When the gust had gone by, just as they were able to see once more, there was a roar directly above them. They looked up and saw what appeared to be the whole mountain-side sweeping down upon them. “It’s an avalanche, Ray!” cried Sidney; “run to one side.” The boys ran back on the trail to the first angle, then plunged off into the snow, floundering along in frantic haste. They had time, however, to take only a few steps when the great mass of snow was upon them. With it were carried rocks and brush, whatever the torrent had been able to tear from the mountain. When the boys saw that they could not escape, and were about to be overwhelmed, they seized hold of a small scrub tree that was growing from a cleft in the rock, and hung on for life. CHAPTER XVI SNOWED UNDER When the boys clung to the tree in the direct path of the avalanche, their action was the instinctive effort toward self-preservation, for they did not really hope it would save them. The mass of snow that was advancing upon them appeared to be carrying everything before it, and they fully expected, in the moment they had for thought, to be added to that accumulation of débris. The great bulk, coming down with such terrifying velocity, reached them and piled over them, but not with the resistless force they were braced to meet. The main body of the avalanche passed with a roar just beyond, and plunged into the cañon below. The boys had paused in the edge of the torrent, where its velocity was slight as compared with that of the center. They crawled out of the snow that covered them and looked at each other with wide eyes. “I can’t think of anything that could be worse than an avalanche,” said Raymond as he looked down at the smooth path left by the cataclysm. “That was an awful moment,” said Sidney, “just before it struck us.” “I know I was never so badly scared before. Do you suppose they are always as thick as they have been to-day?” “I don’t think so. I think when there is a storm that the snow drifting in places is the weight that starts the slide.” “Well, I shan’t be easy a minute now,” said Raymond, “till we’re at the top, and that looks a long way off yet.” “I guess we’d better not fool away any time,” said Sidney, “and we’ve got no trail to start with.” The avalanche had descended diagonally across the course of the trail, and had swept away a long reach of it, leaving only a smooth stretch of snow, with rocks sticking up here and there. The portion of the trail that was left intact was visible away up on the mountain, and the boys started for it, across the expanse of trackless snow. They were obliged to go very carefully to prevent slipping and sliding down the smooth incline. Their progress, therefore, seemed to them distressingly slow, but they plodded on persistently in their great desire to reach the summit. Both were filled with a dread of being caught in another avalanche, an encounter that might not result so fortunately as the first one had done.