clear, cold stream, oddly aloof in its sound. Ironbark shadowed the camping place; there were among them a few dead trees, with fantastically twisted limbs, stabbing sharply into the silver-blue of a winter sky, and creaking unexpectedly in the still air. | The little township whose neighbouring rocks you were to investigate was left behind; by nightfall you were camped miles away, in a lonely little gorge, beside a clear, cold stream, oddly aloof in its sound. Ironbark shadowed the camping place; there were among them a few dead trees, with fantastically twisted limbs, stabbing sharply into the silver-blue of a winter sky, and creaking unexpectedly in the still air. | ||
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The little white tent - a symbol of independence and isolation - was dwarfed more than ever when | The little white tent - a symbol of independence and isolation - was dwarfed more than ever when | ||
that first warming five of your own was lit. It was oneself against - | that first warming five of your own was lit. It was oneself against - | ||
or held within - a boundless universe. | or held within - a boundless universe. | ||
- | A mood of high elation lighted your steps the next morning. | + | |
- | The crisp yellowed grasses crackled with frost; you set out with a wild and ancient chant - | + | A mood of high elation lighted your steps the next morning. The crisp yellowed grasses crackled with frost; you set out with a wild and ancient chant - |
HI am the overlord of the hills and the high places, | HI am the overlord of the hills and the high places, | ||
And it is the frozen breath of the mountains that I seize and make into words. | And it is the frozen breath of the mountains that I seize and make into words. | ||
- | verything | + | |
- | schists, the silken blue-grey sheen or phyllites, the brilliant | + | Everything |
- | green of watercress against vermilion walls of granite. There was a glorious wall-like mass of reddish-purple porphyry, studded with squarish creamy-white crystals; a most comical, ridiculous, gargantuan pudding of a rock, which you followed up hill and down dale for miles. It led across a rai]way cutting; a climb up a | + | |
- | steep fifty-foot slope of gravel, you tackled gaily, and slid to | + | You went up again and scrambled through the railway fence, in no way cast down by the incident. In this mood, even fences were endurable; after all, they were useful in checking directions, since most of them ran either north-south or east-west. |
- | the bottom in a cloud of dust, specimens, maps and instruments - to be picked up and dusted off by a crowd of highly amused workmen on a trolley. | + | |
- | You went up again and scrambled through the railway fence, in no waycast | + | |
- | endurable; after- all, they were useful in checking directions, | + | The cold was so exhilarating, |
- | since most of them ran either | + | |
- | The cold was so exhilarating, | + | The light imperceptibly lessened, until at last you realised, with a slight |
- | the winter day, to explore the next bend. The twisting creek seemed | + | |
- | to hold a mocking spirit which was age-old; a part of the place itself. You felt that something wild and secret must have happened there, and : | + | The panic grew, and befuddled your mind so completely that all sense of direction was lost; you gave up and simply let your feet, sensitive to every conformation of the ground in their softsoled, much worn shoes, carry you where they liked. Then, strangely, you realiped that a foot can acquire a feeling, like an animals, for a track; you no longer stumbled quite so much, there was a narrow way between those viciously sharp chunks of rock; and you followed it numbly, hopelessly. The slight track appeared to veer suddenly to the left; you tripped over a root, and came down with a stinging blow across the cheek -- wires A wire fence, running north-south, |
- | As the sun went down thre was an unearthly gleam of twice-reflected light from the grey and purple walls; these were now of massive limestone, with the contours and texture of an elephants hide. The spirit of the place continued to beckon you - and laughed when you stumbled into clear icy pool, fringed with brilliant red-brown and glowing green plants. | + | |
- | The light imperceptibly lessened, until at last you realised, with aslight | + | |
- | fall down the cutting was useless. It would be suicidal to retrace your steps down that gorge in the dark. It must be at least five miles in a direct line across country bock to camp: you hoped it would be over merely undulating ground with no unexpected creeks to cross. That didn't sound too bad; but you were already tired and cold, with forty pounds of laboriously-gathered specimens on your back; and as you tried to keep a constant direction, stumbling over boulder-strewn ground, a growing fear was mounting at the base of your brain. Useless to try ,Ird argue yourself out of it (that a night out doesntt | + | |
- | The panic grew, and befuddled your mind so completely that all sense of direction was lost; you gave up and simply let your feet, sensitive to every conformation of the ground in their soft- | + | |
- | _ soled, muchworn | + | |
194908.txt · Last modified: 2016/02/19 15:37 by kennettj