Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XVII. Doctors
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same reflex impulse compelled the big
unconscious animal to raise his hand to react against
the sharp pain on his skull. The blunt peripheric
sensation roused in my brain the instinct of self
preservation—the last to die. With a desperate
effort I set to work to free myself from the layer
of snow under which I lay buried. I saw the
glistening walls of blue ice around me, I saw the
light of the day above my head through the
aperture of the crevasse into which I had been
hurled by the avalanche. Strange to remember
I felt no fear, nor was I conscious of any thought
either of the past, the present or the future.
Gradually I became aware of an indistinct
sensation slowly groping its way through my benumbed
brain till at last it reached my understanding. I
recognized it at once, it was my old hobby, my
incurable curiosity to know all there was to know
about Death. My chance had come at last,
could I only keep my head clear and look him
straight into the face without flinching. I knew
he was there, I fancied I could almost see him
advancing towards me in his icy shroud. What
would he say to me, would he be harsh and
unforgiving, or would he have pity on me and just
leave me where I was lying in the snow and let
me freeze to everlasting sleep?
Incomprehensible as it may seem I do believe that it was this
last survival of my normal mentality, my
curiosity about death, that saved my life. All at once
I felt the grip of my fingers round the ice-axe,
I felt the rope round my waist. The rope!
Where were my two companions? I pulled the
rope towards me as fast as I could, there was a
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